Author Topic: The curse of the bass drum  (Read 3213 times)

Offline Dobly

The curse of the bass drum
« on: August 30, 2016, 11:46:09 PM »
Last night I had my first proper 'band' hit with my DM10x kit. The first rehearsal of our new and long overdue band.

So happy at the start of the night. Everything was working.



.... when suddenly the bass drum stopped. We played on for another 2 hours. I played the bass drum and the slap of hitting the head could just be heard.

Today I opened it up to see what happened..



BOTH wires had come off the peizo!!

As you can see from the position of the piezo, it is nowhere near where the beater hits the head.

I did have a strip of gaffa tape over the piezo. I was hanging off when I first opened this pad up (so it's not in the shot). Gaffa tape does no work in here.

Maybe it is the cheap Hong Kong, 10 or $7, piezos and slim delicate wire.

Maybe I had a dud piezo. But then again, BOTH wires had come off.

$*&#^$*# bass drum pad!!

« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 02:15:13 AM by Dobly »

Offline rhysT

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2016, 02:45:19 AM »
Hey Dobly, it could be worth trying something similar to the current mesh kick pad backing with offset piezo to avoid excessive strain on its wiring.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 02:53:11 AM by rhysT »

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2016, 05:54:09 PM »
Brilliant. That looks like a much better system without any ugly cut bits of foam.

What sort of stuff is the large and small cylinders? Dense foam or light rubber?

The stuff under the piezo looks like Heater Pipe foam.



Can I assume that the bigger block above it is made of same stuff?
« Last Edit: August 31, 2016, 06:55:49 PM by Dobly »

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2016, 06:13:30 PM »
Interestingly my DM10X bassdrum pad has what looks like 5 holes into which I could attach a metal plate with some suitable screws.

Furthermore, I know just the piece of metal to screw there.




« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 02:20:46 AM by Dobly »

Offline rhysT

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2016, 04:12:37 AM »
What sort of stuff is the large and small cylinders? Dense foam or light rubber?

The stuff under the piezo looks like Heater Pipe foam.

Can I assume that the bigger block above it is made of same stuff?

I found some (0.5" Int/D) K-Flex pipe insulation that feels like a similar density to the central 3" cylinder piece and it's the same 1.5" Ext/D as the piezo mount. So give it a try with maybe 2 or 3 pieces attached in the center (especially for dual kick pedal beaters) and just cut a section of it to fit between the piezo and head.
Btw you can cut the foam tubing evenly by fitting a short length of 1.5" plastic pipe (or connector) over the end first. 

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2016, 05:43:59 AM »
Thanks rhysT. Earier today I went to Clark Rubber and ended up buying of all things a pool noodle which is around 3" wide and is this tough sort of plastic/rubber stuff. Might be interesting to see how it survives under the beater head. If you squeeze it it returns to its shape.

For the peizo I got is rubber tubing. I will do some photos soon.

Could be a disaster or I might be onto something.

Thanks again for the idea.

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2016, 07:09:00 AM »
I just looked, the 'rubber tube' I bought is..

(this is what is looks like it says)
K-Flex  1/2"  11) x 1/2" 1'K

Anyway it looks like the stuff under the piezo in the shot.

I have enough of it to make my own 3" batter bit if the pool noodle stuff does not cut it.  I cut a lump off the pool noodle as I had a small bit to work with. It cut easily with a bread knife. I am curious how it will go. It is very inexpensive and less work than creating a 3" circle out smaller bits of K-Flex rubber pipe.

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #7 on: September 01, 2016, 07:38:57 AM »
Regarding the 5 holes I'll be able to screw into above . The two of these near the top of the pad are lower. So I'll not be using them. I'll not need them anyway. The 3 around the center will hold the metal plate no easy.

I put a bit of paper over them to mark them out.



Next I lined up the template and marked on the metal where I need to drill.. I can't do drilling now as it's 9.30pm and a school/work night.

In this shot you can see the pool noodle. (Update: The pool noodle was terrible. Don't try it)



The back of this metal plate was thick with glue. Where the top pads were held on originally with two strips of tape, the bass drum pad add a rubber backing held on with copious amounts of contact adhesive.



Even though this bit is going to be screwed up against the backing, it was lumpy and horrible.

After 20 minutes of finger slicing fun..



Not beautiful but at least smooth enough now.

Finally, here is the K-Flex I bought today before I saw rhysT's post.



More in a few days when I can whip the drill out.

DIY is fun. :)

« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 02:23:17 AM by Dobly »

Offline AlanK

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #8 on: September 01, 2016, 11:02:13 AM »
Hey Dobly! Didn't get to comment way down on the first pic with you at the set and thumbs up.. but hey the kit looks awesome with the thick red accent showing up around the shells! It really pops, great looking rig!
DM10X with Addictive Drums 2, Pro X hi-hat, 4 crashes, foam cone conversion w Roland mesh heads, Laurin Drums snare and kick, Mapex P710W double kick pedal, Mapex 2 legged hi-hat, Behringer 8 channel USB mixer, Tascam 144MK AI, Samson Expedition Escape powered speakers

Offline rhysT

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #9 on: September 01, 2016, 06:07:26 PM »
Just adding some useful info about protecting mesh bass drum heads: http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/destroyed-my-mesh-kick-head
« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 06:14:30 PM by rhysT »

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #10 on: September 01, 2016, 07:09:06 PM »
Hey Dobly! Didn't get to comment way down on the first pic with you at the set and thumbs up.. but hey the kit looks awesome with the thick red accent showing up around the shells! It really pops, great looking rig!

Thanks Alan. I must say I am very happy with how it looks. Even my brother (singer/bass player) walked in and said the kit looked amazing.

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2016, 07:15:50 PM »
Just adding some useful info about protecting mesh bass drum heads: http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/destroyed-my-mesh-kick-head

Yeah, became aware of the felt beater issue ages ago when I first started looking for mesh heads. The beater I use is plastic and smooth.

« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 02:23:46 AM by Dobly »

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2016, 10:21:31 PM »

This fix worked so well I am going to start a new thread for it.




« Last Edit: September 03, 2016, 01:39:57 AM by Dobly »

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2017, 10:41:31 PM »

This fix worked so well I am going to start a new thread for it.

link to new thread? all the pics on here are dead.

I'm trying to fix my bass drum, red wire finished breaking off, when I pulled the tape off.
DM10X kit, DW-3K double pedal, DW-3K tractor throne, 5AN VF sticks, Simmons DA200S, PS4 Gold headset.
Mods:
Remo silentstroke mesh conversion with 1/4" charcoal layer added on top of plates.
Sounds:
Bluejay in Module & EZdrummer 2 on laptop

Offline Dobly

Re: The curse of the bass drum
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2017, 02:03:19 AM »

This fix worked so well I am going to start a new thread for it.

link to new thread? all the pics on here are dead.

I'm trying to fix my bass drum, red wire finished breaking off, when I pulled the tape off.

Yeah, sorry about that. The images were on PhotoBucket who after being a free service for years started charging for hosting images. I took all my image off there (in protest) and i'm slowly getting them uploading them to Imgur and fixing my 100s of images on this forum. Is a slow process.. I've just fixed the images on this thread.

Anyway, this is not the main thread for this fix. The fix was so good I made a new new thread for it.

http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=6785.0
« Last Edit: August 04, 2017, 02:25:42 AM by Dobly »