Adding 13" tom instead of 8" !! Advice please

drummerseahawkboy81

Junior Member
Guys I need your help I have a yamaha stage custom kit cranberry red that Ive had since I was 18 got it back in 1999 my senior year in high school. It has fusion size toms 10x9, 12x10, 14x12(suspended) and I added a 16x16 floor tom. Anyways for years I've been trying to find a matching 8x8 tom and havent had any luck at all. Yesterday at the GC I found a 13x10(I think) matching tom used and they were willing to sell the shells seperate.

My question to everyone here is do you think the 13" inch would go well with my kit ? You usually see 8,10,12,14,16 toms not 10, 12, 13,14,16. Does anyone here have that setup ? I would really prefer to find that 8x8 but I dont think I will considering my stage custom is older. You can buy 8x7 add on toms for the stage custom but the color, lugs, shell are all a bit different. A buddy of mine was telling to go for it and just crank my 10 up to kinda get that 8" sound IDK....... Fellow drummers help me out
 
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I have 12,13 and 16" toms. I've seen where some drummers, like the guys for Iron Maiden and Rush, even have 15". I'm skeptical on toms with only 1" difference, but they seem to like it. And my 13" is significantly deeper sounding than my 12". So yeah, I'd do it. adding a mid-sized tom may mean re-tuning everything though. Just a guess.
 
I have 12,13 and 16" toms. I've seen where some drummers, like the guys for Iron Maiden and Rush, even have 15". I'm skeptical on toms with only 1" difference, but they seem to like it. And my 13" is significantly deeper sounding than my 12". So yeah, I'd do it. adding a mid-sized tom may mean re-tuning everything though. Just a guess.

One of my cocerns is getting that 13 deeper than my 12 cause it being so close. My 12' is the hardest drum on my kit to tune has always been
 
Hey there,
I`m running on a 8-10-12-13-16 configuration. For me, the difference between the 12" and the 13" toms is pretty big for just a 1 inch increment.
I`m not sure why do you want so badly an 8" tom but i find it a bit impractical in some genres. I`d say buy the 13" one if it`s matching and you could trade it later if you`d want to. Anyway, 13"toms usually sound really good!
 
My opinion is a 12, 13, and 14 are too close together, and an 8" is too small. In other words I'd leave them be. But you don't want that so I'd go with the 8. Because a tom run between a 12, 13 and 14 would sound pretty much like a tom run on one drum IMO. There just isn't enough of a size difference to differentiate in the audience. You may hear the diff but it most likely gets lost 10 feet away. 4 toms isn't enough? I can make my 3 toms sound like a lot more with linear type fills, and using the bass drum in there as a tom, broadens the palette even more. But they're YOUR drums and should do what you crave.
 
I own 10", 12", 13", 14" and 16" toms. I think a 12" and a 13" can work together but a 13" and a 14" really don't go together that well.
 
Thanks guys for the input, Im still debating but I think my might go ahead and do it considering they only want 60 bucks for it........

If any of you have that setup could you post a vid so I can hear it
 
My opinion is a 12, 13, and 14 are too close together, and an 8" is too small. In other words I'd leave them be. But you don't want that so I'd go with the 8. Because a tom run between a 12, 13 and 14 would sound pretty much like a tom run on one drum IMO. There just isn't enough of a size difference to differentiate in the audience. You may hear the diff but it most likely gets lost 10 feet away. 4 toms isn't enough? I can make my 3 toms sound like a lot more with linear type fills, and using the bass drum in there as a tom, broadens the palette even more. But they're YOUR drums and should do what you crave.

Lol...... Oh yeah 4 toms are def enough but I always wanted the option to go wit 5..... The 14" that came with the kit jus wasnt deep enough thats why I bought the 16"
 
I like my toms in 2 inch differential increments

10, 12 , 14 on one kit
and 12, 14 on the other.....soon to be another of the same
 
One of my cocerns is getting that 13 deeper than my 12 cause it being so close.

