To each his own, I suppose. I personally dislike muting drums in any way. The only drum I dampen at all is the bass, with only a felt strip on the reso head.
So much of the kit makes more noise chatter for sustain to matter to me. I could tighten, lube and space my kit so it is otherwise chatter free, but that only lasts for a couple days. We mute our BD`s the same.
I just picked up a 68 ludwig club date kit it sounds great. But the 12" rack tom is choked so badly on snare stand or rail. What should I do to fix this? I've seen where others say a snare basket fixes it but mine didnt seem to make a difference. Is there a certain snare stand that will make this better? Or is there a ludwig mounting system that I can upgrade the kit with that will make it resonate more? Thanks for any suggestions. It's really frustrating to have such great sounding drums be hindered by hardware.
I don`t think there is. Squeeze your stick and hit it, then hold it gently and hit it. That`s what snare stands do to your tom, they squeeze it.
I don't have half the experience that most of you guys have but when my 16"FT rang louder and longer than my 13" RT I thought bigger drum = bigger sound. I had Emperors or G2's for both batters. I switched the RT head to a thinner Ambassador or G1 and it evened it up the volume and sustain pretty good.
I don't have half the experience that most of you guys have but when my 16"FT rang louder and longer than my 13" RT I thought bigger drum = bigger sound. I had Emperors or G2's for both batters. I switched the RT head to a thinner Ambassador or G1 and it evened it up the volume and sustain pretty good.
That`s the other half mick, heads, it`s so difficult for anyone to determine that issue unless one has gone through the heads. I haven`t so I can`t recommend heads.
It`s been said here a million times, sometimes a drum simply needs the right heads.
I have no experience with these, but I've been curious to try them since mounting my 12" Rogers tom on a snare stand noticeably reduces tone and sustain. Maybe worth a shot?http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/tnr-products-little-booty-shakers
They're basically what I replicated (in a very rough, DIY manner) by attaching some pieces of foam to the plastic basket claws on my snare stand. Worked a treat! They're the snare basket equivalent of the Pearl ISO feet. I have them on the straight legs for my RK 16" which was incredibly dead beforehand. Opened the drum right up, tuning range is much greater, more tone, more sustain.
Cam............I will restate what I have said several times in threads like this. The manufacturers made the drum sets with factory-installed hardware for mounted toms. The drums were made to sound the way they were disigned to sound. Sometimes the original owner or the store that sold the drums installed the desired mounting hardware. The resulting basic voice of the tom was what it was, and remains as what it originally was. If you can't get it to sound the way you WANT it to sound, accept what you get or get rid of the offending drum or drum set. If you think my opinion on the matter is extreme, you're very welcome to think what you want to think of my opinion.
My Slingerland doesn't have mounting hardware. The 16" has leg brackets but that's the closest thing. 26" and 13" are both virgins; no tom mount on either, I've got the DW hoop clamp spurs on the bass and they work well.
I understand it if you want to run your drums exactly as they came from the manufacturer, but is there any harm in doing something a little differently if you feel it improves the sound? I'm not talking about modifying the drums at all here either. My drums would have come from he shop with calf heads and probably served the early part of their life in a big band setting, tuned up a fair bit. I'm playing remo heads, tuned medium, predominantly in a rock context. I've got the tom in a snare stand because that's what works. I've got some isolation on the snare stand and the Pearl ISO feet because without them the drums sound flat and horrible, even when tuned higher they're still lifeless and choked.
I don't want to deal with calf head tuning in Melbourne where it'll rain in the morning and then be hot in the afternoon, let alone pay big money for heads that are not readily accessible in Australia (outside of the Kentville kangaroo heads) that I could very well go through quickly when I'm spanking the drums with 5Bs while surrounded by guitar stacks. If I could only play the drums with calf and without the isolation for the toms I'd probably get rid of them.
The fact is that I love the way these drums sound (and look) the way I've got them set up. They're probably the warmest sounding drums I've ever heard in person, and the other kits I've played and owned haven't come close to matching 'that tone' that they have. What's the harm in using them slightly differently to the factory settings?
I wonder if on guitar forums it's seen as taboo to use a modern strap or a new lead with a vintage guitar instead of what would have been the factory option at the time?
My Slingerland doesn't have mounting hardware. The 16" has leg brackets but that's the closest thing. 26" and 13" are both virgins; no tom mount on either, I've got the DW hoop clamp spurs on the bass and they work well. I understand it if you want to run your drums exactly as they came from the manufacturer, but is there any harm in doing something a little differently if you feel it improves the sound? I'm not talking about modifying the drums at all here either. My drums would have come from he shop with calf heads and probably served the early part of their life in a big band setting, tuned up a fair bit. I'm playing remo heads, tuned medium, predominantly in a rock context. I've got the tom in a snare stand because that's what works. I've got some isolation on the snare stand and the Pearl ISO feet because without them the drums sound flat and horrible, even when tuned higher they're still lifeless and choked. I don't want to deal with calf head tuning in Melbourne where it'll rain in the morning and then be hot in the afternoon, let alone pay big money for heads that are not readily accessible in Australia (outside of the Kentville kangaroo heads) that I could very well go through quickly when I'm spanking the drums with 5Bs while surrounded by guitar stacks. If I could only play the drums with calf and without the isolation for the toms I'd probably get rid of them. The fact is that I love the way these drums sound (and look) the way I've got them set up. They're probably the warmest sounding drums I've ever heard in person, and the other kits I've played and owned haven't come close to matching 'that tone' that they have. What's the harm in using them slightly differently to the factory settings?I wonder if on guitar forums it's seen as taboo to use a modern strap or a new lead with a vintage guitar instead of what would have been the factory option at the time?
The strap only needs to be cool. Everyone I know love the phoneline coiled leads. Less likely to trip over them.
I understood him as to mean don`t let the drum dictate. Just like guitars, if it`s not the sound your looking for, find the one that is. Kinda like some MIJ kits sounding incredible but looking so Rogers.
An old Ludwig 1355-1 snare stand doesn't choke and adjusts very high. I use it with a 13" vintage Ludwig tom. Any modern stand needs Little Booty Shakers to get the same result, I've tried quite a few.
For some perspective, here's an example of what the rack tom can sound like on the factory mount, tuned relatively low -
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sGBIE5cqfQ"]1960's Ludwig Club Date 3pc Black Oyster Kit & Istanbul Cymbals - YouTube[/ame]
...and another tuned higher -
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evSjbyS7Ck0"]LUDWIG CLUB DATE 60's Leedy snare, K.L.Custom cymbals - YouTube[/ame]
...and on a snare stand -
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31D-nvfOc8M"]Restored 1960s Ludwig Club Date - Peters Drum Company - YouTube[/ame]
Based on these and my own experience my humble opinion is you just have to keep trying - with the right heads and finding the drum's sweet spot it's possible to defeat the choke.
Mitch
I found nothing objectionable to the sound of any of those three Club Date toms. My preference among the three is for the first drum set tuned higher on the factory mount.
