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Thread: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

  1. #26

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    I have tried everything mentioned here (except a felt strip) over the years and have settled on a system that works almost all the time for me. A Powerstroke 3 batter head, ported single ply reso head, with a 50x60" stadium blanket inside touching both heads. I can reach in and adjust how much of the blanket touches each head on the fly. I can also just set a microphone inside the drum on top of the blanket if I need to. I used the EMAD system for quite a while and I thought it sounded great. When I played a bigger show with a pro sound company, they insisted I add something to the inside of the drum anyway. I asked why, and the reply was that even though the heads were dampened properly, with nothing inside the bass drum, the sound waves just bounce around uncontrollably and it is very hard to manage for them. Makes sense. The DW pillow system seems to work okay, but the pillows are super stiff and keep coming off the velcro for me.

  2. #27

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    Quote Originally Posted by Redeye View Post
    I played a bigger show with a pro sound company, they insisted I add something to the inside of the drum anyway. I asked why, and the reply was that even though the heads were dampened properly, with nothing inside the bass drum, the sound waves just bounce around uncontrollably and it is very hard to manage for them. Makes sense.

    The advice you got is true and unique to each PA system/bass drum combo.
    I worked pro sound for a couple of years with a famous touring company based in Dallas.................with every bass drum in every city, we would need to tweak it a bit at the sound check...............some shows are indoors and some are out................some shows are big rooms and some are not................some rooms provide more slap-back than others.
    The guys that play two bass drums make it harder.
    Gretsch USA & Zildjian
    (What Else Would I Ever Need ?)


  3. #28

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    Quote Originally Posted by rickthedrummer View Post
    If it matters, my BD is 24"x 14" or at least it was the last time I measured it, which was............................................... .................................................. ...........................................never.
    I remember that my Grandma shrunk when she got older. Maybe you should measure it again.

  4. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by G-man View Post
    I remember that my Grandma shrunk when she got older. Maybe you should measure it again.
    Haahahaahahahaaaaa
    Signature here

  5. #30

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    Tuning always seems to work.

  6. #31

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    I measured my bass drum and it is still 22 x 18 lol.

  7. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by drummerMD View Post
    I say keep the laundry out of the bass drum! . . . . .It's not a washing machine or dryer!
    HA ! I played a Methodist church last week and the have a Yamaha Stage Custom set , an older one . It had a clear rezo head and someone had put all this clothes in it for dampening from the donations box . Looked like a dryer at the laundromat ! Seriously . It completely slipped my mind to take a picture and post it on this thread .
    Anyway I took it all out and swapped it for a pillow from the nursery . It's one of those churches that has a drumset ... but they don't want to hear it , if ya catch my drift . Geez..they even had washcloths in the snare drum !

  8. #33

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    Quote Originally Posted by Pearl MCX Man View Post
    I measured my bass drum and it is still 22 x 18 lol.
    For the better part of twenty years I labored under the delusion that my 20" bass drum is 18" deep. It's actually 17.5. Oh, toms too. Not 8" and 9" deep, but 7.5 and 8.5, and I know it's dumb, but for a second I thought "did they shrink?".

    Collectors Black Ice Finishply
    10x8,12x9,15x12,16x14,20x18,24x16
    14X6 Collectors 10 and 6 snare Natural Satin
    14x8 Collectors Black Nickel over Brass

  9. #34

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    Quote Originally Posted by jedi View Post
    HA ! I played a Methodist church last week and the have a Yamaha Stage Custom set , an older one . It had a clear rezo head and someone had put all this clothes in it for dampening from the donations box . Looked like a dryer at the laundromat ! Seriously . It completely slipped my mind to take a picture and post it on this thread .
    Anyway I took it all out and swapped it for a pillow from the nursery . It's one of those churches that has a drumset ... but they don't want to hear it , if ya catch my drift . Geez..they even had washcloths in the snare drum !
    The old " pillow wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a kick drum" trick
    Last edited by N2Bluz; 07-02-2017 at 07:43 PM.
    -Brian

    "Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"

    Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!

    "I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham

  10. #35

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    Default Re: Kick drums: To pillow, or not to pillow?

    I use the Aquarian Superkick 1 and the Aquarian Regulator for playing a wide range of music in a couple of community bands indoors and out, and that gives me just a little resonance which is exactly what I'm looking for.
    Life's too short to play the same solo twice. Improvise!

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