Am I a freak for not liking virgin bass drums?

Mike St.Clair

Senior Member
I tried my first set recently with a virgin bass and was just irritated by the stand placement and had a really hard time getting the toms where I wanted them. Might also have been I didn't feel like buying all the required Pearl only hardware and the toms not having legs.
Do I stick with using the bass tom mount and be in the "out" crowd, or get with it and deal with the stand clamps etc? I just don't think the mount affects the bass very much due to it not being a truly resonating drum and such a low frequency. Mine will always have an Emad setup on it anyway.
 
Just install the mount on the bass drum already. There are plenty of drummers who prefer the mount on the bass drum, including Simon Phillips and Vinnie Colaiuta (not to mention ME!).

You are not a freak.
 
You are not alone but you still might be a freak. ;)

I prefer a mount on the bass drum although I do own a virgin kick. I really wanted that particular kit (Renown) so I was willing to deal with the virgin kick. I don't have any trouble getting the toms in a comfortable playing position with stands however. It should be easier as there is much more flexibility with toms on stands so I don't understand why you're having trouble with that.

Actually 2 of my bass drums have rail mounts so I don't know if those count as virgin or not. I'm guessing the spirit of the term "virgin" means that nothing is mounted to the bass drum and not necessarily that there isn't a big hole for a down tube. What do y'all think?
 
Not a freak at all.

I'd also rather put a tom on the bass drum than fly it off of a cymbal stand.

Working out the stand placement/weight distribution and getting both the tom and cymbal in exactly the right place can be tough if you're having to set up in a hurry, whereas I can drop the tom arm into the mount and it's exactly where I want it immediately.

The virgin bass drum trend is pretty popular right now, but even if I don't always use it every time I'd rather have the mount there in case I need it.
 
A couple of months ago I converted my vintage Slingerland bass drum to a virgin bass drum. I filled all of the holes.
I have not yet tuned the heads and played the drum.

I'm afraid to play the drum. Because once I do, it won't be a virgin any longer.


.
 
The only kits that should have virgin bass drums are Pearls. Their tom mounts are ugly as sin. Add the the fact that you have to look at two of them rising out off the bass drum like some $200 "intro to drumming kit" and it makes for one really ugly looking kit. Sonor has some pretty ugly bass drum risers as well. Definately virgin bass drums on them too.

I think just about every other major manufacturer has a better looking bass mount and tom riser than Pearl. In fact, one of the only reasons why I will not own a Pearl is because of those ugly tom mounts. Yeah its vein of me to say that, but looks are equally as important to me as is sound. Possibly even more important since sound can be altered in so many ways with different heads, room arrangements, or just plain old post processing.
 
Well, maybe I'm the freak because I prefer a Pearl tom mount on my bass drum. I use the second hole for my ride cymbal so that's one less piece of hardware to have to place.

Sure, the Pearl twin tube design did get copied by a lot of low-end builders, but that's not really Pearl's fault. And even though it's fashionable to bag on Pearl's tom mounts back when I owned a Pearl set I always found them to be really sturdy and easy to set up.
 
My Reference Pure kit has a virgin bass drum - but that's only because I'm using a single 8x12 tom and it's easier to just drop it in a snare stand. Although I love these Pearls, years ago I discovered I'm not a big fan of the bass drum tom mounting system. Once you get it set where you want it, it's great, but it's a major PITA experimenting to get there, I'd rather not waste my time.

Since I only ever use one rack tom in a stand, both my kits are virgin bass drums (my Ludwigs too). Although, since I love my Ludwigs so much too, I may consider installing a rail mount for that vintage look, but being left-handed, I'm not sure I want to sacrifice that just yet. I may try the Atlas rail mount one day, but that looks like I can't get my tom where I want it.

No, you're not a freak. They're your drums, if you like it, who cares what anyone else thinks?
 
No, you're not a freak. They're your drums, if you like it, who cares what anyone else thinks?
This! As long as you can get your drums where you want them.​
I'm just the opposite, in that I'd rather have a virgin bass drum. But to each their own.​
 
I'll take the slutty bass drum too. They are easier to set up at a gig.
 
