Ever thought about converting a floor tom into a bass drum?

Almost everything we recorded has a 16" bass drum - some post-processing and some samples to augment as needed really do the trick!

Thanks for another good video.. When I got into New York City in the '70's I played a 16" converted tom with no front head and no complaints ;)

Great sound! I'm about to turn my floor tom into a bass drum and this video makes me feel hyped!

A very valuable video, thank you. I am ordering a SONOR Jungle kit soon, can't wait to apply this lesson to the16" BD in this kit!!

Hey Ben- congratulations on a very nice guest appearance on the Drum History Podcast discussing the history of drum heads. Well done!

I just got a DW Collector's Series Mini-Pro that was buit in 2011. It kills! This is super helpful as I get deeper in to tuning that kit. Thanks guys!

I'm just fascinated by how great these small bass drums sound,plus the portability of hauling them.

Thank you SO much!! I have a Pearl Midtown Kit that I use for shows with my progressive band and the sound guy at the bar we play at kept saying he had trouble with the bass drum sound. Thanks to this video, I think I know how to address this issue!

Thank you for making this! 16's are great!! I take mine on the subway to gigs and it's sounded great in every situation! I also don't use a riser- I put wood bass drum hoops and telescopic spurs on, and lower my beater height by a smidge and it feels like an 18.

Love the vid. I've even messed with a 14 tom, this was very insightful. Love my little 16" kick, can't wait to get back to tweaking. 🤘

This is an incredibly helpful video! I’ve started using a Ludwig Breakbeats kit for the majority of my day to day gigs (jazz, hip hop, neo soul, that kinda thing). I looked at all the affordable club kits on offer and based on kick alone, and the Luddy won by a landslide! But getting to grips with tuning a 16” kick has taken some getting used to! Thank you for breaking it down! ❤

I've played many gigs with a 16" floor tom as a bass drum. Great to know people are advancing this concept!

Time to hit Craigslist for an orphan tom!

Recently I bought a Cafekit with a 14" Bassdrum. I was really surprised about the sound and the low end you could achieve with that small sizes. Like it.

I have a converted floor tom, an old Pearl Export with the birch inner ply and fake high tension lug casings. The first conversion kit I ever saw was made by Pearl, back in the mid-90s, so that's what I got. The spurs are a little short, and the riser uses an ISS tom mount. I use a RIMS mount instead, but that runs the risk of bending the tension rods instead of the hoop. I don't think there were any 16" bass drum heads back then, so I used an Ebony Pinstripe batter and the clear Ambassador reso from when it was a floor tom. It's muffled with an hourglass pillow. It isn't the best sounding small bass drum, but it gets the job done, and it's a lot easier to schlep than my 22". I use an EMAD on my 22", so maybe the 16" EMAD will work for me. I'm thinking of replacing it with a Gaai 18"x15" bass drum. I played a Gaai kit at NAMM a few years ago, and it sounded incredible - easily the best 18" bass drum I've ever heard. I still prefer the sound of a 22", but the size can be a little impractical.

Thank you your video is very enlightening since I own a small tama star kit 16 bd and you helped me getting it fine tuned. I have a kick port in it! With emad clear! Very punchy pour lacked sustain

Nice! I exclusively used 16" bass drums for years until recently getting an 18". I always run a clear emad with the smaller foam ring tuned fairly high and an Evans AF patch then I use either a mesh head, severely cut back head, or no head on the front. It loses some low end without a mic but is plenty loud for rehearsal however with a mic and eq it slams your chest. However! My new tama 18x7 club jam mini bass drum with the above head and tuning concept is absolutely the most punchy, deep, and throaty kick I've ever used and I've owned 16-28" bass drums. Evans revolutionized the 16" bass drum for non jazz music with the newer emad variants. The overall sound you had on your kit when you tuned up is the general drum sound I use for most applications. One could write a thesis just on the versatility of the emad heads. My drums have never sounded or felt better then when I switched off Remo for Evans several years ago.

I use a 18" premier resonator factory kick! With a 10" port hole in a single ply clear head and a Emad calftone on the batter. Real nice thud that's lowish but still great for any style! 18" is the kick for me!!

