Here is my cocktail set which is a work in progress.? I bought the set on E-bay (GP Percussion) for $250.00.? I wasn?t sure how I would like playing standing up so I didn?t want to invest $1,000 on a Yamaha Club Jordan set. I know the set is far from top-of-the-line but I have it sounding pretty decent right now.
The heads and cymbals that came with the set were pretty much crap!!!? I changed the heads to Remo Ambassadors for the toms and a Remo Power Stroke 3 for the kick. ?I added a 3 ?? Pearl free-floating piccolo snare, a rhythm tech tambourine, cowbell and blast block as well as a lot of different hardware. My cymbal set-up includes Paiste 3000s: 14? hi hats, 17?& 15? crashes and a 10? splash (All from my regular drum set).? The kick drum has an AKG D112 mic and the snare and toms have SM 57s.? I run everything through a Mackie 1402 VLZ with an ART FX1 reverb.? As you can see, I?m really not going for the classical cocktail set-up (everything attached to one drum).?
I am finding that I enjoy playing standing up more than sitting down on my regular set. Now that I know that Cocktail Sets are definitely for me I want to order some Keller drum shells and build a custom set.
The classic Cocktail setup? What is that? I think you'll find that pretty much anything goes around here. Whatever sounds good to you and you are comfortable with is YOUR classic Cocktail setup.
Good luck,
Mango'
First of all I have to say that I love the sound I get out of the D112. I've been using this mic for greater than 17 years with my standard kit. I devised an internal mount inside my 16 x 22 kick and always got a booming sound with just the right attack. With the cocktail kit I am still experimenting with different set-ups. I currently have it monuted on the leg brace that is opposite my kick pedal. I am using an old Shure mount that I've had for many years that is smaller yet will not slip. I have the mic positioned about 2 inches from the impack spot of the beater and about 3 inches below the head. I am getting pretty good tone and attack in this position though I am considering an internal mounting system.
My comment on the Classical Cocktail set-up had more to do with the fact that their are a lot of DRUM PURISTs out their and I am not one of them. I have always sought new ways to change my drum set-ups and playing style. I have had kits that were mostly electronic with samplers and drum machines and other kits that had several Roto Toms. My current standard kit has a funky pattern on it that is similar to the old Partridge Family Bus. It's kind of cool looking and the most important thing is that my wife likes it.
I too have been using a D112 on my my 14x20, 18x20 and 16x24 kick drums as well as with my 24x14 cocktail with good results, though I do use different mics on occassion.
I've been somewhat wary about mounting the mic in the shell due to transferred shell vibration and resulting phase cancelllation, though maybe I need to give it a try. What mic mount are you using in your trad kick? John has offered the May mounting system as an option (I think it's iso mounted), do you know of others to consider?
I am very familiar with the May mic systems but have never used it on my drums. I prefer to construct my mic mounts instead of buying them. This way I have more control on the size, location and overall cost of the mount. On my tradional set I used a standard mic clamp which I mounted to the part of the tom holder that was inside my kick drum. I used a rubber bushing to decrease to vibration of the mic clamp on the tom holder and a shock mount mic clip to hold the D112 mic. Together they seemed to handle any vibration issues you would encounter when you really lay into your kick the way that I like to.