I'm a fan of toms on the kick. I've used them on stands before also. 1 on each side of the kick, and 2 off to the side also. I don't remember having trouble with tom placement. I just prefer having them on the kick. I think the tom holders on Pearls are why I've never cared much for Pearls. That being said, I'd love to have a reference kit though. I think the concept of that kit is a good idea.
 
......I'd love to have a reference kit though. I think the concept of that kit is a good idea.

It is a good idea. I've been geeking out on the Reference Pure concept for a year now ;)
 
I like the tom on the kick myself. I even had a virgin Magstar bass drum drilled and added Yamaha YESS tom mount holder to the tom and kick. My DW Performance kit is virgin and It's not any trouble mounting the tom on a stand but down the road I may have the tom mount attached to the bass?
 
It may have aggravated me more because I had a Pearl kit where every drum was hanging. I found it much easier to set up with my toms mounted on the bass, we're talking about no time at all to set those up. They already had memory lock set up, so it was a no brainer. Those Pearls I bought had no included mounts, so I had to buy a tom stand with dual mounts with two arms and another arm with a cymbal clamp for one floor. I never even used my other 8" or 16" floor because I wasn't sure I loved the drums and didn't want to spend another wad of money. Luckily I sold it all for about $150 loss.
I've been eyeing the Renown 5 pc kits for $899 and the Tama SCP 4pc kit for $1199. I loved my Tama SCP birch drums back in 06. I've briefly hit on the Renowns and b/b's a few years ago, seem to remember liking the b/b's bit better. Tough to get either one in a finish I like, but I guess I'm just being too picky at that point.
When I referred to myself as a freak, I know I am one in certain ways, but hardly any upper level quality drum kit offers a tom mount on the BD. It so happens that the Starclassics do come with it, maybe a reason I seem to gravitate towards them. For the sounds they make along with the looks and quality, there aren't too many kits to compare them to at $1200-1400.
 
I love the mount because of the handy-ness for seting up

I hate the mount for the resonance i'm missing and the less clean look.

So I chose the plate over the mount, so I have the option to choose:

1558517_10205234536162566_2845927962707822649_n.jpg
 
It may have aggravated me more because I had a Pearl kit where every drum was hanging. I found it much easier to set up with my toms mounted on the bass, we're talking about no time at all to set those up. They already had memory lock set up, so it was a no brainer. Those Pearls I bought had no included mounts, so I had to buy a tom stand with dual mounts with two arms and another arm with a cymbal clamp for one floor. I never even used my other 8" or 16" floor because I wasn't sure I loved the drums and didn't want to spend another wad of money. Luckily I sold it all for about $150 loss.
I've been eyeing the Renown 5 pc kits for $899 and the Tama SCP 4pc kit for $1199. I loved my Tama SCP birch drums back in 06. I've briefly hit on the Renowns and b/b's a few years ago, seem to remember liking the b/b's bit better. Tough to get either one in a finish I like, but I guess I'm just being too picky at that point.
When I referred to myself as a freak, I know I am one in certain ways, but hardly any upper level quality drum kit offers a tom mount on the BD. It so happens that the Starclassics do come with it, maybe a reason I seem to gravitate towards them. For the sounds they make along with the looks and quality, there aren't too many kits to compare them to at $1200-1400.


You can get a dass drum mount on just about any high end kit. Pearl has a mount on their Reference Pure line, all Yamaha kits have mounts (I dont think you can get a virgin bass from Yamaha anymore). Its special order for DW, Sonor, and Mapex on their top end kits, but they offer it. Tama seems to be a company who is a bit wishy washy about their bass drum mounts. Sometimes they have them, sometimes not.

The only company who wont give you a bass drum mount is Guru. :)
 
I guess I should say semi-high end. I didn't mean to refer to their professional or top shelf stuff. Never looked at that as I don't have that kind of $ to spend.
 
I too like having the toms mounted on the bass. I play on two Mapex kits where the mount is attached but there is no hole in the bass drum. I think this is the best of both worlds.
 
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