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bonham or no bonham, i would recommend not putting the strip of felt under the heads. you'll never be able to get an even tuning out of them. i tried this when i first started playing and it sounded terrible.

i still like Renaissance Powerstrokes for the kick batter better than anything i've tried. i tune each head (ambassador on front, hole or no hole.. i don't really care anymore) as loose as i can get away with and make sure the tone is even around the perimeter. when mic'ing it close, i usually have a piece of foam barely touching the front head; just enough to kill excessive ring but not to kill the 'bloom'. for PA-less gigs it sounds great (and loud) with no muffling at all.

oh, and i use a hard plastic beater. i don't know why people use the cotton ones for loud rock music.

You said:

154 wrote:bonham or no bonham, i would recommend not putting the strip of felt under the heads. you'll never be able to get an even tuning out of them.

and then you said:

as loose as i can get away with

and THEN you said

i usually have a piece of foam barely touching the front head

and then I said



Seriously, though, it sounds like you're using a different method to get to the same exact end. Just saying.

oh, and i use a hard plastic beater. i don't know why people use the cotton ones for loud rock music.

using the hard plastic beaters- takes me about two gigs to burn through the "slam patch," and then two more gigs to break the head, but then, I kick the thing really hard. I have a collection of snapped beaters to show for it. Felt is the only thing that doesn't just burn through heads.

how did i contradict myself? i said "tune it as loose as i could get away with" but also "even around the perimeter". if it gets flabby in a spot, i tighten it (and probably the whole head to keep the pitch even). the point i was making was it's very hard to get an even tuning across the head with a felt strip lifting it off the rim in certain spots.

dontfeartheringo wrote:

That image made my day.

I didn't say that you contradicted yourself, I said " it sounds like you're using a different method to get to the same exact end."

I don't have any difficulty tuning around the felt strip and I find it does exactly the same thing as having a small piece of foam touching the head, only without the possibility of that piece of foam moving around while I am playing.

I find that tuning the front head down kills a bunch of the rest of the resonance, though. According to what sort of drum you have, you may have different results. Harder shells, like maple, may resonate just fine with the front head tuned way down, though I find that my birch drums and my vistas sound better if the front head is tuned up, AND the kick drum sound cuts through the mix better.

Ok, so think I've got a set-up I can be happy with for now..

thanks to all for your suggestions. Non-drummers/ non-nerds/ those who care little for the details, may want to look away.. eh well, somewhere around the start of this thread For anyone interested

to recap: snare - ambassador/ ambassador reso

10" + 14" toms - ambassador top/ Evans G1 bottoms (little bit worn but they work good, d'ya think I'm made of money?)

I was talking with a good friend who used to play drums like, a hundred years ago, and he says he's got some skins in the loft. He gives me a set of old Fyberskyn 2s. I experiment a bit, try the 22" on the kick, reso side combined with my original (worn) EQ4 - crap. On the beater side- not crap; Vaka, you're not wrong, the fyber does have good tone.

So with a slam pad and a small cushion pressed slightly against only the batter side, which kills some of the ring but not the tone, I opt for the relatively-neutral Ebony Powerstroke 3 tuned medium-low and cut a 4" hole.

The resulting sound is to my ears at least, slightly reminiscent of a bunch of medieval guys with a battering ram storming the castle. More bam than boom but has enough energy to cut through dense walls of noise. Works for me. Right chaps, see you back at Earth...

Coshhlocker wrote:
The resulting sound is to my ears at least, slightly reminiscent of a bunch of medieval guys with a battering ram storming the castle.

This cannot possibly be a bad thing.

Salut!

So, when can we see you play these in public?

Coshhlocker wrote:I was talking with a good friend who used to play drums like, a hundred years ago, and he says he's got some skins in the loft. He gives me a set of old Fyberskyn 2s. I experiment a bit, try the 22" on the kick, reso side combined with my original (worn) EQ4 - crap. On the beater side- not crap; Vaka, you're not wrong, the fyber does have good tone.

Yeah, it's definetely not for those who want that fat sub + click metal sound, but for that BAM BAM BAM the Fiberskyns are just beauuuutiful! I usually tune my beater head fairly high so I haven't really checked how they perform medium to low tuned.

Vaka wrote: I usually tune my beater head fairly high so I haven't really checked how they perform medium to low tuned.

I found batter side tuned low sounds ok, if a little too flabby. Plus I like my pedal quite loose, and tuning too low doesn't give enough rebound when playing fast. It's the resonant head that I tuned lower.

dontfeartheringo wrote:So, when can we see you play these in public?

Well, first gig's in a week, so I guess the world tour won't be happening 'til at least November. If I get a decent recording maybe I'll put up a link..