Easily done. One of the highest selling drum kits of all time, the Pearl Export, came with 12", 13" and 16" toms. Thousands of guys the world over had one of these kits......they were everywhere in the late 80's through 90's. I owned one and heard a bunch of them over the years.....the 13" tom always sounded deeper than the 12"
 
I'd pick it up for sure. I have a kit with 12 & 13 racks and another with a 13 & 14. In both cases I have to tune the larger rack uncomfortably low and the smaller one uncomfortably high to get the separation I like. I usually end up using only the 13 on both kits, though, so it doesn't matter much in my case. In your case, it might just be handy to have that matching drum around so you can play a 13/16 config as an alternate, still keeping an eye out for that 8, of course.
 
I think you should just buy it anyway, it's not often that you find a matching tom. I ran a 10-13-16 setup for a while and it gave me great separation as well as a wide palate of sounds to use. I had my 13" tuned to where it almost sounded like a small floor tom.
 
I'd say get the 13 if you're set on keeping the kit. Might not run into a matching 8 for quite a while. You have plenty of 'frequency space' between the 12 and 14 if you tune them high and low.

If you still want to get the higher pitches, consider a set of roto-toms. Easy to find, relatively cheap, and you can tune them up really high.
 
I have two kits with a 13" x 9" rack tom and the 13" was part of the standard kit configuration years ago. I find that the 13" drum is a refreshing change over the 10 or 12. I also have 8" toms with other sets, but I find the 13" a bit more useful depending on the genre of music I'm playing. With my newest set of drums, I've been gigging with 10", 13" and 16" toms.

The first kit is one of my original vintage kits (1965) with a 20" x 14", 12" x 8", 13" x9" 16" x 16" and a 14" x 5 1/2" snare.

The second set of drums is my "shell pack" that consists of a 20" x 16, 10" x 7", 12" x 8", 13" x 9", 14" x 14", 16" x 16" and a 14" x 5" snare drum.

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Dennis
 
For those who wanted to see the kit heres a tiny pic of it, not sure how to make it bigger.
 

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Guys I need your help I have a yamaha stage custom kit cranberry red that Ive had since I was 18 got it back in 1999 my senior year in high school. It has fusion size toms 10x9, 12x10, 14x12(suspended) and I added a 16x16 floor tom. Anyways for years I've been trying to find a matching 8x8 tom and havent had any luck at all. Yesterday at the GC I found a 13x10(I think) matching tom used and they were willing to sell the shells seperate.

My question to everyone here is do you think the 13" inch would go well with my kit ? You usually see 8,10,12,14,16 toms not 10, 12, 13,14,16. Does anyone here have that setup ? I would really prefer to find that 8x8 but I dont think I will considering my stage custom is older. You can buy 8x7 add on toms for the stage custom but the color, lugs, shell are all a bit different. A buddy of mine was telling to go for it and just crank my 10 up to kinda get that 8" sound IDK....... Fellow drummers help me out

I have a 10", 12", 13", 14", and a 16", and I absolutely love it. They work very well together when tuned properly. I personally have no use for an 8" and would advise you to get the 13".
 
I would suspect you'd find a huge difference between your 10 and 12, and then not much from 12 to 13 and 13 to 14.

I'd go for another floor, 16"
 
Easily done. One of the highest selling drum kits of all time, the Pearl Export, came with 12", 13" and 16" toms. Thousands of guys the world over had one of these kits......they were everywhere in the late 80's through 90's. I owned one and heard a bunch of them over the years.....the 13" tom always sounded deeper than the 12"

I can attest to that. Had two Export kits back-to-back. Took the 12" off for the 4-piece. Loved that 13" rack tom.
 
I'd personally get an 8. I can see that your kit is already setup as well as it can be with everything nice and close. As a hanging tom, all the 13 is going to do is move your 14 back and your 16 out of reach. As a rack tom, you'll need to move your cymbals further apart and they'll be harder to reach. You could put it to the left of your hi-hat but then you'll need another stand to hang it from.

Is it the end of the world if you go out and buy an 8" tom of a different model/brand/colour?
 
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