Rock/Metal drummers: Kick drum beaters that give you a real "click"?

M

matt6g

Junior Member
Hello all.
I'm in the market for new kick drum beaters.
I've been using the DW plastic ones with my Pearl Demon Drive for the past 6 years or so and they're pretty worn out..
So I ditched them and bought the Tama Iron Cobra Rubber beaters.
They were ruined after one 45 min. set.
So I've been doing some research and I came across these: http://www.slugdrums.com/SlugWebPages/P.H.PUNCHCOLLAR.html
Has anyone ever used these? Heard of them? Heard of the company?
I'm curious...looks like a pretty neat design.
I've also been looking at these: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/trick-drums-pro-1-v-detonator-beater
Anyone use those?
I'm looking to get some additional attack out of my pedals.
The action is just where I want it...I'm just trying to find some decent beaters that won't crap out on me and feel great.
Let me know your experiences and what you guys use!
 
Haven't used either of those. I have used Slug patches before, and they seemed good.

Beater shape is an interesting thing that people don't seem to pay attention to, it's similar to tip shape on sticks- huge effect on the sound.

Basically, more surface area hitting the head = more activation, more tone, more 'fullness'. Less surface area hitting the head = less of that stuff which is perceived as a faster, more staccato sound, i.e. more attack. The mass of the beater & obviously the material affect these as well, but the mass can be adjusted with weights. Surface area, not really.

I have been using the VicKick wood beaters for quite a while and adore them. A good medium weight (not as light as the Iron Cobra beaters, not as heavy as DW stock ones) and you can turn them to get a 'radial' strike (less surface area) or whatever the marketing term is the other way for more surface area. I'd recommend you try one of those.

Also, don't discount the value of getting consistent, hard hits from your legs. That will do more for a modern punchy sound than new beaters, but the beaters can obviously help in some ways.
 
First off, how did your DW beaters "wear out" they are huge chucks of molded plastic. Those things will still be intact when the sun swallows the earth. And how did you ruin a set of IC beaters in 45 min? What the hell are you using for a bass drum head? I know Im being a bit of a smart ass, but I am really curious.

Anyway, the Slug looks pretty hefty. Also the Axis sonic hammers have a similar look and are pretty sturdy. If you are looking for attack either of those should do the trick.
 
I used to tape quarters on my kick head where the beaters hit. I'd tape them over my reinforcement patch and then hammere away with the plastic side of my 101 beaters. The tape would last through a set, but I needed new quarters after every few hours of playing. They turned into pringles. Eventually my guitarist cut some "quarters" for me out of a sheet of stainless with a hole saw. Those never bent and they still gave me that hard "click".

Eventually I got over the whole clicky thing and I had to file down my beaters smooth again after all the chewing away the quarters did.
 
eclipseownzu said:
First off, how did your DW beaters "wear out" they are huge chucks of molded plastic. Those things will still be intact when the sun swallows the earth. And how did you ruin a set of IC beaters in 45 min? What the hell are you using for a bass drum head? I know Im being a bit of a smart ass, but I am really curious.
Click to expand...

Well the DW beaters I've been using since 2005/2006. Now they're so worn out that they can't even hit the head evenly. As for the Iron Cobra's, those things are made so poorly that the beater itself would become loose and rotate in all sorts of directions. The rubber on that thing wears out so fast to the point where it's not even usable anymore.
 
Something to take into consideration if you're going to use wooden beaters- It's best to use some sort of heavy duty kevlar patch. The wooden beaters will eat through a bass drum head faster than anything you've ever seen.

I have been using the Slug beaters now for about 20 years. They're just great beaters and they hit nice and square every time. If they ever loosen up on you Baron (the owner) will fix them. He's a great dude.

Here's an oldschool trick- Take a very large coin or similar metal disc about 30-40mm in diameter and a kickpad and put the coin in the middle of the pad. Then you can put another kickpad over the top of that one, to hold the coin down. Put this on your drumhead and line up the beater. You'll get a ton of click. I've seen guys do this and eventually the coin will just shatter.

Here's some products to check out:
Slug Batter Badges
Slug Bass Drum Beaters
 
I'm with Porter, Wood vic kicks are AMAZING for sound and click.

I use an EMAD2, remo falam slam(Because kevlar), and wood vic kicks. It offers lots of attack but doesn't make my drum sound like it's a block of wood.
 
I saw a video on Youtube, on Gibraltar's channel, they have a series called "Brent's Hang" and Brent showed off a bass drum patch that came with a metal disk that you could slot into it, but if you really want a beater, I'd +1 the wood Vic Kicks.
 
A long time ago a friend of mine drilled out a golf ball and threaded a shaft into it. It was for fun, but it turned out to have a ton of attack. You might have a hard time keeping a golf ball secured to the beater shaft, but it'd be fun to try.
 
incrementalg said:
A long time ago a friend of mine drilled out a golf ball and threaded a shaft into it. It was for fun, but it turned out to have a ton of attack. You might have a hard time keeping a golf ball secured to the beater shaft, but it'd be fun to try.
Click to expand...

