I Just Completed My Fusion Kit

I have just received the last piece to complete My Dream Fusion size Drum kit. (The Bass Drum)

The kit consist of,
ddrum Duo Fade Maple 7x10 7x12 and 12x14 Blue to Black Fade toms.
Mapex Black Panther Maple 5,5x13 Black Stain snare drum.
Pearl Forum 16x20 black bass drum.
Istanbul Agop 21 inch Sultan Jazz Ride.
Istanbul Agop Sultan 14 inch Hi-Hats.
Istanbul Agop Traditional Series 18 inch Crash Ride.
Zildjian K Custom Hybrid Series 11 inch splash.
Tama Iron Cobra Bass Drum Pedal.
Aquarian and Evans selected drum heads.

I found that the 18x20 and the 20x20 bass drums are to deep for me
The 16x20 is just the right depth for the sound that I wanted.
Pearl had one of last years Forum bass drums left in stock in the US so I bought it.
I have slowly been collecting the drums and cymbals for a few years now.
Most of the drums and cymbals came from eBay finds.

Bob, you are to be congratulated on the aesthetic of this kit. Considering you've pieced together dispirate makes, it has the look of something that's been designed from scratch. I'm really liking the blue to black fade. Blue is such an under used colour in drum finishes, it makes a refreshing change when used sensitively. Your colour combo has an almost electric plasma ball vibe that I like very much. Very cool stuff Bob!

bobdadruma said:

I found that the 18x20 and the 20x20 bass drums are to deep for me
The 16x20 is just the right depth for the sound that I wanted.
.

Click to expand...

Can you eloborate on this ... I have a 16x20 Ludwig and a 17.5x20 Sonor and like them both for different reasons. I'm interested in your take on it as I will be changing heads on the Sonor this weekend. Do you find wirh the longer depth that you lose attack and or focus?

Wow, that's a beautiful driver's seat view. The kit seems like a joy to play.

Can't say I'm a fan of the finish though.

Thanks All.
I didn't want an all black kit. I wanted just a bit of color.
I set out looking for toms that would go with a black snare and bass drum.
The ddrum toms were available for reasonable prices.
As most of you know, I like to find inexpensive drums on eBay.
Each tom was under $100 shipped.
Every drum was bought new from eBay except the bass which was ordered through Casico Music.

When I saw the blue fade toms I knew right away they were what I was looking for
because of their unusual look and price.
I thought about buying the matching ddrum bass drum. I found one for $200. I just didn't like the 20 inch depth of the ddrum bass.

As far as 20 inch bass drums that are deeper than 16 inches.
I just don't see the need to go deeper than 16 inches.
I don't notice any real difference it the sound after 16 inches so why carry all that extra drum around that you don't need.
An 18 or 20 inch deep drum is a pain in the ass to lug around.
16 is bad enough.
I almost bought a Sonor kit with the 17.5 bass drum but I didn't.
I would have been happy with a 14 inch deep bass.
All of the 14x20's that I found were either expensive vintage, Just shells, or in poor condition.

The tom mount that comes with the Pearl bass drum makes a better cymbal holder than it does a tom holder.
Pearl puts the tom mount so far forward on the drum that I could never use it for toms even if I wanted to.

I like the two up tom setup ...

It has sort of a Chris Layton of Double Trouble vibe, if I used two up it's exactly how I would do it.

Kenny Allyn said:

I like the two up tom setup ...

It has sort of a Chris Layton of Double Trouble vibe, if I used two up it's exactly how I would do it.

Click to expand...

I only recently began to play with two up on the side.
I wish that I had done it 30 years ago.
It is the best set up for me that I have ever played.
Never to late to live and learn I guess.

Nice kit Bob! So how does it feel not having such an anemic bass drum now?

I liked your kit when you had the RT bass drum with it, but I always thought there wasn't enough punch in that drum. Must be a shocker moving your 16x20 through a doorway as opposed to your RT, eh? Love it !

Bo Eder said:

Nice kit Bob! So how does it feel not having such an anemic bass drum now?

I liked your kit when you had the RT bass drum with it, but I always thought there wasn't enough punch in that drum. Must be a shocker moving your 16x20 through a doorway as opposed to your RT, eh? Love it !

