gdmoore28
Gold Member
Because I'm a traditionalist, I feel . . . naked? . . . deprived? . . . incomplete? . . . when I don't have my ride cymbal "riding" on my bass drum, and my splash cymbal splashing away atop a similar L-arm on the opposite side. So, today I installed the latter of the two appendages to accommodate my splash cymbal. All goes well.
While I had the front head off, I grabbed a light pillow from the pile and threw it inside. What the heck? I haven't used a pillow for over thirty years since learning how to get a good bass drum sound without one. But I had to satisfy my newfound curiosity. Is the pillow a fast, viable way to find a nice, thumpy bass drum sound?
Hmmm . . . yes, it is. I was surprised by what I heard - again. For playing inside my laundry room, in fact, it sounded darn near perfect. Playing live? Don't know yet.
But what pleasantly surprised me the most was the lovely new pedal response. I'd noticed over the years that it seemed that the less damping material I installed in my bass drum, the more sluggish my pedal felt. I just chalked it up to advancing age, or global warming, like everything else.
But with the pillow in place and resting firmly against the batter head, I had new-found speed like I haven't had in years. Time to think about this a little. Past experiments had shown me (a pedal-burying, heel-up player) that when I abandoned vented resos for solid heads, my bass drum abilities when to pot because of the excessive rebound that the practically-sealed drum now presented. I was having to fight the air pressure, and the pressure won. (I even experimented with some of those expensive little plastic holes installed on the batter head, and that exercise was a total flop.)
I think that this outcome is due to the simple fact that I'd grown up using no bass drum reso head, with a pillow thrown in for good measure. For the era, it sounded great, but nonetheless, my bd playing became totally dependant on having the batter head move with me, with almost all rebound dependant on the pedal spring and not the batter head. At my age, that method is ingrained and is not going to change.
So, I'm thrilled at finding my way back to that familiar rebound and response. The pillow may live yet again in my bass drum. There are problems to be conquered, of course. The pillow size, density, and placement will need some experimentation, as the big, resonant boom I like is now muted. And, I will need to do some head experimentation. I'm thinking that any additional damping provided by the factory-damped batter head (Powerstroke) is too much, and will respond better to the pillow with a change to a clear Ambassador batter. The reso is already an undamped coated Ambassador with a vent. I'd love to replace it with the same head but without the vent hole, but that may re-introduce the excessive rebound problem. Experimentation is needed.
Anyway, sad as it is, that's my big adventure for the day. But this adventure may actually pay off for me. We'll see!
GeeDeeEmm
While I had the front head off, I grabbed a light pillow from the pile and threw it inside. What the heck? I haven't used a pillow for over thirty years since learning how to get a good bass drum sound without one. But I had to satisfy my newfound curiosity. Is the pillow a fast, viable way to find a nice, thumpy bass drum sound?
Hmmm . . . yes, it is. I was surprised by what I heard - again. For playing inside my laundry room, in fact, it sounded darn near perfect. Playing live? Don't know yet.
But what pleasantly surprised me the most was the lovely new pedal response. I'd noticed over the years that it seemed that the less damping material I installed in my bass drum, the more sluggish my pedal felt. I just chalked it up to advancing age, or global warming, like everything else.
But with the pillow in place and resting firmly against the batter head, I had new-found speed like I haven't had in years. Time to think about this a little. Past experiments had shown me (a pedal-burying, heel-up player) that when I abandoned vented resos for solid heads, my bass drum abilities when to pot because of the excessive rebound that the practically-sealed drum now presented. I was having to fight the air pressure, and the pressure won. (I even experimented with some of those expensive little plastic holes installed on the batter head, and that exercise was a total flop.)
I think that this outcome is due to the simple fact that I'd grown up using no bass drum reso head, with a pillow thrown in for good measure. For the era, it sounded great, but nonetheless, my bd playing became totally dependant on having the batter head move with me, with almost all rebound dependant on the pedal spring and not the batter head. At my age, that method is ingrained and is not going to change.
So, I'm thrilled at finding my way back to that familiar rebound and response. The pillow may live yet again in my bass drum. There are problems to be conquered, of course. The pillow size, density, and placement will need some experimentation, as the big, resonant boom I like is now muted. And, I will need to do some head experimentation. I'm thinking that any additional damping provided by the factory-damped batter head (Powerstroke) is too much, and will respond better to
the pillow with a change to a clear Ambassador batter. The reso is already an undamped coated Ambassador with a vent. I'd love to replace it with the same head but without the vent hole, but that may re-introduce the excessive rebound problem. Experimentation is needed.Anyway, sad as it is, that's my big adventure for the day. But this adventure may actually pay off for me. We'll see!
GeeDeeEmm
