Hey All,
Well, I finally got myself a Club Jordan. It's time to up the Cocktail Drum Ante and give myself no excuse to not bring a Cocktail Kit to ANY gig!
I picked upa Yamaha 5x12 snare which came with the correct mount as well since I knew tht the small snare wasn't going to do it for me. Now I just need to find time to work on the sound! I have been reading up on everyones ideas so at least I have a lot of ammunition.
It sounds pretty good already. I got it second hand so someone had already worked on it. The bottom head is the stock Yamaha head but with a felt muffle ring on the inside. Sounds great as a kick, kind of has a 70s dry funk sound, but of course thee top head suffers.
I'll keep you all posted as I play around with it!
- John
Club Jordan Experiments
Hey John
congratulation with your new kit
What color is it ?, and what kind of snare is it ( wood/steel ) ?
Would you use the main drum as a kick and tom or ?
I use the 8"-5" snr.dr. and put a audix D1 on the snr. side of the drum it gives me a lot more snare sound and ( I think ) let the drum sound bigger becuse you dont get so much
high pitch from the batter side, and I can?t hit the mic.
I have ordre a 15" rims and vill try to make a system like yours on the slingerland kit so
I can get rid of some of the vibrations. ( akg d112 built in the main drum)
Have a nice day and good luck with your club Jordan
Jesper
congratulation with your new kit
What color is it ?, and what kind of snare is it ( wood/steel ) ?
Would you use the main drum as a kick and tom or ?
I use the 8"-5" snr.dr. and put a audix D1 on the snr. side of the drum it gives me a lot more snare sound and ( I think ) let the drum sound bigger becuse you dont get so much
high pitch from the batter side, and I can?t hit the mic.
I have ordre a 15" rims and vill try to make a system like yours on the slingerland kit so
I can get rid of some of the vibrations. ( akg d112 built in the main drum)
Have a nice day and good luck with your club Jordan
Jesper
John, I'm also curious which 12" snare you picked up. I know there's a steel one and a mostly-Phillipine-mahogany Stage Custom in the 12x5.5 size. Any hangups on the mount going through the shell (vs. the "yess" system)?
I'm thinking about making that kind of purchase for my Jordan, mainly to be able to go to a big-drum-as-floor-tom setup fulltime (currently I alternate between that and a tight "brushes snare" setup, depending on the music's volume level.) On the other hand the 8" Jordan snare has continually surprised me in how good it sounds with a band, though it hits its max volume at a point.
Good luck with your experiments - I find that as part of a band sound, it's almost impossible to make the Jordan drums sound bad! This kit is turning me into a Yamaha man.
I'm thinking about making that kind of purchase for my Jordan, mainly to be able to go to a big-drum-as-floor-tom setup fulltime (currently I alternate between that and a tight "brushes snare" setup, depending on the music's volume level.) On the other hand the 8" Jordan snare has continually surprised me in how good it sounds with a band, though it hits its max volume at a point.
Good luck with your experiments - I find that as part of a band sound, it's almost impossible to make the Jordan drums sound bad! This kit is turning me into a Yamaha man.
Jordan Snare
Hey Milwaukee,
I got the Wooden Stage Custom drum. Fits like a charm with the CJ mounts! I am pretty happy with the sound but it is a bit bright and piercing for my taste. I bought a Remo Emperor head that I am going to try on it to see if that settles it down a bit. All in all a nice drum for $99!
- John
I got the Wooden Stage Custom drum. Fits like a charm with the CJ mounts! I am pretty happy with the sound but it is a bit bright and piercing for my taste. I bought a Remo Emperor head that I am going to try on it to see if that settles it down a bit. All in all a nice drum for $99!
- John
Hey John, how has this experiment been working out for you?
I've been thinking of following in your footsteps on this one, maybe picking up a bigger snare and bringing the Jordans to gigs that would (for drummers who haven't seen the light) call for a "bop kit".
I'm curious how you're tuning the big drum and what kinds of gigs (musical genres, volume levels) you're using the kit on.
Thanks!
I've been thinking of following in your footsteps on this one, maybe picking up a bigger snare and bringing the Jordans to gigs that would (for drummers who haven't seen the light) call for a "bop kit".
I'm curious how you're tuning the big drum and what kinds of gigs (musical genres, volume levels) you're using the kit on.
