I've been playing drums for about ten years, and I feel confident in my playing ability. But until resent, I've never really paid attention to how my drums sound. I am becoming more and more disapointed in the sound of my drums everyday. In particular, I HATE the washed out sound of my bass drum. I'd like to give it a more cutting attack and I've considered triggering my bass, but I don't have that kind of cash. What drum heads or bass drum beaters would you guys suggest?

Try the EMAD bass drum head by Evans. It has 2 different sized styrofoam mufflers to get different sounds. I got it about 2 months ago and i think it kicks ass. I have felt beaters on my double pedal. Ive never played any other kind of beaters besides the Axis one.

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Tighten up your batter and response head, and fill your bass full of slothes (experiment with how much is needed) this will give a nice Duh! it sounds killer when miked up!!

Thanks for your insites! I've tightened my heads and filled my bass drum with two old pillows. I like the initial thud, but now there's also a real vulgar twangy sound. "I guess you win some and you lose some."

vulgar twang? there shouldn't be, check for anything that is loose on your bass, or check your snare wire, it won't be your bass twanging!

I turned off my snare and checked around the entire kit to see if anything was loose, and that twang was still there!

BASS HEADS : Aquarian Super kick II on beater and an Evans hydrolic (oil between 2 plies) is what i have on my 26" ludwig. i have a fuckin incredible sound now. especially with double pedal. they are not cheap but they will last. as far as tom heads, you'll probably have to try just about anything and everything. i have...........gone with remo pinstripe along with those "little blue gel things" to muffle heads just a little. good luck

26" bass drum?!Thats what Paul from Cannibal Corpse uses. Thats pretty big compared to what im used to.

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Yeah! I only have a 22" bass drum.

i like aquarian super kicks... best bassdrum heads ever imo...

try loosening the back head also.

also, what kind of beaters do you have? my drummer just got new beaters... they're the big wooden kind... it has more click and "sub" attack/thud now, the volume has also increased and i find it to be more comfortable to play slower/medium tempo double bass.

he has a super kick I on the front head with a remo double kick pad, and the back head is a ported aquarian(also has a muffling ring.)

nothing is in his bassdrum and it sounds awesome...

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do you like play every instrument or somthing, you seem to know everything about everything

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i mainly play guitar...

but i also play bass, drums, a little keys, and i pretend to sing

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My bass drum head is mfufled and i also have 2 old shirts stuffed inside. My sound is good but could be better. I have no idea how tight my bass drum heads are. I never realy fooled around with them much.

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I use the wooden beaters.

i love the aggresive sound of the wooden beaters... it's also louder and cuts more too.

i'm not a fan of putting stuff in bass drums... muffling rings are the way to go. aquarians pretty much come stock with dampening built on. evans is also making a similar design... i don't know if remo makes any premuffled heads, but i know you can buy a remo muffling system for your bassdrum.

my friend has a fucking sandbag in his bassdrum, it weighs a fucking ton, but suprisingly sounds really good with his remo heads...

i find a looser head will give more click and punchy sound, though it might not be as deep or create as much volume and overtones. on my drummers heads, his back head is fairly loose, and his front head is medium, to tight on the front and your beaters will bounce off really quick and make it harder to play...
it sounds really good with his wooden beaters. i can't even beleive what a difference it's made. he used to just have the stock dw beaters, then he decided he didn't like them, to big or something, so he swapped them with a friend for some pacific's beaters(smaller), then he flipped them around to so it's the plastic side.... then one day, i don't know how, but they broke so i told him to buy these big red wooden ones because they looked like fucking apples... i was joking of course, but he bought them and they sound fantastic.

so if you want a really aggressive sound i suggest wooden beaters.

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or axis beaters, i dont know what theyre made of, but they sound good and have good rebound.

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They are made out of plastic. They are acually pretty small. xdislexicx, you seem to know alot about drums

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i know this is really late but if any body is still paying attention to this than how do those plastic beeters with the rubber on them sound (speed ball for example) and how are triggers used?

go to the triggers thread...

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I see you only have one post and i bet you arnt going to come back to see this but whatever. The iron cobra pedal i got yesterday came with 3 different beaters. Felt, Wood, and Rubber. I tried all of them out. I think that felt sucks compared to wood and rubber. Its to quiet and low sounding. I tried the rubber and realy liked them. I tried the wood which was good but i picked rubber. I was about 2 minutes into a song playing medium tempo double bass and i noticed a bunch of the rubber stuff coming off the beater. I stopped and looked at it and it was wore down alot. I felt it and it was really hot. I dont know if that happens with all rubber beaters. I also have a plastic impact pad on my bass drum so that may have had something to do with it. So, i just switched bass to wood. But the rubber beaters sound realy good. Alot of punch.