Yes!! #tinykicks4life I play a 16x16 and love the versatility of it. Also super easy to move around NYC

Excellent video! I have a converted 16” floor tom with Evans EMAD clear on the batter side and EQ3 black (ported) on the reso. Love it! Great for recording. Nice punch. I also use Vater’s Vintage Bomber beater to add some “thud” and lessen on the attack, as compared to other types of beaters. I’ve been experimenting with different heads and beaters over the years and found these combinations fit my ideal sound.

Hi everyone, I use a Pearl Export floor tom converted with the Pearl Jungle Kit, combined with the Pearl OPTA-1516/C Optimount Holder. Its absolutly perfect. No problems! I use it for a decade now, with a combination of evans heads. My 22" bass drum stays all the time at the rehelsal room :).

I have an original Yamaha Manu Katche Hipgig Jr kit that came with a 16" floor tom-turned-bass drum. I never could get it to sound good, but I think that Evans head might just be what I've been looking for. The rest of the kit sounds surprisingly good, even with the stock heads.

I'm sharing my 16" kickdrum conversion experience to inspire other drummers. Enjoy! I converted my Tama Rockstar Deluxe 16" floor tom into a kick drum and reinstalled the tom legs vertical while rigging a riser for my kick pedal. I kept the floor tom hoops; and rigged my batter head with another 2ply Remo pinstripe head over it (making it 4 plys) with a foam ring inside the head, and a custom-made HDPE impact pad taped onto the batter head... no pillows inside the drum shell... and an Evans 360 clear red Hydraulic head for the resonant side. I use a DW5000 Accelerator double-kick pedal with the plastic beaters... the resulting sound I get is a deep wet punchy metallic thud without the need for a trigger! I'm in metal heaven right now, I'm so glad I switched to using a 16" converted floor tom that I'm not going back to the traditional 22" kick drums, Ever! :-D ... I then converted my 14" rack tom into a "floor tom" with two batter heads for a deep floor tom sound. With the snare, my kit is now a 3-piece kit. Wish I could attach a photo of my kit here. But my kick drum sound is giving me Drum-gasms! I love this conversion! My band video shows my kit and my 16" kick drum sound... recorded with just the internal mic on my Sony mini-DVD handycam (for the audio). kzfaq.info/get/bejne/it6plMajnNWVpZ8.html My 3-piece drum kit is a 14" generic snare drum, 16" Tama Rockstar Deluxe converted kick with a DW5000A double-pedal, and a 14" Tama (same brand/model) rack tom that I converted to a floor tom (batter heads on both sides). My 14" hihat cymbals are generic; my 10-inch "splash" is a First Act toy cymbal; my 14" China is a Sabian; and my 18" crash-ride is a silver generic Camber cymbal. My kick has a deep metallic attack thud without the need for a trigger, but that's because I modified my batter head into a 4-ply with a foam ring inside it for recording purposes. Too bad KZfaq doesn't have a Pic Attachment option for this comment.

Super helpful video! I just bought an Odery Cafekit that uses a 14" kick!

Thank you for your amazing videos, still trying to figure out things about tuning but I feel on the right track . I would really like to see you making a video on tuning in the vibe of “motown” and “stax” records, i think there are many drummers who wish to understand better how to achieve this kind of drum sound.

I bought a Ludwig Breakbeats Questlove kit with a 16" kick. I installed an Aquarian SK1 then cut a 6" port in the reso. I wasn't even thinking about the larger port possibly reducing low end. It's also got an Evan EQ PAD inside. I bought it to practice on since the room is small. With the prices of heads these days, I opted for Attack Royals 2's over Royal 1's for the toms. I found a place with Attack heads on clearance. The kit sound decent.. the snare on the other hand... not so great. But it serves it's purpose.

I used to play a converted 16" floor tom, but recently got a Ludwig Breakbeats kit with with a 16" bass drum. Together with the DW ultralight hardware, it's really been a game changer. You don't start the gig worn out from loading in your gear. I've also recently picked up with Dixson Bass Drum Lift, and it significantly improves the resonance of the drum, though the beater does need to go well past vertical to strike the drum head. I'm not sure how you have your bass drum set up such that it strikes when the beater is perfectly vertical, but I haven't been able to make it happen.

