Hi, I'm new here.

[Gearhead43]

Hey,

This is a very cool site and this will be my first post here.

I am primarily an upright bass player, but I love to play drums also and recently got into the cocktail kit thing. I am teaching my wife to play drums for a Rockabilly, Roots music band we are forming and we bought a cheap cockail kit for her birthday. She has been progressing really fast and is way into it.

We have been buying better heads and cymbals for the kit each payday and just need a couple more things to make it complete. I have been playing the kit as much as she does and it's a blast. We plan on keeping the band a 3-piece and don't plan to play stupid loud ontstage, so the cocktail kit is the perfect match volume-wise.

The finished setup will be: The main 15X24 bass/tom, 10" side snare (upgraded from stock 8" demi), one 10" tom, one 18" crash/ride, cowbell and splash cymbal.

We'll be using 2-ply coated heads for the top heads and an Aquarian Power dot 15" batter for the kick, tuned loosely. Is cutting a port in the main drum a good way to increase the low end of the kick? (and make a good spot for a mic too) What size port works well? Do I need a baffle/cone/tube of some sort or will just a hole work?

One other thing, I've read that the inexpensive kits can be improved by shaping the head bearing surfaces, any info on that would be great also.

Thanks for any insight, advice, etc.

[Gearhead43]

................*crickets chirping*...........................................................................................

[Daddy-O]

Welcome! Things can be a little slow around here. I suspect most of the members are working a couple of jobs to support their habits!

Cheap kits....hmm....well, I bought a GP cocktail off e-bay, so you probably can't get much cheaper than that. I was my first kit, and the only thing I've done is replace the cymbals. Sounds reasonably good, and the bearing edges are true. A good (or lucky!) deal for the price.

Contrast this with my Custom Classic trap kit, which I had to totally take down to the wood and re-do, after being purchased only about 4 months ago.

I did the sanding, carefully evening out the bearing edges as much as I could, stained/sealed/varnished the shells inside and out (they're made of poplar, pine, or even balsa for all I know--they were TOO soft, and needed protection inside and out), and finally re-skinned them in Crazy (Tony Williams) Yellow, which I purchased from Jammin' Sam.

The skins and new heads alone (Remo Pins) cost what the set originally did, and THEN I still had to buy cymbal stands. All this effort made a tremendous difference--the set now sounds quite good--but obviously in this case, I should not have gone cheap.

It's gonna have to be a judgement call on the part of you, your wife and your other bandmates as to whether or not you want to mess with the edges. In other words, how does the kit sound to you all? Would I do it again? Sure--but only if I had to in order to make a player out of a toy. If the drum stays in tune with itself and the head is wrinkle-free when it's tuned, I say leave it be.

*steps down off soapbox*

[Gearhead43]

This is a GP kit also, and it sounds good to me. I was surprised at how decent it was for the price. My wife loves it, and she won't be too tough on it anyway.

I wasn't planning on messing with the bearing edges unless there is a good reason to do so. We've just been replacing the batter heads and cymbals, because they were not very good quality - as was expected.

Still interested to know about the port hole thing for the main drum, how to go about it, and if it's worth it. We will be gigging this drum kit when the band gets rolling.

Thanks for the info.

[Dinkus]

Welcome. Do searches on the forum, there has been tons of talk of porting and how to's all over the place here for the last several years. Take the time to read the mountains of info and you'll learn much.


Dinkus

[Gearhead43]

ok, thanks

[Daddy-O]

Porting---I don't know. They said removing the hoods on ol' vee-dub bugs was bad too. After all, the Germans engineer stuff right the first time. I heard it would actually ruin the air flow, cause your engine to burn, etc.

My point is this: there will be those who'll tell you if the Drum Gods wanted a big friggin' hole drilled in the shell, they'd have done it themselves. That said, probably just as many drummers port--either shells or bass heads--as not.

It comes down to what you hear. I like all my drums--bass included--to ring and resonate. I love the BWOW!! you get from trying to shove all that displaced air through a tiny vent hole. Therefore, I don't want to alter that by porting. Lots of folks don't do BWOW!! and instead prefer a more "open" sound (ease of micing as well, as you've mentioned), and will port heads and shells to get what they want. Both are "OK" methods to chase the sound you want.

For Rockabilly music, I'd tune the demi-snare, hi-tom and tall-tom fairly high on the GP kit, with the top and bottom heads on both the demi and hi-tom tuned together. You'll get a better "crack" and a bit of dryness (I'd also primarily play with the strainer thown "off"). The kick head would go just above wrinkle, and I wouldn't hesitate to shove a few dozen cotton balls through the vent hole. This functions as dampening, and better separates the heads on the tall-tom, giving you a nice "thud" on your kick, while allowing for a clear, higher tone on the top head.

Keep us posted!

*thump-crack-thump-crack* Repeat....

[Gearhead43]

I actually just did the old-school "thick felt strips" for damping with the main drum, two on bottom and one strip on top and it sounds perfect, nice and thumpy but not too muffled. The top and bottom heads are tuned the same and that seems to give me the biggest bass drum sound so far. We are using the little 8inch snare for now, but are going to by a 10" soon. My wife wants a bigger "target".

[Daddy-O]

Oh my. Now she's hooked. I hope you've got all the basses you want, 'cause now you're gonna be doin' bigger and mo' betta' drums!!