Thoughts On Short Stack Floor Toms?

[microkit]

I've seen some shorty kits, and usually the floor tom is near full depth, or maybe 16x12. Has any heard or played 16x8, 16x10, 18x10, or similar?

 

[mikyok]

I've had a kit for the past 13 years with short floor toms on RIMS legs. 14x10 and 16x12 I think?

FAST toms were the in thing then as well as a really deep bass drum, the bass drum is 24x20.

I love them for recording, they're Scandinavian birch with re rings construction so you get a nice pre-eq'd sound.

You lose a bit of sustain and low end that comes with a standard floor tom

 

[PorkPieGuy]

I think they look silly.

With that said, I've always been intrigued by drum sets with short stack rack toms with deeper floor toms.

 

[Bo Eder]

I’ve only tried 14x12 and 16x14 floor toms. The thinking being they can sound just as deep. But I think I lost some low end using those. I got a much better low end with the usual square-size floor times. But with everything, I guess your mileage will vary depending on your tuning and head selection, and what you like.

 

[microkit]

I’ve only tried 14x12 and 16x14 floor toms. The thinking being they can sound just as deep. But I think I lost some low end using those. I got a much better low end with the usual square-size floor times. But with everything, I guess your mileage will vary depending on your tuning and head selection, and what you like.

You think 2" is a big difference, from 16x14 to square? I've set up my ft live, with and Emperor, and dead, with a Performance II, and at no point have I thought that it needs all the resonance it has. I like how it sounds, but 16x14 doesn't scare me. Still, I'd hate to invest into a 16x10 and not like it.

 

[Blisco]

I had a DW with 7X14 and 8X16 and they sounded great. Preferable even.

Really liked the pop of the 5X8, 5X10, & 6X12 the most.

Nowadays, I'd rather have legs and not mounts for floors so I'd probably have to go with deeper depths to satisfy that desire.

But there is nothing inherently wrong with shallow toms. It's almost like how much better a 14X22 or 14X24 bass drum sounds over the really deep ones.

 

[Yoshinya]

Back in 2003 I ordered my Tama Starclassic Maple kit with my 14" and 16" "floor" toms as suspended toms with Star-Cast mounts (as was the fashion in the late 90s/early 2000s), which I mounted off my rack. As they were suspended toms and the whole FAST/Accel depths were still the thing at the time, the 14" has an 11" depth and the 16" has a 13" depth.

After about 5 years, I gave up trying to get used to them being a little further out from my right side, and decided I would non-invasively convert them to floor toms, using the WorldMax DSS Floor Tom Isolation mounts. Only then did it start to dawn on me that they're actually pretty shallow.

That being said, I find that I actually really like that they're shallower because they're a bit easier to tune to a lower note without the sustain being an issue under microphones. Plus, there is less need for muffling when I need to please a studio engineer that would normally complain that the floor toms ring out forever. The less I have to do to make the engineer happy, the better!

 

[Blisco]

I miss this kit dearly

Close up

 

[calan]

I'm sure it sounded great, but I just can't get used to that visually.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Do they sound (I know - subjective) better than deeper toms?

And if so, in what way?

 

[ineedaclutch]

This is a Ludwig Giglite short stack kit. 20x8, 10x5, 13x6, 14x6 Yamaha Custom Maple snare. All the drums fit in a bass drum bag. It's the ultimate quick setup, small footprint kit.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Man, I'd sure love to hear one of those narrow bass drums!