I have once made a wooden riser for my 16 FT to use as a small bass. Ive played like that for a week, cool expirience coming from a 22 back then. After i went back to a 22 i noticed that i dont bury the beater anymore, which made the drum sound much more round

Great vid, once again, been thinking about try out 16” bass drums! Will you need to put on a bass drum head on a floor Tom head if you install some wood hoops on it or will a floor ? Also, would be awesome to see a video about hybrid snare/tom drums, e.g. the Tama Duo Snare, and what differ these from regular toms construction wise(bearing edge, snare bed, shell, lug count). Will these be possible to hack with your existing rack/floor toms? Greetings from Norway

Thank you once again for an Amazing video production! I've been in the process of converting my 16" drum. The dixon lift is an awesome idea! Would it possible to post a picture of the batter side along with the lift (pedal attached) thank you once again

A couple lengths of aluminum rod cut/bent to 90-degrees (Go in floor tom leg mounts) and 2x4 scrap with a hinge screwed onto it make for a cheap conversion kit if you're curious about a floor tom conversion before wanting to commit to more.

Cool episode. I use an 18 once in a while. Its a cheapo brand that I got off ebay that matched my regular kit. I used a Pearl bass drum conversion kit thats made for 16's after some cajoling and muscle. I was able to get the rim clamp to hold. I stuck w the emperor head and didnt use a front head after trying it. I didnt like the jazz tone I was getting so I ended up getting a remo silent stroke for the front head for asthetics and taped a little towel to the batter head and had an amazing low end punch I was looking for. It worked reallywell for punk, funk and rock in general. I would recomend sharpening the bass drum spurs on a grinder so they dig into the rug or floor if your a fast or heavy foot so the drum doesnt go anywhere. The sound ended up being good for that punchy 70's vibe w no front head without that unsightly look of no front head using a silent stroke to look like a clean reso head.

I built my own kit with Keller shells and made a 16" floor tom in such a way that it was intended to be both a floor tom and bass drum. I didn't put the clamps for the legs exactly at thirds. I positioned them so they could be used as spur clamps when it was a bass drum, like on a Jungle Kit. I also added a clamp for a Sonor-style riser. It had wooden hoops and sounds great as a floor tom. Now, I would like to experiment with it so that I can convert it back and forth in a matter of minutes and have it sound great for both. The hardware and tuning are quick, so now I am experimenting with external muffling, so that I don't have to take the head off to switch. I tried clamping felt strips on the outside. I also just ordered one of those external mufflers that you clamp to the ring. Any advice? Do you think I can use the same heads for both the floor tom and bass drum?

How do you tune the reso head with the felt strip? So that the pitch is identical at each lug or that the tension is the same - in terms of turns?

Love my Maxwell nesting kit 16" bass drum.

I love my lugwig breakbeats, emad on the kick! pow*pow

awesome video mate! May I know what snare are you using on this video and what is the reso head on the snare please?

I am contemplating to build a pearl-midtown-ish kit, so 16x16 kick, 13x11 FT and 10x07 TT for smaller gigs, as my big(ger) kit is a hassle to set up in tight spaces. I might give it a go...

I have a 17" marching snare converted into a bass drum. The band doesn't think it cuts through the mix enough when playing live, and there isn't always a kick mic at the venue. But I really want it to work for it's portability and feel.

All I have is a toy kick drum from a $20 kiddie kit. It has 4 lugs and I'm currently using an Onyx head on it. I can't seem to get rid of this paper slap kind of sound, even with a felt beater, muffling, and EQ pads. Would switching to a 1-ply EMAD head solve my issues, or is it just not worth trying to work with that shell? I also don't have a reso head, but surely that wouldn't be able to create enough low end to offset the paper slap? If I do get a 1-ply, I will probably move the onyx to the other side.

i have a homemade DAXDADD, a 12(dia.)x22(dep.) bass and i would like to get the lowest tone possible. any suggestions on head choice and tuning?

Great video! I gotta say I have a Catalina Maple and haven’t been able to get as good tones out of it as you have. I have a 16” that I use as a floor Tom and bass drum. I find that the bearing edges leave a lot to be desired on the Cat Maple. Do you have any tips for dealing with troublesome (not smoothly cut) edges?

I have a Manu Katche kit. Came with a 16 kick, 9” rack, 13” floor and a cool 12”snare. The 16 fits so well, a very tonal kit. Octave from snare to kick, triad in between. Can’t do that with a bigger drum! Not so good for my Latin band but kills it for my jazz gigs. With dw 6000 ultra light in its bag, I can carry my kit in one go!

great video thanks!!!!

