I use mine from time to time. I think having them present in the drum adds to the character of the sound and feel. I hardly get rattles ever.

If modern kits had internals fitted that might make them more interesting sounding.

All my kits have internal muffs..I use Moongel on my 1st Tom & dyna snare..everything else is played open...

* Only the 1970 Fullerton Roger's would rattle...I had to tinker alil..

But also found out that if your Grommet isn't nice and tight....it Rattles..!

Go figure....

My hang 8x12 sings without it on and it's 65 luddy the ft is stifled without it on so no at least on my clubbys

Most of my toms have internals and I use them as required but prefer an external rim dampener or Rem O.

I think they are more useful on metal shell snares. In the past I have added internals to my 6.5 Dyna and more recently to my 2010 Gretsch hammered brass...

Cheers

John

I love my Rogers mufflers. Usually tuning goes a long way, but the mufflers add that last important sound shaping element, just a light touch. Oh, and no rattling on my Holiday toms. :)

I have a fix for rattling mufflers. At least for the round felt Ludwig type. Most others are similar.

Mine rattled where the steel disk is grommeted to the arm. That loosens up over time and flaps about.

First, take it off the drum and remove all the screws and tension arm. Go to Lowe's and find a rubber o-ring in their hardware section. Not too big and not too small. I just eyeballed mine. I slid it down the arm (should be a very tight fit) and stretched it over the end so that the o-ring was between the arm and the muffler disk. And....problem solved

I love mine and my Slingerland 70's kit sounds incredible thanks to them.

My Gretsch set has them; My Camco Oaklawn they were removed, so I use gels on those. I liked Gretsch's Top and bottom muffler system because you can control both heads. But the felt pads are huge, so I have to use sparingly. I've found with my sets with 14" floor toms (both my current sets), either one piece of gel or the internal tone control is perfect.

I found when I had 16" floor toms (like my old Sonor Teardrop set), the muffling gave the floor tom a nasty overtone and I needed to use moon gel to even it out. But then it'd be dead compared to the rack tom tone-wise. I guess that's just a 16" FT thing more than the mufflers, but I dig them personally.

Most of my toms are without mufflers, and the few (2) that have them they are present but not used.

Same with snare drums. I either don't have them, or don't use them and if anything use moon gel or a zero ring on the top head.