KD-120 - Beaters?

[hmasing]

Felt or Plastic? Wood? Square? Round?

What's your preference? Playing on a mesh head with plastic beaters is awfully bouncy, but playing with felt tears them up and puts all sorts of residue in the head.

Thoughts? What do you KD120 users use?

Thanks!

- Hans

[Oz DrumR]

What about us KD80 mesh head users?

I use one of those double ended rubber / plastic type of things (it may even be a stock Roland beater - can't remember).

It can be very bouncy, however as well as the obvious adjustment in the pedal - the head can be adjusted quite a bit, whilst still maintining accurate triggering.

With the combination of head and pedal adjustment, I'm sure you can acheive a feel that is just right for you and your needs.

Crank the head up tight and you can get rapid singles with reasonable ease!

[hmasing]

Originally posted by Oz DrumR:
What about us KD80 mesh head users?

OK, ok - yeah, you guys, too.

I use one of those double ended rubber / plastic type of things (it may even be a stock Roland beater - can't remember).

It can be very bouncy, however as well as the obvious adjustment in the pedal - the head can be adjusted quite a bit, whilst still maintining accurate triggering.

With the combination of head and pedal adjustment, I'm sure you can acheive a feel that is just right for you and your needs.

Crank the head up tight and you can get rapid singles with reasonable ease!

The problem is that I play heel up, toe down, meaning that my default position is with the beater on the head. (Not optimal, I know...) So, my main issue when I put the beater to the head, I am concerned about bounce. With my accoustic drums, that's not an issue, but with the electronics it can result in extra triggers. I have adjusted the scantime to the point where this is minimized but doesn't affect my fast foot strokes, but...

I am generally wondering what beaters people use on mesh head kick drums...

- Hans

[szvook]

I am not a KD-120 owner... but maybe the residue is due to the mesh material Roland uses? Or maybe it’s the felt beater type?

I’ve been using a Yamaha felt beater (model DFP880 http://www.yamahadrums.com/hardware/hardware.html#0) for over 3 years on my Hart mesh head – my felt beater is still like new and the Hart mesh head leaves no residue. The beater works great; its small, tight, the contact area makes for a better trigger response - large beaters sometimes feel too heavy, leave residue, larger contact area on the beater could lead to trigger damage if head is too loose.


IMHO felt feels mush better then plastic, wood or rubber beaters – especially when it comes to bounce. Since a few peeps here have posted some response to the way kicks bounce on them, having a felt beater can only help when it comes to mesh heads.

I tried all type of beaters on my Hart mesh kick and on the Roland mesh kick(s) and only the felt beater worked best for natural response and feel. A small felt beater would work as well as any wood, plastic or wood beater for optimum trigger response.

I can only comment on how the Hart mesh works, since my experience is only with Hart, but maybe trying different felt beaters would help.

My .02 cents...


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szvook

[mcconaghy]

I'm a hard rubber guy... no, wait, that didn't sound right

I use the hard rubber side of my EDP300 beaters, and have so far not had any problems with the mesh heads, or with excessive bounciness. I've never been keen on felt beaters, not even on acoustic kicks, I just don't like the feel.

Stu

[szvook]

I heard that reinforcement on heads is recommended if rubber, plastic or wood beaters are used. Is that true?

Stu, is the feel the only thing that doesn’t do it for you or is there anything else about the felt that comes to mind? Is it the response from felt of the head perhaps?

Hard rubber guy You don’t say?


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szvook

[This message has been edited by szvook (edited September 26, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by szvook (edited September 26, 2001).]

[dr. kildrum]

The KD-120 stock heads do have a round reinforcement behind the center striking area (inside the head). I've found that there are after market kick drum stiking area products that can deaden or augment feel further in various ways (and depending on the beater you choose). I use two such products.

This is always such a subjective area that I don't think anyone's individual solution is guaranteed to be good for anyone else, but I do believe (MO) that through choosing and finding the right combination of the correct head, pedal(s) and beater(s), (and if needed with some optional head enhancements i.e. dead ringers, target pads, etc.) just about any feel can be relatively closely approximated. I say this because I have successfully had mine far too lively and enormously too dead and almost everywhere else in between, in doing the tons of experimentation necessary to get it right for me. It did take a lot of time, but I'm now trying to get my acoustic kick to feel as good!

The Hart mesh material is comprised of thicker (woven) component strands than the Rolands, and does not tend to snag felt like the Roland heads can. There are others (i.e. Triggerheads) that are even finer (and bouncier still). Pintech's STs are relatively finer too, but they ship them relatively tight on their drums to offset bounce some. I'm not going to say any one of these is any better than any other, but I have tested/tried all of the above (and several others) and they are all different.

In two weeks, only 2 of my 8 mesh headed drums will still have their manufacturer's heads on them. Most have additional modifications as well with only the four primary toms being essentially the same (as each other).

BTW, if anyone is looking for replacement heads, I have plenty, all without a mark on them, and several from various manufacturers.

[mcconaghy]

Originally posted by szvook:
I heard that reinforcement on heads is recommended if rubber, plastic or wood beaters are used. Is that true?

Stu, is the feel the only thing that doesn’t do it for you or is there anything else about the felt that comes to mind? Is it the response from felt of the head perhaps?

Hard rubber guy You don’t say?

Well, I've got a reputation as being weird to uphold

On regular heads, yes, if you're using wood. With plastic or rubber I don't think it makes a difference, they have about the same lifespan. I can split a pinstripe with a wodden beater in no time, with rubber and plastic they last just as long as with felt, I'd say, at least with me they do.
Under feel I mean generally the feel of the impact, and the response from the head. Felt feels sluggish to me, like I'm kicking through porridge.

Stu

[snared]

I heard somewhere that the wood or rubber beaters can actually burn or melt the mesh heads.

I use felt because that is what came with the pedal. I've had the drums and pedal for a month. No problems so far. I'll let you guys know as soon as the beater causes problems.