Removal of the resonant head on a bass drum

[Francesco]

Hello! I have an 18" Gretsch Catalina Club bass drum with an Aquarian SuperKick II batter head tuned pretty tight, and no resonant head. I took off the reso some time ago because I thought not having it made my drum sound more crisp and punchy. The sound I'm going for I guess could be described as that: crisp, punchy, deep, a bit of boom but not thuddy or saggy. Now I ask, does anyone else play without the reso head on the bass drum? Ought I put mine back on? I am pretty clueless about all things drums even though I've been playing for two years now. Thanks for your time!

[Warren Wright]

Back in the 70s, a lot of the Pro drummers, followed by most of the rest of us took off our reso kick drum heads, along with the reso heads on all the toms. Sometime later, the reso heads went back on and stayed on.

The Reso head, when its in place not only deepens the tone of your drum, it also makes your drum sustain the tone and helps the drum shell itself to resonate properly. JMO~, I would put the Reso head back in place and retune both heads.
Also remember, that the tighter you get a drum head, the Higher The Pitch~!

Do you have a Drum Dial? If so, use it~~if not, JMO again, get one~!
Want to know what a Drum Dial is? The Drum Dial is a precision measuring device used to find the tension of a drum head and the average cost is around $60.00 dollars US currency from most all of the online music outlets.

A drum head is in tune with itself when the tension at all the tuning lugs are the same AND when you lightly tap about an inch from each tuning lug, the Pitch of the head is the same at each tuning lug position.

Setting the Reso head at a lower tension than the Batter head will result in a Lower tone of the drum.

[Francesco]

Thanks a lot!

[Francesco]

I went to put on my lugs/metal poles/whatever you call them to attach my reso head, and they're totally bent out of shape. So i can't really put it on. I think it sounds ok without it, as in this video:[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CqCFJDjw_4&feature=related"]YouTube- This is how we rage (in OC)[/ame]

[atomcorr2]

back in the 70s pretty much everybody played without a reso head . it was the thing back then ,, if the sound of your kick suits you ,, do it .. nothing wrong with it .

[Larrysperf]

but please get one more stick if that bottle breaks your screwed lol

[Francesco]

Alright then, I didn't know if not having one was completely taboo or anything. And yeah, that bottle was a maraca wrapped in a kitchen towel to prevent it from chipping on the hi-hat. I don't know how well it worked...and it looked ridiculous. Haha. The song called for it though.

[=^-..-^=]

Removing the resonant head on your drums opens up a time portal back to the 70's, when drums sounded like cardboard boxes and people thought Burt Reynolds was cool. . . .

Now, everyone who wants to restore drums from that era has to scrounge for an extra hoop, lugs, and nuts, becaue they got lost. . .

[Francesco]

Bahahaha, so do I have to physically get inside the drum to time travel? It's pretty small as far as bass drums go.

[Nechre]

Man, drums look bad without a resonant head. Put a 10" hole in the dead center of the head and it gives you the same effect.

[dave0549jv]

I went to put on my lugs/metal poles/whatever you call them to attach my reso head, and they're totally bent out of shape. So i can't really put it on. I think it sounds ok without it, as in this video:YouTube- This is how we rage (in OC)

They're called tension rods, and they're pretty easy and cheap to replace. You can find them at just about any music store.

[Francesco]

Ah yes that's the ticket! Do they come in certain sizes that I'd have to figure out? I do agree, a bass drum looks kinda...gross...without a resonant head. I'm not a craftsman or anything, so I wouldn't be able to do any cutting of my own.

[ThePloughman]

You would serve yourself better, and in the long run, your kit better by taking a BD head and cutting a large hole in the center. It will give you the sound you want, and give support to the BD, thus keeping it in ROUND. There are THOUSANDS of out of round 60s and 70s bass drums due to the practice of no resonant head. That will solve your issue.

Devote some time to learning how to tune in your drum to the sound you desire.

[Francesco]

Thanks Ploughman. I didn't know about that! No good. Do you think somebody at a music store would do the cutting for me?

[=^-..-^=]

In an 18" head, I wouldn't even cut that big of a hole. Stand out in front of the drums while someone else is playing to music, and make sure the sound you are getting is the one that's cutting through all that music. That single head probably sounds great behind the kit with no music playing, but you need that second head to be heard.

. . . and no, the time portal works without getting in the drum. Pretty soon, you'll be saying things like, "Man, some black dot heads on these toms would sound groovy." and, "Where's the duct tape? I need some on my snare head to get it soundin' funky."