20x18 kick drum recomandations

[billnolan]

Ok I know I am not going to get the same sound I had with a 22 but I cant seem to get quite low enough, this drum seems hard to tune for me...I put an aquarian SPII for batter and a remo with 5 inch hole on front..I also have a small pillow in there but I am wondering if I really need it? Anyway what does everyone think the best I can do is? How loose should I have tose heads? Right not I have a very Clicky sound and not enough low end.Thanks

One more question, I have a pearl double pedal with the two sided beater, felt and plastic...I would assume, the felt is going to give me a deeper more warm sound?

[Scooter]

I feel your pain. No 20" kick ever did it for me. I tried, but never got one to sound right. Close, but never achieved the rib-rattling thump. 22" kicks are decent. 24" is my favorite. I even tried a 26", but that sounded worse than the 20". Go figure.


This makes me think the Neil Peart 23" kick must be awesome!


Oh, and I prefer the felt beater because I like to get the snappy punch sound from a fairly loose head.

[billnolan]

The only saving grace for me is thatmost times the kick will be mic'd ...as you know you can do alot with EQ...I do like the size of this bass drum however, I guess if I get it close I wont complain.

[audiotech]

I've play an 18x14 base on a Gretsch New Classic kit and it sounded like thunder. For most of my carreer I played a 20x14 with Evans EQ4 batter and Evans single ply 7 mil reso heads without the port hole and internal dampening. I think everything has to do with tuning and head selection.

BTW, don't ever rely on EQ. Do the best to get the base to sound as you would like it. You'll be playing at some gig without sound reinforcement at some point and won't be able to rely on the boards EQ. When micing a kick drum, I usually use an Electrovoice RE-20 or two other mics I feel very good about and maybe a touch of parametric EQ between 80 to 120 cycles, sometimes higher. It all depends on the room.

I find that felt betters work best. Plastic or wood will give you more of a clicky attack sound which seems to be the wrong direction to go with a smaller base.

Best of luck,
Dennis

[billnolan]

I have a hole in the reso head but when I take the small pillow out it doesnt seem to make a diff. in the overall sound of the drum...maybe its just me but, while a 20x18 is small Its not that small, I should be able to get a decent boom out of it.Keep trying I guess

[Larrysperf]

try the remo powersonic without the little mute pad. Just my 2 cents

[funkyruss]

Don't be afraid to experiment with the heads' tension, go to extremes-1st loosen the heads, then tighten them just enough to get rid of the wrinkles and give it a test. Do ya like it? if not lets get tightening her up. I have found that a little tighter head will actually give a better tone, 'cause you've found the sweet spot of the shell- ya want to get that wood vibrating to give some tone to it!!

Hope this does something for ya..