Friends,
I'm hoping to start a spirited and thought provoking thread here. What size drums do you prefer and why? I have very definite opinions and I'm sure everyone who logs in here does as well.
The perfect vintage kit:
12, 14, 22.
The perfect vintage plus kit:
10, 12, 14, 22 with a 13 to the left of the hi hat (I set up righty).
Why?
First the bass drum. I grew up playing a 20. I rarely used anyone else's kit. I inherited the set (12, 14, 20 '65 Gretsch in BDP with matching snare drum) and I had no idea why people used other sizes. I learned how to play in the 70s on a 60s kit during a time when when bigger and more was where it was at and people were taking off the resonant heads. Tone just didn't matter. I always felt like I needed a bigger kit because that's what the pros of the day were using but I was a kid and didn't have money for such things.
When I hit college Steve Gadd was it and floor toms weren't cool. Aerial mounted rack toms to the right of the bass drum were the thing and drum tone was really really important. That was when I developed my musical personality and I learned (not factually but definitely philosophically) two things: The tone on big drums didn't cut. Too much air and two far down the tonal spectrum. The second was that the 22 inch bass drum was the word of G-d (OK, I exaggerate) on the sound and feel of a bass drum. Also, 12, 13, 14 (I had added a 13 and a 16 to the original Gretsch kit) didn't work because the sweet spot tuning for each drum was to close to differentiate between drums. You needed at least two inches of diameter difference between drums to go for good individual tone on the drums and then 3rds and 4ths in terms of intervals between the drums. It was more melodic that way. Enter the 10 inch tom and the 13 goes into the closet for 20 years (10,12,14 as a way of life).
I was so used to hammering the 20" bass drum to cut through and having the sound man eq it into something else that the 22 was a breath of fresh air. More thud then pop. You moved the room a bit with it and that sound became home. I find a lot of people tend to agree with this. 24s are just too fat sounding for me, more of an earthquake than something dance-able.
An important fact: I never played jazz. Loved listening to it but never got into a situation where I needed to produce the sound. No big band, no small combo. So rock, rock & roll, funk, soul, blues, pop...the 22 ruled.
So for those that play 18s, 20s, 24s and grrr 26s. Let me know your thoughts.
As far as the toms are concerned. I hit the little tom a lot more than the big tom and 13s just sound to meaty in that part of my phrasing. On the floor tom, I'll be honest, I use the 14x14 because it fits the vintage look. I think there is just too much distance between the heads and the ideal drum down there is no deeper than 12 inches (probably left over from the days when Gadd ruled). On my second kit I keep a non vintage (obviously) 12x15 over there. It sounds better than the 14x14 on my main kit. So form rules over physics in my eyes on my main kit.
16x16 or bigger? I could never get that thing to sing the way I want a drum to sing. Too much air to move, too low a frequency range in the sweet spot.
Finally snares: 5x14. I've tried every one and that is the proper balance of tone and snare response for me.
So, I hope I haven't bored anyone or seemed too self indulgent. I just wanted to be thought provoking and basically hear what everyone has to say.
Thanks.
Gary
Dix Hills, NY
