How much muffling in your bass drum?

[dustjacket]

Just got a new Silverstar kit, thinking about putting a towel or pillow in the bass drum. I've done this before, but was surprised how good it sounded without. How much do you use? How do you get optimum pedal response? I think muffling might give me a more balanced feel with the pedal, but won't have a chance to experiment for a couple of days. Thoughts?

 

[Dr Fred]

None !
Just a band of felt on the reso head (coated ambassador) And no hole in the head either.

 

[mlayton]

Just a horizontal felt strip on the batter for me, below the center. No hole in the reso.

 

[70's Drummer]

Ludwig weather masters with power collar. They have an inlay around the perimeter like Remo PS3. Tuned for max tone, no extra muffling.

 

[TheArchitect]

Small end of an eq pad

 

[drumphils]

Try a Gary Chaffee external tone control/muffler. Front or back, wide open, med muffle ( most popular )
or cranked for a '70s thing. All good, all dialed in 15 sec in any room.

Phil

 

[JazzDrumGuy]

None. Fiberskyn on reso side (no holes), and coated Emp. on batter side. Most of my kicks have the Fiberskyn reso (no holes) and most have either a coated Emp. or Amb. (depends) on the batter. No pillows, sheets, felt, etc. One of my RB basses has the felt thingy built in, but I don't use it. I like the open sound of a bass......

What size is your bass? I have various sizes - 16, 18, 20 and 24.

 

[Woody85]

16" bass drum - coated ps3 batter with fiberskyn reso - Pratt muffler disengaged

20" bass drum - coated EMAD with no ring installed and fiberskyn reso - pratt muffler disengaged

 

[cpj83]

One band of felt on the reso head, that's it. I've played that same setup on my bass drums forever.

Chris

 

[agogobil]

sometimes none, sometimes a lot ... depends on the heads, the drum, the room, the situation ... but I always have a towel or piece of foam inside, doesn't matter if it touches a head or not - it's there to soak up the "ping"

 

[LeedyGuy]

I do two things

1. Evans pillows are actually killer and you can adjust it to the room by moving it around when you get to the gig.

2. Felt strips on one or both heads.

Sometimes like on my rogers I do both.

 

[DrumKeys]

I like my KickPro bass drum pillow a lot.

 

[drumphils]

Or, leave it wide open and put a mole skin patch on the batter. Might just give you a more comfortable feel on your pedal, a slight amount of muffing etc. Check the gauge of the patch before purchase as the budget models are often too thin, aren't as effective and wear in no time.
Dr.Scholes brand could last years with the added bonus of not having that clicking sound of tappets on a '64 Chevy when using some of those space age beater pads !

 

[MrDrums2112]

14x20 - no muffling inside. Coated PS3 batter with felt strip, smooth white Ambassador reso with felt strip.

16x20 - no muffling inside. SKII batter, ported Evans EQ3 reso.

14x22 - no muffling inside. Coated PS3 batter with felt strip, ported smooth white Ambassador with felt strip

 

[RickP]

I use an Aquarian Superkick 1 with no additional muffling these days. My preference is for the coated Superkick 1.I also like the coated Superkick 3 ( Superkick 1 with a dot in the beater area).

 

[On the one]

In my Tama bass drum had a sheet thrown in there. I liked how it sounds but I threw the sheet out. So what I did was took a twin flat sheet and folded it in a triangle ( like the American flag), and taped it to the batter head centered it where the mallot strikes the outside. No holes in the reso 22x18. Sounds amazing! My other 2 sets have nothing and no holes in the resos.

 

[dustjacket]

Any pics of taping strips of felt?

 

[GeneZ]

Aquarian Superkick 1 on batter side.... and a rather interesting resonant head.. Modern Vintage™ Felt Strip Bass Drumhead. The head is coated having a calfskin effect - with it a glued strip of felt. http://shop.aquariandrumheads.com/c/bass-drumheads_modern-vintage_with-vertical-felt-strip?pkey=18c51bde39f27f9d2f85907ac0ba5e0c&ckey=1128212.1128231.1128254.0.0

 

[Kcmcc]

Any pics of taping strips of felt?

generally you don't tape it. You use a strip long enough that it can be held between the head and the rim.

Like this (not my picture):
http://www.howtoprogramdrums.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/DSCF0278.jpg

 

[dcrigger]

For 99% of gigging and recording... a PS-3 or regular coated Ambassador BD head (or Aquarian Force I) batter with a single ply (usually uncoated - ported (4"-ish off center) - with most often a regular size, real feather pillow. Though currently my main recording drum at home has men's size sweat shirt in there, instead of a pillow (the pillow wasn't really working in that particular room, so in the heat of the "I've-got-to-get-this-session-moving", I grabbed the sweat shirt. It worked great - so a year or so later... it's still in there.