House of Drumming.com

Hello,

I have just brought home my new set of Yamaha Absolute Birch. Absolutely beatiful and sounds good with just minimal tuning so far. My question is need to cut a hole in the resonant head of the bass drum. Yamaha Absolute Bass has 10 vent holes, and the sound is great. However, it feels look too much slap back on the pedal. If I cut a hole, do I loose the sound benefit of the 10 vent holes? I am hesitant to cut a large hole, but am thinking maybe a smaller hole of 4 inches or less may vent enough.

Any thoughts out there from Absolute owners?

Cheers.

Do you have any padding inside the bass drum?

No padding, it seems it is not needed. The sound is really low booming and full.

I've had a 22"x16" Birch Custom Vintage for about 11 years. When that was my only kit, I used an Emad with the larger ring, the stock res head that came on it which had a small hole, and the Evans pad barely touching the heads and I got an incredible sound both mic'd and not. I also had luck with a Power stroke 3 batter with the Evans EQ3 res. Recently, I used a PS3 batter head and a smooth white PS3 with no hole. I used a bit more muffling on the drum than I had in the past and i was very happy with it. It is an extremely versatile drum. I find even after all this time there is no one answer for the kick drum, Ive found very little that doesnt work

JMiko wrote:No padding, it seems it is not needed. The sound is really low booming and full.

It may not be needed for sound, but for feel. A bit of padding will help minimize the "bounce back".

Thanks much for the feedback! I will likely play as is for a while until I get to know the drum a bit more. The set came stock with a 5 inch Remo Dynamo hole template, but I don't think it needs that big of a hole as the sound is really good now without it - only the slapback is a bit too much.

DSOP wrote:

JMiko wrote:No padding, it seems it is not needed. The sound is really low booming and full.

It may not be needed for sound, but for feel. A bit of padding will help minimize the "bounce back".

Good point - thanks. Do you find the pre-fab pad options work best? I would think they are the best choice to keep the pad in position if the set moved a lot.

JMiko wrote:Do you find the pre-fab pad options work best? I would think they are the best choice to keep the pad in position if the set moved a lot.

I use a piece of foam that fits perfectly in the bottom of my bass drum. It doesn't move. Then, on top of that, I will use a small packing blanket. With a small hole, I can stick my hand in to reposition things and also stick a mic in for recording.

DSOP wrote:

JMiko wrote:Do you find the pre-fab pad options work best? I would think they are the best choice to keep the pad in position if the set moved a lot.

I use a piece of foam that fits perfectly in the bottom of my bass drum. It doesn't move. Then, on top of that, I will use a small packing blanket. With a small hole, I can stick my hand in to reposition things and also stick a mic in for recording.

Well it took me a few seconds to focus on the padding as your kit looks overall fantastic! I am a 40 something durmmer who grew up playing Ludwig (now vintage.....), took a long "retrirment", and am now two feet in to drumming again. I appreciate all the tips on the set-up to gain the best sounding kick. The Yamaha Absolute is the first real kit I've purchased in many years and is the only mfgr that I am aware of that utilizes that many vent holes. Therefore, I was/am a little unclear on how a large resonant hole cut impacts the well placed mfgr ent holes.

Thanks again for the reply and posting the pic.