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reviving this thread to tell a story

i bought a 22" kevlar head from a music shop that dealt with mostly sheet music and marching band/classical instrument gear. i had to go in the far back of a basement with the cashier and dig this thing out of piles of old and random stuff. this uncoated, mysterious kevlar head has lasted 3 years of non stop use. it has a hole where the beater rod fell down and pierced the very bottom of the head, still tunes up,still works, still louder than any head i ever heard. so i went to look for another kevlar head thats a 24"<for my current set>, this guy at the local music shop asks me to find out what brand this head is because he cant find anything kevlar for 24" in his catalogues, hes a bit perplexed about this head i own, the way i described it. the music shop i bought it from soon closed down after i bought it years ago

ok so i look at the head. its a duraline head, i look it up on a google search function. i find a site that has an article on this make of drumheads. duraline drum heads were the FIRST line of kevlar heads, they started in 1978 and ran out of business in the mid 80's, the drumhead i have is around 20 years old, these things have not been made since, they are extremely rare, companies simply do not make heads like this anymore<they have a rather flat,dry sound, but very,very loud>. but i clearly remember when i got the head out of that basement there was also a 24" bass head<i nearly walked of with it then remembering my bassdrum to be 22"> that head is probably one out of a rare few that exist unused and now im gonna go thru the motions to contact the owner of that store to see what happened to it, i know a dude who worked there and he is sure to have the owners info.

this shit is like the holy grail of drumheads, if i get this head and throw an additional kevlar double patch i have no doubt that it will last indefinately, it would be indestructable like the 22 i own now, it is the best head ever made in terms of volume and durability. i hope the owner somehow still has it, most likely not but its worth a try. but yeah, i just wanted to share that with you all

That's a cool story dude... My drummer has an Aquarium super kick II head with two black things in his bass drum (I don't know what they are called) and it's lasted for 6 months...

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this is the ad for the duraline

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What's so impressive about 6 months?
I've got mine for more than a year now, nothing wrong with it.
Would be quite expensive if you have to change your heads every 6 months

if you need a new bassdrum head every 6 months, something is wrong.

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Well keep in mind i'm not a drummer so I don't know how long shits supposed to last, it just didnt seem too bad, especially since it sounds BETTER than it did when we first put it on.... I don't know....

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could be really into keeping good drumtone, i heard of studios changing heads for each recorded drumtrack, like real high end, disposable budgeted studios,retarded yes, but thats the way some folks do it.

normal mylar heads can last years if you maintain good patches, but this kevlar has a hole in it and still will tighten, its interwoven fabric prevents tear, and it sounds just about the same from the day i got it, and on top of that ive changed it out numerous times, the fuggin thing remains the same. it is vastly superior to any mylar in all ways but tone

yeah pro artists often will change heads after each gig to them sounding perfect!

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Wow, I wish I was sponsored or something.

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i wish they still made the kevlar bass head, id get my whole kit kevlar and change drumhead once every 10 years or something. i forgot to mention my kevlar snare head that been in use almost as long as my bass head, its a remo falam II i think

update to story:

this place that closed down actually relocated to a suburb kinda far away, i recieved word of it and got a ride there, the lady searched for this head and could not find it but got my information because there is a ton of stuff in thier backroom that still hasnt been sorted out since they relocated nearly 2 years ago, so it doesnt look good for this drumhead being still there<i still think its there>.

but, i noticed looking in thier drum section that they got all the original hardware for ludwig drums from the 70s and 80s. they got hihat stands,cymbal stands, lug mounts etc. so i can build my set up authentically vintage, which i decided to do anyway. all the stands im slowly gonna swap out with these well built, made in the us, old stands and on top of that im gonna get old vintage cymbals, everything is gonna be from the 70's or at least close to that decade, my only exception is gonna be the double bass pedal and obviously the heads

if this head doesnt show up i think im gonna get the fibreskin remo head, anyone tried these?

I think felt beaters are great, they give you that old school sound. All or at least most of the old metal and rock bands used felt beaters. These new innovations are alright. The tiny beaters have good attack, I just don't like them. The felt beaters make you work harder as well, which for me is a good thing. I don't mess with triggers or extremely tight tunings, it just doesn't sound natural.

Yeah vintage kits are the way to go! Kevlar heads?

i agree with u i dont have the emad but i have a felt beater and it is sweet as hell

man, i havent used a felt beater in years, im using oak beaters made by sonar, real heavy