Click to expand...

Surprisingly bo, there isn't that much difference in the sound. Volume and tone are different but the RT bass always sounded great.
I tune my bass drums tight so I always get a lot of punch and boom from them.
The Forum bass drum is deeper/fuller in tone but not really that much fuller and deeper.
I have become so fluent with the RT bass drum that I became an expert on tuning it for max performance. I always put a mic on my RT bass at gigs so it is never is a problem.

I set up my RT kit and I played it today for a while and I enjoyed it. The RT kit still has a place in my drum collection. I put the non-ported reso head that came with the Forum bass on the RT bass drum. It sounded very jazzy.

I was in for a shock when I picked up the 40LB Forum bass vs the 20LB RT bass when they were next to each other.

I love small dimension drums and thats it! I played my Tama Stagestar kit today at a three musician jam and the 14x18 bass drum was more than enough.

Back to the Pearl Forum bass drum; The drum is sturdy and well made. The bearing edges are sharp and true. The inside of the shell is smooth and finished.
The hardware is well crafted.
It only took me about a half an hour to remove the stock heads and put an Aquarian SKII batter and reso head pack on it and fully tune it when I unpacked the drum.
It is an excellent drum for the money.
The only stupid thing that I found is the position of the Tom mount. I have to wonder what Pearl was thinking???
It makes a great cymbal holder mount though!

Sexy kit, Bob. Love the finish.

So you tuned RT kick tight? I tune my pretty close to JAW because I'd otherwise worry that it sounded like a floor tom. Can vouch for the little blighter sounding great mic'd up if you're not going for that Big Bonzo Sound (after all, there are plenty of cool kick drum sounds besides that one).

Nice setup man.

Pollyanna said:

Sexy kit, Bob. Love the finish.

So you tuned RT kick tight? I tune my pretty close to JAW because I'd otherwise worry that it sounded like a floor tom. Can vouch for the little blighter sounding great mic'd up if you're not going for that Big Bonzo Sound (after all, there are plenty of cool kick drum sounds besides that one).

Click to expand...

I use SKI and SKII batters on my bass drums.
I find that these heads really open up if you crank them a bit. (About 1 1/4 turn on each lug. That translates to about 78 to 80 on a Drum Dial)
Others here on this board seem to agree with me on this also.

I also like to get a tone from the bass drum reso. I balance the sound of both heads to get a full sound. I tune the heads to compliment each other just like a tom.
The heads are muffled so there isn't much ring. Just deep tone.
If I port my reso, I use a 3 1/4 inch hole.
I don't stuff my bass drums either.

I do the same with all of my bass drums including my 14x18.
In a live setting the audience really only hears the deep boom from your bass, They don't hear any overtones that you hear close up.
If you mic a bass you simply EQ the unwanted sound out.

John Bonham had it right when it came to tuning. A tight drum is a happy drum!


P.S. Thanks eddiehimself.

Love that finish Bob.
Great looking kit- I especially like how you've pieced it together as well.

I think sometimes we get bogged down on here concerning certain brands etc etc etc


Nice to see someone taking a different approach

synergy said:

Love that finish Bob.
Great looking kit- I especially like how you've pieced it together as well.

I think sometimes we get bogged down on here concerning certain brands etc etc etc


Nice to see someone taking a different approach

Click to expand...

I also think that we tend to get caught up in all of the marketing, "Raz-A-Ma-Taz" about wood type, shell construction, hoops, virgin bass drums, etc.
I simply select drums that I find that are reasonably priced that fit into what I want to create and I run with it.

In this case;
The ddrum toms are associated with Metal Drummers.
The Pearl Forum is a beginner bass drum.
Mapex snares are an intermediate snare drum
The cymbals that I selected are related to Jazz.

I just put it all together the way that I felt that it all should fit based on what was available to me by what I call, "Selected Random Choice"
It is almost like an unknown power is guiding me to search the net, order components for my kit, And just have fun!

I am enjoying my creation and I am having fun!
It is working for me.

Thanks for your reply.

I like it Bob! Very cool unique finish on the toms.

Thanks Jim
2020202020