That is a great idea actually... it wouldn't be too hard to get it stuck on a shaft. Expoxy or simply melting it into the golf ball would work.
 
How did you ruin your IC beaters so quick?

I have the same ones for soooo long, and i go pretty long and hard, and the are still in super good condition.



I prefer the sound and feel of rubber ones, i haven't really noticed a difference when it comes to diff. brands
 
I'm another one who's mystified by how quickly the OP destroyed the Iron Cobra rubber beaters. Either you got some defective ones, or you just shred through beaters by being a monster. ;)

I've had mine for about 5 years and they don't really seem "worn down." They're my favorite beaters for a good balance of attack with still an acceptable amount of low end response from the drum.

Still, I agree with everyone who said wood beaters, especially the VicKick ones.
 
I can't believe people are still doing this. After I heard And Justice For All I wanted a super clicky kick sound and I bought one of those patches with the indestructible plastic disc inside. So stupid. With a mic a PA and some subs your kick can click away and move massive amounts of air too. Tuned all thin and clicking away it doesn't sound so good when mic'ed. You don't need to make the drum actually sound like a "tick" to achieve that sound live and in recording. The advice we as a community are supposed to give, is don't try to make your drums sound like your favorite recording.
 
The SunDog said:
I can't believe people are still doing this. After I heard And Justice For All I wanted a super clicky kick sound and I bought one of those patches with the indestructible plastic disc inside. So stupid. With a mic a PA and some subs your kick can click away and move massive amounts of air too. Tuned all thin and clicking away it doesn't sound so good when mic'ed. You don't need to make the drum actually sound like a "tick" to achieve that sound live and in recording. The advice we as a community are supposed to give, is don't try to make your drums sound like your favorite recording.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

The raw sound could be any kick. the actual click sound comes from eq'ing.

What you want to strive for is the raw sound before processing.
This should point you in the right direction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDgRQGJpQz8

Although i reckon you'll be wanting something extremer.
What worked for me is the evans emad2 (with both rings on) and 2 of those evans eq pads. You want to achieve is a nice clear sound with short attack (hence the 2 eq pads) so the soundguy can do his stuff. tight batter head & loose reso worked best for me.

TLDR;
The beater doesn't do sh*t all, it's the equalizing that gives you the click.
 
The SunDog said:
I can't believe people are still doing this. After I heard And Justice For All I wanted a super clicky kick sound and I bought one of those patches with the indestructible plastic disc inside. So stupid. With a mic a PA and some subs your kick can click away and move massive amounts of air too. Tuned all thin and clicking away it doesn't sound so good when mic'ed. You don't need to make the drum actually sound like a "tick" to achieve that sound live and in recording. The advice we as a community are supposed to give, is don't try to make your drums sound like your favorite recording.
Click to expand...

I agree to an extent, but there are plenty of drummers that don't play stages with high quality sound systems. I used to play in a band that played only house shows or basement shows in a more underground scene. I used the Tama wooden IC beaters and got a pretty great sound but I probably also like a more punch than click. The LowBoy custom beaters that were posted earlier look pretty neat as well. I've played slug beaters and didn't really care for them, but obviously to each his own.
 
JacobDB said:
I agree to an extent, but there are plenty of drummers that don't play stages with high quality sound systems. I used to play in a band that played only house shows or basement shows in a more underground scene. I used the Tama wooden IC beaters and got a pretty great sound but I probably also like a more punch than click. The LowBoy custom beaters that were posted earlier look pretty neat as well. I've played slug beaters and didn't really care for them, but obviously to each his own.
Click to expand...

You raise a good point and your absolutely right. Wood and plastic beaters can accentuate the attack and help (a little) to achieve that sound. For younger guys who don't own the kind of gear that I do (ie 18" powered subs) or play the kind of venues that have big sound systems the temptation to try and get that sound from the drum itself is very real. I did it myself. My kick was tuned so loose on the batter that the pedal would literally thwack against it, with a pretty fair amount of internal dampening too. Toms with all resonance muffled, and snare cranked to the stratosphere. When I started getting booked and mixing with more drummers and getting hear there kits from out front, what I found was that my drums sounded really bad by comparison. So while your right that drums can be tuned to resemble the sounds in recordings, I feel I have to point out that it is a mistake and one that will need to be fixed eventually. One step up and two steps back. Why learn to tune improperly only to eventually have to admit it and then go about learning how to tune again.
 
If you really want your kick to sound like the big name metal drummers, get triggers. Almost all of the +220BPM drummers use triggers for the only reason that you wouldn't hear the individual hits if they didn't use them. So keep in mind that the click is there only to define the hit, not make up the entire sound of the kick.
 
For Justice it was Tama Superstar bass drums 16*24 and normal Tama king beat pedals.

It was all in the mix of the drums that Lars wanted and pretty soon went away from. He was also behind the decision for the low bass. The drums did not sound the same.
 
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