My 14" Slingo 2 header gives me more problems blending to the kit than the other toms... 8,10,13, & 18 FT.. can sound great as a free standing & useful tom... But difficult to include in the overall tonal blend of the kit... Still .. I love it..

Cheers

(And this is a great, thought provoking, thread IMO)..

We are certainly getting our geek on which I love as well! I am a big believer in understanding why things are the way they are and how things work especially if it's a subject that is interesting and drums, to me are very interesting.

Is your issue that you can't get the 14" low enough in pitch possibly? That would make sense to me if you are trying to fit that tonally between a 13" and 18". By the way, are those three ply with rings, 5 ply or some other layup.

Ergonomics is everything i played this setup for over 30 years i could play it blindfolded, today i am playing 1 up 2 down but the slight tilt towards my throne on the double bass setup i have never gotten comfortable with one bass drum pointing forward.... Oh well has nothing to do with sound sorry..

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v147/Magwa/1.jpg[/IMG]

I would agree about kick drum placement. If you square a kick drum up with stage, the pedal is no longer in alignment with you foot and thigh. I angle mine as well for that reason.

I would agree about kick drum placement. If you square a kick drum up with stage, the pedal is no longer in alignment with you foot and thigh. I angle mine as well for that reason.

I have seen the photo of your kit before and always thought that it looked really comfortable to play.

Mike - you're supposed to angle the bass drum to match your natural footprint angle when seated. When I set up my drums, I sit on my throne, put the snare between my legs and then I place the hi-hat and bass drum pedals right under where my feet hit the floor, same angle as my feet. It's important to make the drums come to you, not the other way around. My set-up only looks symmetrical, the bass drum -is- angled. You'd have to twist your ankle to play a bass drum pedal pointing straight out.

Nice set-up BTW.

John

John that is so simple why have i not just done it from habit? must be going senile.... i will set that up in the AM I have always just aligned the bass drum a single one with the front of stage Duh!

Yep. That would only work if you centered your throne more or less on the kick and then you would be facing off at an angle towards stage left. That would be really odd. As simple as the idea of angling your bass drum may seem, I see tons of guys squaring up the bass and then playing with their foot partially off the pedal. So strange.

Slowly but surely turning the thread back towards it's original topic, member Steve posted this in another thread: I am not sure how you prove this but it might answer a lot of questions about the difference between vintage drums and current drums.

Steve:

I'd like to also add that the physical properties of wood in any musical instrument that's regularly played over a long period of time changes. Resonance causes the cell structure in wood to break down to a certain degree which makes the wood more flexible and sensitive. Because it's more flexible it can reproduce lower frequencies easier and the overall tone becomes fuller and deeper with more warm overtones. This happens with any resonating instrument from a guitar to a piano to a drum. I personally think time, quality of materials, layup of materials and bearing edges are what's key. I wouldn't be at all surprised if a good modern kit sounds different and better in 40 years time. [end quote]

If nothing else this is very interesting.

> If nothing else this is very interesting.

Squint - the man is just stating a fact. That's the way it is with wood instruments.

Hey, I've had my share of 'muddy' sounding vintage drums, they're out there. It's just there is nothing like a well-made vintage kit when you do find one that sounds good. I don't see myself rat-holing a modern kit for 20 years waiting for it to sound good. I'll spend my moola-boola on great sounding, made in USA vintage kits, that come to me already aged to perfection!

John