My other instrument

[swarfrat]

Been messing with drums the past year or so. I'm a fan of 70's and 80's hard rock, and like big drums. So when I found this 32" marching bass drum on Craigslist I jumped on it. (My boy jumped in it - literally. Started to hamster wheel it before I got the legs on). Today I "completed" my kick/snare kit (sometimes called a "bikini kit" - as it's a two piece) with a similar 70's vintage Ludwig stainless marching snare - a 12x15.  Really massive bass drums can often sound papery instead of huge, I have a huge sheet of felt damping overtones, but very little of the traditional "pillow stuffing" - so it's still got a lot of boom, a short note, but it's deep and solid. The snare is absolutely killer for a child of the 70's / 80's. I like a deep dark dry snare with a lot of beef. This had is in spades. No toms, I don't think they'd fit, and I'm not much on toms anyway.

 

[Cagey]

Gotta love a marching snare. Very authoritative. I've always wondered why more rock drummers don't use them.

 

[swarfrat]

Indeed. I love both old school marching snares and a lot of marching style snare fills.  Nowadays "marching snare" is this super high tension Kevlar heads with tunings that require you to wear eye protection and a cup in case something breaks. This is more like "For those about to rock" except you can get deep tunings and actually have a playable head an some snare response. It definitely has the cannon thing going.

I've seen people use these 12x15 snare drums as mini-kick drums.  I think that's more a sad commentary on current trends in bass drums than anything else, but it still makes an admirable attempt at it.  I tuned the bass drum up, applied muffling to get more fundamental and less overtone. At first I was like - Hmm, it's the best I've gotten out of a bass drum, but it still doesn't have the gutteral punch I was looking for. Then I stuck my head in the front, and it'll make you queasy. It's tuned well above lowest possible pitch and it's got a solid 33Hz coming out. THEN I noticed that the walls were rattling. Went just a little bit higher and boom - that's it.

 

[zebra]

Hmmmm, I like.  Just add a high-hat...I love a three piece bass-snare-high-hat combo....

 

[swarfrat]

My hat stand was on my e-kit at the moment. My hats are Sabian APX solid 13"ers. They're considered "pro" level hats, but barely, but more importantly they're not voiced well for this setup. They're loud and brash... they're kind of like a chihuahua.  One of the next things I want to do with it is get some 15" hats. But I've done everything on the cheap, and I mean SUPER cheap. Finding NewBeats/2002's/AAX/K equivalent in a larger than normal size for cheap is a very tall order.  I have a two year old in the house who is obsessed with drums. I'm not about to put hundreds of dollars worth of B20 out on a stand and let Buddy Rich Jr lay into with the 2B's.

 

[Surf n Music n Ski n Bike]

I love the drums! Always wanted a set just like this. Nice and simple. The problem is every time I sit down and try and play all my limbs just don't cooperate. Don't even know where to begin. Always seems overwhelming. That is a sweet little set bruddah!

 

[Cagey]

I've lived with or otherwise had unrestricted access to drums in the past and have the same experience. They're not as easy to play as one might imagine. Quite difficult, in fact, to do well. People make fun of drummers all the time, but the good ones really do have a lotta time into making them sound good.

 

[swarfrat]

Surf - Little?

Drums are kind of unique among instruments in that you still have fun even if you suck.

 

[Surf n Music n Ski n Bike]

Surf - Little?

Drums are kind of unique among instruments in that you still have fun even if you suck.

That's true. Maybe when I have a garage I'll get me some.

Little meaning it is only 2 pieces. Not something like this  :toothy10:

 

[swarfrat]

Managed to finish out my cymbal set - similarly themed - big, loud, authoritative,  larger than life, and a screaming deal.

Yep, those are 16" hats. And a 15" snare. And a 32" bass drum. And it's more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Interestingly enough, I've found that larger hats are much much easier to control with the foot pedal. The hats are Concert Band heavy crashes. APX is a discontinued line from Sabian that was only made for about 4 years and everyone has been blowing out their stock. It's loud & cutting and designed to compete with Paiste 2002 series.

I'm not sure what I could do for toms - but I'm thinking either a single floor tom, two floor toms, or one up, two down. Regardless - I think the first tom is going be another Ludwig 12x15 snare similar to the one on the left side of my right leg.  From there I'm not as certain. The likely candidates are 12/15/18.

 

[Glimmer]

Little meaning it is only 2 pieces. Not something like this  :toothy10:

What – no gong?

 

[bagman67]

Drums are kind of unique among instruments in that you still have fun even if you suck.

That's weird - I'm pretty sure I suck at guitar, and I have a blast with it.

 

[amigarobbo]

Little meaning it is only 2 pieces. Not something like this  :toothy10:

What – no gong?

That's just out of the top of frame, with the rope hanging down so it can be played with the teeth, Keith Emerson, Carl Palmer styleé

 

[amigarobbo]

My bad, having checked, he apparently plays a church bell with his teeth