Anyone ever put together a seated cocktail kit?

[reniegreg]

Some questions about doing one. How high should the bottom head be off the floor? I also need some input for a pedal to adapt to it.
I've been using a 16x16 bass and want to eliminate carrying the one tom I schlep along.
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks, Greg

[donothorpe]

I have been using a seated cocktail setup for some time, and it works very well. I place the bottom head about 10" from the floor, which works the best for me. I have used several pedals modified to beat upwards -- DW 5000, Iron Cobra, Pearl 9000 -- they all work very well when modified. I even used an old Rogers Swivomatic pedal, which was the best for adjustments, but it wasn't as smooth as the newer pedals. Lately I've been trying to use a 14x14 Ajax floor tom, and it is great, except it stands a little lower than the 16x16 -- it sounds good though, and is a lot easier to carry around. I mount a 10" and a 12" tom on a bracket attached to a large cymbal stand which holds a 17" crash cymbal, and I attach a cymbal arm to one of the floor tom legs for a large ride cymbal. I have only encountered one problem with the setup. And that is a tendency for the beater on the pedal to double bounce. I can control it, but it takes coordination and thought. Hope some of this helps. Don O. Thorpe - donothorpe@gmail.com

[donothorpe]

I just read one of the other threads and learned that cutting a hole to the side of the top head (about 1.5 diameter) helps eliminate the double bounce and gives more volume to the bass beat. It doesn't seem to affect the top heads playability as a tom. Also, I have a homemade bracket that seems to work fine for the pedal to attach to. I use a flat board about 1/4" thick and 2" wide and as long as is necessary to reach from leg to leg of the floor tom, then I drilled a hole for each leg to fit into (putting a rubber tip on the end after inserting it), and clamp the pedal to the middle of the board. This works fine for a platform pedal, but you might want to put something on the legs to hold the board steadier when using a hinged type pedal. One other hint I picked up from another thread, is to use a thin crumpled dry-cleaner plastic (that they give with dry-cleaned garments) dropped into the drum to dampen the over-tones. It works very well for me. Hope some of this will help you. Good Luck