Wonderful vid. Such a versitile size, if you know what you're doing. Great playing.

yes i was just thinking about converting my 16 floor tom to a bass drum

I recently got a PDP New Yorker and I’m shocked at how resonant and full that 16” achieves with just the stock Rem-wanese heads. I keep thinking I should change the heads but there’s really no need at this point.

Thanks for another great video! I've been thinking about this topic for some time. It's worth checking out the Dunnett/Gibraltar conversion kit which provides a pretty slick way to add spurs, rack tom mount, and lift/pedal mount. One last note: am I the only one who finds it slightly disturbing to see a mans bare foot in a drum video? :)

i did the convertion myself for necessity , works fine,i tune it low and made a hole oin it and cover the responde qhere the hole is with a shirt nao is much more chiki, and sound s goos

why does my bass drum sound echoy like when i hit it, the sound keeps going like echos

My dudes! :-)

I'm currently playing a Sonor Safari kit--16"×15" kick with an Evans 56'calftone emad head on the batter and the stock on the resonant head. On the pedal I am playing the Vater bomber beater and the whole setup sounds great. Thoughts?

I've got spurs, that jingle jangle jingle

9:20 Jabon!!

Nice video! Like you have advised, you just have to experiment to find your sound. It may take going through some heads, muffling and tension combinations to find that just right sound, but in the end it's worth it. For what it's worth, I have a PS3 clear on batter and Skyntone with 5" port and felt on reso. I threw a t-shirt in for good measure (optional). I found the port is necessary for larger venues as the mike seems to like it best just inside the port. I can change to a portless reso depending on the gig. I know this is a 16" conversation but my kick is 18 x 12 Ludwig Classic Maple. :-)

I'm curious about how the depth of a kick affects the sound. I saw one drummer that looked to have about a 12" diameter kick but the depth was more like 24" or more (at least it appeared that way). The tone was super deep. But it could have been triggered

I too love my 16 incher, Started using it with a pair of timbales playing latin. For muffling i drape a t-shirt on top so it covers both heads 40% or so. Peace.

Are those Sound Lab Prototype hats 14" or 15"? They're amazing!

Would have loved to hear jazz tunings.

Main thing I notice is volume difference. Pretty good low end though.

It would’ve been nice to see these tunings with a conventional batter head. The EMAD, even without the foam rings takes away a lot of the high frequency punch for me.

what I neeeeeeed

I clicked on thumb up icon way before checking the content of the video.

That sounds like a Jojo Mayer (Nerve band) groove your playing for the drum n bass section intro. Me likey haha :)

can you use the normal floor tom drumheads as a bass drum drumheads?

You should crank up the Kick in the mix Bro.

Would that be strong enough to be played with a double pedal, heavy metal style?

YES!!!

Use questlove breakbeat kit with aquariun superkick 1 coated. Sounds great on that drum

What would it sound like if you ported the reso head?

J A B O N

9:20 nice Jabon beat haha

10:51 Nice Samba! Great vid!

I think a lot of people get it twisted and try to make a 16" drum behave like a 22".

Tasty!

If you still have problems with the beater angle not hitting the drumhead vertically, just buy a Beater Shifter from ACD Unlimited. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fbR5fct0yL-tqXk.html

Any chance to a 26" bass drum? Maybe NOT a bonham tuning method and sound?

Are those 15" Proto Cons????????

Thanks for the "heads up" about the fact that there are different head hoop designs. I did not know that! But, is a 16" drum played with a bass drum pedal really a bass drum? Does it sonically satisfy the requirement to be a "bass" instrument or is it just a drum played with a beater/pedal as opposed to a stick making it a tom? An ukulele and a cello each have 4 strings do either of those qualify as a bass instrument and if so, why? I'm not looking to start an argument or anything negative here, but would it be so wrong to give a more correct and accurate name to these smaller, pedal activated drums such as "pedal tom"? Would it be so bad to let bass drums start at 20" and larger and 18" and smaller "pedal toms"? I know in the grand scheme of things this is of no real consequence, on the surface anyway. Who knows how many little errors the grand scheme of things will bear before it's affected? 😉

Ahh, yes, "drum tuning". We have dismissed that claim

Even Grey?!?!

well... I've converted a bass drum into a floor tom

Ndak ngarati Wak doh da

who knew tom hanks had a red beard?

"16 inch bass drum" is a funny way to spell "floor tom"

i love the sound but the rebound is just very unatural

7 minutes in and hasn’t started tuning...yeah some interesting knowledge but get to the point