I was looking through some used hardware in a bucket at a local music store when I came across something interesting. Its a wood bass drum beater, the beater head's angle is adjustable so you can be certain that it is always hitting the drum head flat. Of course I bought it for my cocktail set and immediately changed out my old beater to try it. I must say it makes quite a bit of difference.
I went through the shop here to look for them, turns out tama makes them. The model number is CB90. The only difference I see is the ones in the shop have some type of counter weight on them.
I also wanted to mention that I tired using a "rims" mount on the little tom on my cocktail set. The drum rings a little cleaner and the ring sustains a little more than previously, but its no as big a difference in sound as the beater was. I think that has a lot to do with the small size of the tom. Larger toms with a much rounder tone would probably benefit more from the rims mount than a small tom would.
I had been experimenting with some things lately to try to make the cocktail drum sound just a little better. I was wondering if anyone in the group has tried one of those "rims" floor tom baskets and what your impressions were and if anyone could tell me where to find one?
-Joe
bass beaters and rims mounts
Bass Beaters
Hey Joe,
Good topic! There are, of course, several bass drum beaters out there and a few that have adjustable attack angle. Especialy with the next generation beaters thtat have a smaller beater point, the nead for angle adjustment is a real blessing. The ones that I have seen are:
The Tama CB90 that you mentioned, avaliable with different contact materials:
The self-aligningSpeedBall beater,also available in different materials:
Also Axis makes the Sonic Hammer,a fully adjustable beater:
And of course if you want to keep things simple and still add a bit of extra attack to your drum, you can try the classic Danmar wooden beater:
This is what I use on my 14 inch drum and it works great!
All of these are available through Musician's Friend. I'll try and add them to my shop listing soon...
- John
Good topic! There are, of course, several bass drum beaters out there and a few that have adjustable attack angle. Especialy with the next generation beaters thtat have a smaller beater point, the nead for angle adjustment is a real blessing. The ones that I have seen are:
The Tama CB90 that you mentioned, avaliable with different contact materials:
The self-aligningSpeedBall beater,also available in different materials:
Also Axis makes the Sonic Hammer,a fully adjustable beater:
And of course if you want to keep things simple and still add a bit of extra attack to your drum, you can try the classic Danmar wooden beater:
This is what I use on my 14 inch drum and it works great!
All of these are available through Musician's Friend. I'll try and add them to my shop listing soon...
- John
My first full rehearsal with my brandy-new cocktail kit (now a while ago) was a partial disaster because I used a CB90 beater! Oh no! It's a great beater, BUT it has to be adjusted just right, or else...
From the pics John posted mine is the bottom one, with a rubberish surface. The angle of the surface was not exactly flat and stroke after stroke it STUCK on the impact pad placed on the bottom head of my 14" drum. The sticking was purely a result of friction, rubber to plastic, but it was a total pain and disruption when playing.
If you have the same or similar combination of materials and a flat faced beater, be sure to check and double check the action even after you setup at rehearsal or gig.
I didn't want to be worried about this issue so I now use either a standard DW style dual-surface head (hard felt side) or for more attack, sometimes the Danmar wood (as John has also suggested).
I'll also add that on one of my trad kits, I have RIMS 'baskets' with legs for my 14" and 16" toms. The were standard hardware (for GMS drums) so I can't really say what an improvement they make over shell mounted legs, but those drums both have serious sustain. I gotta say I'm not likely to move the 14" RIMS cage to my 14" cocktail drum, but if I ever do I'll be sure to post results. For now, tuning and head type are what I'm focusing on to improve/extend my cocktail drum sound.
From the pics John posted mine is the bottom one, with a rubberish surface. The angle of the surface was not exactly flat and stroke after stroke it STUCK on the impact pad placed on the bottom head of my 14" drum. The sticking was purely a result of friction, rubber to plastic, but it was a total pain and disruption when playing.
If you have the same or similar combination of materials and a flat faced beater, be sure to check and double check the action even after you setup at rehearsal or gig.
I didn't want to be worried about this issue so I now use either a standard DW style dual-surface head (hard felt side) or for more attack, sometimes the Danmar wood (as John has also suggested).
I'll also add that on one of my trad kits, I have RIMS 'baskets' with legs for my 14" and 16" toms. The were standard hardware (for GMS drums) so I can't really say what an improvement they make over shell mounted legs, but those drums both have serious sustain. I gotta say I'm not likely to move the 14" RIMS cage to my 14" cocktail drum, but if I ever do I'll be sure to post results. For now, tuning and head type are what I'm focusing on to improve/extend my cocktail drum sound.
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mangorockfish
- Posts: 182
- Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2004 10:23 pm
- Location: arkansas
Mango has a point here...
As mentioned above I have these RIMS baskets for my 2 GMS floor toms and I'm glad I do. However now that I remember it, one of the tumb screws from the RIMS let piece DID strip and it broke clear off.
Not a huge problem though - I replaced it with a slot head screw, but good to note.
As mentioned above I have these RIMS baskets for my 2 GMS floor toms and I'm glad I do. However now that I remember it, one of the tumb screws from the RIMS let piece DID strip and it broke clear off.
Not a huge problem though - I replaced it with a slot head screw, but good to note.
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palacki808
- Posts: 152
- Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 10:50 am
- Contact:
more stuff
Thanks for all the quick replies. Before I say anything else I need to mention to John that he's not the only fan of the danmar red ball. That's what I used before this new beater and I still use one on my hipgig set.
The tama adjustable beater made a huge difference in the kick sound of my cocktail drum. I can really play quite easily getting the volume I want without the drum dancing on me (I'm still using that nylon strap DW pedal). Sometimes in the past with the redball beater and the strap drive pedal together, if I tried playing too loud the drum would start to get a little jiggy. So as of right now I'm impressed whit it. This new beater still has to withstand the test of regular gigging, so we'll see if I'm still using it in a few months.
Also, thanks for mentioning the problem with the thumb screws stripping on the rims. I'll be certain not to clamp them down too tightly. Either a hose clamp or a memory lock under the bracket will keep it from slipping if it works its way loose from not being tightened enough.
Last bit of stuff for this post. I noticed a small increase in sustain for my little tom since I added a rims mount to it. I already had the rims sitting in my basement, but I don't think it made enough of a difference that it would be worth paying for. I wouldn't recommend buying a rim for an 8" tom unless you're recording regularly and want the most perfect sound possible.... something not always neccessary when playing loud at a rock show or barroom gig.
-Joe
The tama adjustable beater made a huge difference in the kick sound of my cocktail drum. I can really play quite easily getting the volume I want without the drum dancing on me (I'm still using that nylon strap DW pedal). Sometimes in the past with the redball beater and the strap drive pedal together, if I tried playing too loud the drum would start to get a little jiggy. So as of right now I'm impressed whit it. This new beater still has to withstand the test of regular gigging, so we'll see if I'm still using it in a few months.
Also, thanks for mentioning the problem with the thumb screws stripping on the rims. I'll be certain not to clamp them down too tightly. Either a hose clamp or a memory lock under the bracket will keep it from slipping if it works its way loose from not being tightened enough.
Last bit of stuff for this post. I noticed a small increase in sustain for my little tom since I added a rims mount to it. I already had the rims sitting in my basement, but I don't think it made enough of a difference that it would be worth paying for. I wouldn't recommend buying a rim for an 8" tom unless you're recording regularly and want the most perfect sound possible.... something not always neccessary when playing loud at a rock show or barroom gig.
-Joe