Went to visit my parents this weekend and took my main drum with me. My dad and I drilled the holes to install the Gibralter muffler mechanisms. When I got back home, I installed the mechanisms with the snares attached in place of the muffler pads. Tuned it up and gave it a few whacks. Am I missing something. The snares sounded really cheesy. Maybe I was expecting it to sound like the real snare that I have with the kit.
Are the snares supposed to just touch the bottom of the head or are they supposed to be up against it pretty tight. Joe, how have you got yours set up. My long snare is about 5 1/4 inches long and the short one is about 2 inches long. Is that about right.
HHHEEELLLPPP!!!!!!!
About 2/3 of the longer snare acctually touch the head. The second shorter snare just barely touches the head. You have to keep them loose as well as tuning the head down a little. It keeps everything from buzzing too much. I don't have anything on top muffled, the bottom head is muffled a bit and tuned slightly higher than the top head.
I messed with that drum for a long time before I found the sound I was most comfortable with. I'd suggest trying different tunings with the head as well as adjusting the snares, the head tension makes a bigger difference than you may think. Keep the drum in a case when you leave the house with it, temperature affects the head tension. Especially going from the warm house to the cold trunk of your car that can throw you head's tuning off a little.
I'm not going to sugar coat it. Its really, really hard to get a clean snare sound from that top head the first time you try setting up a drum like this. I'll probably be spending a good four or five hours the first time I have to change the top head of my drum. Its not going to sound just like the snare on a standard drumset either(at least not without a baffle). If you take your time however and try different tunings and tensions you can get a clean sound.
Thanks Joe,
When you have your snares on and adjusted like you said in your reply and twist the snare release, does the snares drop down enough to not be heard if you hit the top head. I guess what I'm asking is does the release knob turn the snares off entirely. Also how long are your snares?
Thanks,
Mango'
Don't forget that your not dealing with a 14x 5.5 shell on these kits. They are deeper and wider. If your looking for a snare sound like your kit you might get close but that's all you can ask for. My cocktail kit snare sound fairly decent but it is nothing like my other snares. Part of the charm of these kits is their personality, good and bad. Take your time and twist lots.
Go here to listen to the my snare. http://www.angelfire.com/music/dinkus/cocktailkit.html
When I use the quickturn knob the snares do pull away from the head entirely. Doing so does move the snares a little, over time that is. I don't have to re-adjust every ten minutes. I am tweaking every couple days to keep the snares where I want them.
I don't play very hard either. I'm use a pretty light touch compared to most drummers. I don't know how hard you play, but that may throw the snares out of whack if you do hit hard.
You just have to keep turning those knobs like dinkus said. Its takes awhile to get the feel of tuning a cocktail drum.
I'll check and see if I can find the lengths of those snares somewhere. I think Dennis sent me an email telling me what he was going to put in before he finished the drum. I'll post it when I find it.
Since everyone has different size drums, it might also be helpful to talk in terms of percentages of drum diameter. For example, on one of my stock 60s Slingerland 14" drums the snare is 4" long (the mount extends fairly far into the center of the drum) and the snares end right in the center of the head. Also the entire snare touches the head. So...
The snare length is 28% (or 3/10ths) of the head diameter and the snares end at the 50% head diameter point. This particular snare is a tiny bit snappy. I'll check my other drums soon,
Just thought it might help to compare and see if there is a similarity between different size drums!
I think that my center snare is 5 1/8" long and the aux. snare, for lack of a better term, is 2" long. My drum is 14" and I think that the 5 1/8" snare is way to long and when the drum is hit the ends go totally out of control. It sounds like really loose snares on a conventional snare.
