I can't get my mounted tom height right

[monster]

hey! I have an older yamaha recording custom (pre-Yess) and although I've adjusted them multiple times, I've never been happy with the mounted tom heights- they are always too high. I think this is partly due to the depth of the toms- 10" for the larger. I think that I also like to sit a little low and that I like my toms tilted some. To get the sitting perspective I want I have to set the throne too high for my liking. Am I crazy? Will shallower toms help? Should I just raise the throne and be happy? Do you worry about such issues?

[Jblount]

Yamaha has tons of gear and accessories. You can get a tom mount and arm that you attatch to a cymbal stand instead of on the bass drum. Check Yamaha's site for such a part.

[Enrique]

I can say that I encountered a similar problem not to long ago. Right now, I have a Mapex V-Series kit. Because I didn't know how my playing style was going to be like back then, it wasn't a problem until now. The kit has the standard 12" and 13" toms. I sit relatively low as well. What I found is that if I raised my kick higher than usual, it helped with the angle of the toms. What I also did was raised the mounting system higher than usual as well, which gives me a fairly decent amount of room to work with. I know what I need to do, buy a fusion kit, lol!

[monster]

I started thinking the same thing- I bought the wrong set-up. I've played with raising the mount so it gives me more angle to play with on the toms but it still does raise the center point of the head to do this. What do you mean by raising the kick?

[Enrique]

What I meant by raising the kick drum was expanding the spurs or "legs" of it. By doing so, the resonant side of the kick drum is actually tilted upward more than usual. That way, the toms have more of a tilt towards you.

[tmix]

I am not a tall person (5 ft 7) so I have always had this problem with full sized kits. I bought a Mapex Pro M shallow kit (20 kick 10/12/14 toms)and have all the room in the world for adjustments. I was curious as to whether the shallow shells would lack anything in the way of tone or projection, but they don't. I have played many large and small venues, even got to play on stage set up with the Fort Worth Symphony and they really rocked.
I have a second kit that is a small fusion kit a Mapex Voyager.
18" kick 8/10/12 toms . And it works well also. The smaller kick gives me the room I need. The sound isn't bad either. The kit only cost about $450. It sounds nice for a smaller kit.

[Rimshot]

Let me first say: Don't do this unless you know exactly what you are doing!!

I hear your problem. I have a Tama Rockstar set that I actually grew to like a whole lot once I cut down the rack toms. They were very deep and I felt like they were just way too deep, so I cut them down on the bottom about 2 inches and on my shaper table I recut the bearing edges and then drilled new holes for the lugs. If you are not experienced in doing this it's a quick way to totally ruin a drum. I also cut down the floor toms a bit. I don't like to play "monkey hangers" with my toms and cymbals. It may look impressive on stage in a rock show, but it's a very ineffective way of playing. I like to keep my instruments where I can reach them to play them.

Think it through thoroughly before you take such a drastic action. You may want to try seperate stands for your rack toms and move them to the side of your kick. This will require you to change your playing style and a longer reach for crosshand patterns between your rack and floor toms.

That's why I opted to just cut down my toms, and I'm very happy with the results. They actually sound better for recording too.

[RideTheCrash]

I used to have your problem. I have a standard sized kit: 22, 12, 13, 16 etc. and I just bought a double stand a couple months ago and man it's a life saver. The toms are directly in front of my snare. You might not like having to reach from the low tom to the floor tom, I find it pretty simple myself. I've got them now sitting so the top rim of the toms sit like an inch above my top snare rim.

[Jblount]

Yes, thank you ride, so much talk of cutting the factory bearing edges off, buying a new kit, raising the kicks spurs. All you need is some different mounting equipment. Lets keep it simple please.

[monster]

hey ride I want to see a pic of your set-up. I'm having trouble seeing how to make this work with how I have things arranged now. Are the toms in front of your bass or to the left side? What you describe is exactly what I want- my mounted toms surrounding and not much higher than my snare.

[RideTheCrash]

My toms are basically the left of my bass drum. I took a couple shots for you. If you want any other angles just ask.

Shot one... (excuse the dust and fingerprints, I'm so embarassed)

[RideTheCrash]

Shot of how low the toms are...

[RideTheCrash]

Here is the tom stand in whole...one more pic.

[RideTheCrash]

Last picture. I don't know how many toms you have, but like if you had like 3 rack toms it'd be near impossible to get one over the bass drum that low unless it was a shallow depth of a tom shell or a small bass drum. Hopefully this pics kinda helped.

[Jblount]

Cool, ride. That looks nice. Thats even lower than I have mine set. It looks good. Thats how you mount toms on aux. mounting equipment.

[monster]

nice ride.....that's what I thought it might look like. I'm going to give it a shot. my kit will have a totally different feel but I love the proximity of the toms and snare.

[theletterq]

I hate toms mounted on the kick and therefore have always used a double tom stand. I like having my snare right between the two rack toms and my kick angled to the right (almost like a double kick set without the left kick). Mine are kind of setup like ride's but higher.

[monster]

hey ride- if you're still out there can you give an overhead shot of your entire kit? You said you had floor toms, right? I'd like to see how spread out it is and how far your floor toms are from your "mounted" toms.

[Enrique]

That is a crazy set-up, lol. And I thought I played my toms low! I too hate the fact that tom mounting on a lot of sets goes through the kick drum.

[RideTheCrash]

Hey sorry for the late reply, I've been gone the past few days. I'll get you an overhead shot sometime pretty soon, alright. I only have 1 floor tom, but it'll show you anyhow, later!

[RideTheCrash]

Sorry for the long wait, I'm such a procastinator. I had my band over today and I was taking pics so I remember to shoot you that overhead you wanted, here ya go: