Tuning kick drum batter head for good beater response.

[Uladine]

I put a new Remo pinstripe bass drum head on my 22" bass drum. I previously had an aquarian super kick 1 with the impact pad on it and the response was perfect. The problem is that the response with the pinstripe sucks ass. It sounds okay (shitty compared to the aquarian) but I will be replacing the kick track with a sample kick anyway.

How can I get better response with my felt tama beaters? When I try to do triplets and such it just turns to slop and im getting pissed. I really don't want to go buy a new aquarian head because I just dropped $200 on new heads and im broke.

Will tuning the pinstripe tighter or looser give better response? I want the beater to bounce back quickly for fast triplets and stuff. Right now my pedals just feel dead. I tried messing with the tension of the springs on the pedals but to no avail. I'm getting more and more frustrated by the day. I feel I might be putting my aquarian back on and letting my stoner friends use my piece of shit pinstripe for a giant breakup tray.

 

[pratt]

first of alll...never put a pinstripe on your kick drum ...I did for years until I saw the light (currently using a Powertroke3)...that pinstripe will work well as a huge frisbee, though

my kick now is almost as loose as possible without the head wrinkling; I use a Tama Iron Cobra with medium tension....and my bass response is great

the problem may be more in your pedal....have you tried to tighten up the tension? also...the 'tama felt beaters' that you talk about....are these the kind that come on Iron Cobras or just the big felt ball kind of thing? I've found that it's easier to play faster kick stuff (triplets, etc.) with the hard/soft type of beater (hard back with felt where it makes contact)....this is the type of beater that comes on Iron Cobras and DW pedals.

 

[Whoopysnorp]

Well, you will of course get a bouncier response if you tune the head tighter. However, it won't sound very good. But I guess if you're going to replace it with a sample, it's OK.