28 inch shallow bass drum

brntfrry

Junior Member
I am considering building retro 14x28 bass drum. Have been told that the larger the diameter is the smaller the depth should be. Any comments?

-brnt
 
As far as I know that is the way that it was done back then. I have seen some of these old kits. Those dimensions give the bass the big boom! They are basically a marching band bass drum set on the floor.
The larger the diameter, the harder it is to play fast because the head loses some response.
 
On a drum that big, you need it to be shallow. Otherwise you won't be able to hit the head hard enough to move the air inside for any resonate head action.
 
I took a 28x14 Yamaha marching drum, and turned into a wonderful kick, buy adding Gibraltar vintage fold out spurs to it. I found it no harder to play that my 26x14. Speed metal "not" being my forte, I let a speed metal drummer play my 28x14 (DW5000 double pedal). The drum simply "roared". I certainly wouldn't want a 28" kick deeper than 14", but by the same token, I wouldn't really have a need for a shallower one, either.
 
so this bassdrum wouldn't work?

Certainly, it will work. Will it be the "easiest" kick drum to play? Certainly not. The cats making quite a statement there. Just the fact that every drum (except the kick) seems to have a snare throw-off, is making a statement. What that statement is, I'm not quite sure. But it's different. And maybe that's all it needs to be. If you ever go to a NAMM show, you'll see quite a few things that "aren't so much practical" as they are "showcasing the builders talents".
 
If 14" depth bass drums weren't a stupid, expensive special order nowdays, I'd still be using one on any diameter bass drum.
 
28x10!?!? That's a serious pancake. Do you have any sound clips?

Not any that I can post, legally. (you know, copyrighted works that aren't mine...). Maybe I'll make some sound clips sometime soon. I've been meaning to do that, anyways.

Think "big" like bonham, but more focused. It sure brings the thunder, let me tell you. It's less "boom in the room" and more "makes your hair stand up". It screams not to be played fast, because it wants to sing in between notes. Man, it's nice, but not very practical for gigs or tom placement...
 
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