Thanks!
Hey Mil,
Things have slowed down on my experiments lately! The Jordan has been great though. I put an Emporer on the snare and that helped tone down the ringyness a bit. It is still pretty sharp but you must realize, for Cocktail playing I am used to the single drum concept which is very quite and has built in muffling (snares pushing against the top head). I am waiting for a louder gig to really take the Jordans for a run!
So far I have used them with a Tom Waites style swing/blues band. My wife Laura has also played them with a folk rock band and they were just the ticket.
I still have to put an emporer on top of the main drum to see if that helps. So far I have left the main drum as is. The kick sounds great, kind of a 70s rock sound. The top head is ok but a little tough to get just right. There are a lot of overtone and not enough fundamental in the sound. I think that switching to an emporer and unmuffling the bottom bit will help.
I also got an Emporer for the tom. Really my overall feeling is that the drums can use a bit more focus, depth, fundamental pitch, however you want to put it. I really think that the head selection will make the difference. The drums themseleves are top quality and I'm sure that Steve Jordan chose the heads they ship with which are great for a louder, funkier sound. That's just not exactly what I'm looking for.
I'll keep you posted!
- John
Things have slowed down on my experiments lately! The Jordan has been great though. I put an Emporer on the snare and that helped tone down the ringyness a bit. It is still pretty sharp but you must realize, for Cocktail playing I am used to the single drum concept which is very quite and has built in muffling (snares pushing against the top head). I am waiting for a louder gig to really take the Jordans for a run!
So far I have used them with a Tom Waites style swing/blues band. My wife Laura has also played them with a folk rock band and they were just the ticket.
I still have to put an emporer on top of the main drum to see if that helps. So far I have left the main drum as is. The kick sounds great, kind of a 70s rock sound. The top head is ok but a little tough to get just right. There are a lot of overtone and not enough fundamental in the sound. I think that switching to an emporer and unmuffling the bottom bit will help.
I also got an Emporer for the tom. Really my overall feeling is that the drums can use a bit more focus, depth, fundamental pitch, however you want to put it. I really think that the head selection will make the difference. The drums themseleves are top quality and I'm sure that Steve Jordan chose the heads they ship with which are great for a louder, funkier sound. That's just not exactly what I'm looking for.
I'll keep you posted!
- John
John, you are right on about overtone vs. fundamental. It's so weird and frustrating trying to tune that top head as a tom, especially with the stock head. I've had a little more success with a coated Aquarian Focus-X with Power Dot, but the overtones are still pretty crazy. The Aquarian also reduces snare response to near zero when I'm using the big drum as a snare. 
I'm starting to think that the way to go for using the top head as a floor tom full time would be something like a coated Pinstripe, just to make it sound tommy and kill most of those overtones. Otherwise, that drum sounds like the ringing in my ears after a loud gig!
I'm starting to think that the way to go for using the top head as a floor tom full time would be something like a coated Pinstripe, just to make it sound tommy and kill most of those overtones. Otherwise, that drum sounds like the ringing in my ears after a loud gig!
John,
Try a coated Pinstripe on top, and an Aquarian Performance II on bottom. The Performance II has a built-in dampener, so you could probably remove the stock dampening ring inside the drum. I also put a small diameter (2.5" I think) Falam Slam pad in the center of the Aquarian head for the pedal beater.
This is the setup I use on my 16" x 16" Yamaha floor tom (sit-down cocktail kit), and it sounds great with no additional dampening or anything. A better bass drum punch than I expected, with some ring/sustain of the top head, but not too much. Tune the bottom low and the top wherever it best compliments the other drums in your kit and get to swingin'!
Tikifreak
Try a coated Pinstripe on top, and an Aquarian Performance II on bottom. The Performance II has a built-in dampener, so you could probably remove the stock dampening ring inside the drum. I also put a small diameter (2.5" I think) Falam Slam pad in the center of the Aquarian head for the pedal beater.
This is the setup I use on my 16" x 16" Yamaha floor tom (sit-down cocktail kit), and it sounds great with no additional dampening or anything. A better bass drum punch than I expected, with some ring/sustain of the top head, but not too much. Tune the bottom low and the top wherever it best compliments the other drums in your kit and get to swingin'!
Tikifreak