I Followed Bo's Advice...

Hollywood Jim said:
Hey headless tom lovers.
Last night at my open jam I tried removing the reso head on one of my toms. I removed the reso on my 12" tom and left the reso on my 13" tom. The 12" had a slight boing' sound. Some weird overtone. It was not louder than it was with the reso head. And it did not sound as full and resonant as it did with the reso head. My conclusion is, if the tom heads are tuned correctly the tom will be louder and sound better with both heads.

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Jim, thanks for the input. One thing I've found in my little experiment is that tuning is still a thing - I had to carefully retune each tom after taking off the bottom heads. Now, in a sense, it's easier because there is only one head to mess with, but it's a whole different kettle o' fish, and it's easy to make that one head sound bad. My tinkering shows "boingy" and "overtones" means you're in the high-middle range. Going higher cleans up the sound a lot, but is pretty specialized. Going lower gives a deep punchy tone free from weird overtones. I have experimented a bit with EC2s, clear Ambassadors, and moongels, and I can now get a usable sound with any combination. I am frankly surprised at how similar the different heads sound when tuned just right. Even the clear Ambassador doesn't require dampening unless you just want it.

I can't speak to "louder." They just sound different. And as an interesting side note, my Mrs, who usually has no strong opinion on drum sounds, said she REALLY likes the sound of the concert toms...

Weird, eh? lol

Play on!
 
Not that I am single headed myself but.... one of my biggest drumming influences (Steve Jansen) could work a muffled concert tom set up to really say something

 
larryace said:
Unmiced, concert toms sound bad to me.
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Funny enough, I bought them especially for unmiced situations where I needed them to "project". But I really underestimated how much the "body" provided by that reso head really adds to the drum's actual volume.

That said, they still have their place: when I can nest my entire kit in one case that I can carry, that comes in very handy at many a gig.
 
I had an Evans G2 on the tom batter. Tuned rather high. Not changed from how it was tuned with the redo head. And these Toms are yamaha stage custom from 2000. They are deep Toms. Lots of tone. Microphones? Ha. No microphones here. So yes I understand lower tuned concert Toms with microphones would sound good

In my situation other drummers were playing my set so I could hear it from the audience.

So maybe I’ll try some concert Toms when I go out touring on the large venue and stadium concert circuit. Mic em up and let the professional sound people make them sound good. LOL

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These vids sound good to my ears -
With CTs, I couldn’t with hydraulics, like taking a cats last life, maybe go as far as pinstripes.

I’m the worst I know...

 
TJK said:
6-20. Damn.
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Yessr I would love to have a 20” FT.

This kit, the sizes are melodic concerts (yes even 18” floor) 6-18; 24 kick (not in pic).
Within the set there are two 16s - a 14x16 hanging and a 16x16 double headed floor.

Stroman keep up the CT love and experiment maybe you’ll hear something you like and as Bo mentioned, enjoy the journey!
 
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Okay, my DSLR does a pretty poor job of recording drum sounds, but it sounds better than my phone, and it's all I've got right now.

Here is a quick and dirty (very dirty) recording of the drums without reso heads.

I'll never say I love the sound of concert toms more than double-headed toms, but it's a fun change. I wouldn't be ashamed to take the kit out to a rock, blues, or country gig just like this.

I do find the single-headed drums lack sensitivity at low volume, so I wouldn't really use them for a quiet jazz gig, but otherwise they're entirely usable.
 
Stroman said:
Okay, my DSLR does a pretty poor job of recording drum sounds, but it sounds better than my phone, and it's all I've got right now.

I'll never say I love the sound of concert toms more than double-headed toms, but it's a fun change. I wouldn't be ashamed to take the kit out to a rock, blues, or country gig just like this.

I do find the single-headed drums lack sensitivity at low volume, so I wouldn't really use them for a quiet jazz gig, but otherwise they're entirely usable.
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Nice demonstration, and killer set!
Thanks for sharing Stroman!
 
If you take off your reso heads, the nut boxes rattle. You cannot do that in a recording studio unless you tape up the lower nut boxes. You have to be out in front of the kit to appreciate the benefit of reso heads. You might get nice sounding concert toms from your throne, but they sound flat out in front.
 
thebarak said:
If you take off your reso heads, the nut boxes rattle. You cannot do that in a recording studio unless you tape up the lower nut boxes. You have to be out in front of the kit to appreciate the benefit of reso heads. You might get nice sounding concert toms from your throne, but they sound flat out in front.
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Interestingly, these Ludwigs don't rattle like some I've heard. I think there might be a nylon insert in there or something, though I haven't disassembled a lug to check.
 
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