Beater talk...

good topic, as i've been thinking of going with the old school round beater. it seems to be a case of They Got It Right The First Time.

i use the stock Imperialstar beater:




on a Pearl P120 pedal:
 

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I used a stock DW felt beater for quite a while but recently have switched to a modified Axis stock beater.

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The beater is made of hard plastic and I have wrapper it in wool yarn essentially the same way one would wrap a mallet. I think this combination is the best combination for what I do. I love feathering the kick for jazzier tunes and there is a satisfying strike for the heavier stuff. Sorry, I don't have a picture of my wrapped beater.
 
The DW stock beater seems to be popular amongst many here...

...as is the traditional round felt beater, which comes as a surprise, I though most of you would use "modern" design beaters, but hey, the old type felt beater has been around for a long long time now, and it's featured on so many iconic recordings, I guess it will never go out of fashion :)

I use this for Grunge and Punk rock.

Lol, is it very heavy? It must be loud, but does it gives attack?

Is no one using skateboard wheels any longer?

You're kidding, right?

At the time I couldn't play drums at home but the beater seemed to hit my foot practice pad at an angle, like the bottom of the flat front surface would dig into the head if I put it on the drum.

That's the good thing about Tama's IC beaters, you can adjust the angle of the beaters on the shaft to hit the head/pad completely flat.

I'm thinking of trying the wood ones...

I use to play wood beaters back in the days of my double bass drums kit, it's the only time I ever broke a batter head, they're not drumhead friendly unless you use some patches.
 
Usually in Malaysia all surfaces of a room(our houses, shop lots, etc.) is hard - tiles, concrete or gypsum board.
So the drums automatically gets a hard, usually unpleasant, sound. In a larger room we get Phil Collins drum sound for free -)

Yeah...my room is concrete and wood.

Though I wounder what is a soft surface? I don't suppose they use sponge to build a house right? o_O

What beater do you favor?
 
I have a couple of custom made beaters by Bigfoot. Currently I'm using Stan the skull.

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I just switched to a Danmar wood beater on my 26". I haven't used one since my Thrash days.. It seems to have added just the right amount of crack to the boom.
 
I have a couple of custom made beaters by Bigfoot. Currently I'm using Stan the skull.

2009setup7.jpg

God, that is funny! It's like "I'm so metal even my beater is scaryl"
 
Is no one using skateboard wheels any longer?

Back in the 80's I used a Road Rider #2. I loved it!
I've been thinking of trying a skate wheel again but this time w/a modern wheel, maybe a 50-52mm. What's cool about using a skate wheel is you can get different durometer (hardness). The small ones, that would work well on a pedal, are typically pretty hard. I do have a small set of wheels (somewhere) that are soft (88A) that I think would work.
Also to note, good skate wheels have a good "rebound" - I guess that means bounce - might help the feel of the beater coming off the head.
 
not being the skateboard generation myself, i'd never considered skateboard wheels.

but thinking back... back in '76, my neighbors had skateboards with these clear amber-ish wheels they were kind of soft, which surprised me because the previous skateboards i had seen had hard metallic street roller skating types of wheels. i was 16 and not interested in skateboarding or the 6 Million Dollar Man.

this was the dawn of the new generation of skateboarding. i was surprised that it was coming back, because my generation never skateboarded - it was something from the 50's.

i think those soft amber (more like motor oil colored) wheels would be an excellent material for bass drum beaters.
 
Funny to run into this thead. After several years of playing the OP's #1 (regular felt beater), I switched to the OP's #2 just for a change. I have to thank Mad About Drums as I had no idea that the little thing on the shaft was a weight! Cool! Now I have something else to play around with! :)
 
I'm using the stock felt beaters on my Demon Drive. I'm thinking of trying the wood ones.

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That's what I'm using, but unfortunately they are almost completely warn out (the felt one that is). Thinking of picking up a pair of the pearl quad beaters.
 
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I'm not the most experienced, but I do know that I love the rubber Iron Cobra beaters. They have a boom that I've not heard in the few other beaters I've tried.
 
I've used the Danmar felt and wood in the past. Good stuff.

Trying to find the best sound and feel, I went through several beaters, and had the guys in the band at the time listen and tell me which one sounded the best. I had a feeling, and knew what I liked behind the drum, but I knew they could tell me what sounded cool out front.

It was the OLD version DW that sounded best.
There was actually a slight difference between the older more angled DW beater (where the plastic angles into the felt) and the latest one (which is now about 10 years old haha!).

When I went to get a second beater for my other pedal, all they had on the wall was the square one, which sounded different (after I put it on). I took it back and looked through their stock and bought the 4 or 5 remaining angled beaters.
Maybe it was overkill, but I wasn't taking any chances, and that beater still sounds the best to me when I get the itch to try something else.
 
I switch between two types.

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And

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These days I'm using the DW more. I like the weight of it for heavier music. It seems to produce a louder more round tone than the much lighter tama beater, which I like for the more focused sharp sound. One odd thing is that I prefer the lighter tama beater for un-ported kick drums, and the dw for ported heads... Something about the rebound properties.

The other thing I really dig about the dw is the difference between each side. The thick soft felt side produces and entirely different tone and feel than the large-surface-area plastic/rubber side, while the weight of the beater gives "solidity" in both cases. Sometimes I'll reach down with a drum key between songs and turn it around for the next tune.
 
same beater ...always....for all styles

Danmar Felt...best beater made in my opinion

hard enough for rock and funk......just soft enough for jazz

exactly what I need

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Any difference between Danmar felt and my Yamaha classic felt beater,stock version? They look pretty much the same,don't they?

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Any difference between Danmar felt and my Yamaha classic felt beater,stock version? They look pretty much the same,don't they?

gen__vyr_379ttb30f.jpg

they are pretty similar yeah

the Danmar just feels like it is constructed better to me

I never liked the nut on top....and the Danmar is slightly more rounded

same consistency though
 
I've been wanting to experiment with the beater striking at the apex of the swing(right when the weight of the beater is over the center of balance) so I bought some Sonic Hammer Beaters for my AXIS Pedals.

No experimenting yet though....would welcome any comments from folks that have tried 'em.
 
Sorry to bring up an old thread but I wanted to ask the Iron Cobra players if they use the weights and where on the beater do you guys have them set? I have one on the bottom of the beater shaft and then another right below the beater head. Trying to go for the maximum punch without the effort.
 
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