Roland TD-30KV, adjusting head tension

[Matt26]

hey all,

i'm setting up my new kit, and wondering how to approach adjusting the head tension on the pads.

the manuals don't cover much detail beyond "you must adjust head tension before playing", and don't give any real guidance other than make sure that the turning bolts are adjusted evenly across the head.

so far, i've tightened all pads and the kick pad two full rotations of a drum key.

my question is, how do i know how much is enough, or too little? is there any rule of thumb to go by? is it just a matter of playing and adjusting accordingly? is there a minimum/maximum threshold for head tension?

just want to make sure i don't break anything.

thanks!

[NewTricks]

You adjust it to what feels good to you.

Want tight bouncy heads? Crank them down. Want a little less bounce? Loosen them up. Either way will not affect the trigger mechanisms.

[rmandelbaum]

If you are a heavy hitter, be very careful if you losen them. I personally adjusted them so they feel like real heads
There als is a tuneing setting if I remember right

[Matt26]

i decided to tighten up all the heads (snare, toms and kick) a full 4 turns of the drum key; within hours of adjusting, i started to hear what i would describe as a cracking/snapping sound (something like walls and floors reacting to changing temperatures in a house, in terms of the type of sound); i can't be certain it was coming from the kit, but definitely sounded that way to me.

i got a bit concerned that myabe the heads were reacting to the tightness, so i loosened all the heads a half turn of the drum key and left them for a bit, then started to hear the cracking/snapping noises again, so i loossed all the heads again another half turn.

since then i haven't heard the noise, though i'm not certain those sounds had anything to do with the heads, or the kit period.

does that make any sense? my gut feeling is that the heads were too tight, but not sure exactly what those sounds were.

[SpazApproved]

^sounds like the new heads breaking in.

[itchie]

if you can do a smooth roll on the drum then its correct

[Stevo42w]

Here is something for ya.

I never tuned my from the box, I thought they were great as was and just went with it. We tried using them once for minute36 and kept having a snare missfire. Would play really loud when trying to play soft. Just from hitting it dead center. After about a year of never hitting the center I got my old evans torque key out and tightened them all up. (Between setting 4 and 8) then the hot spot went away.

My general advise, If you have a tool like the torque key or skin tensioner, Set it up roughly like you would an acoustic kit.