play with resonant heads or without?

kanikas · Newbie Alert Joined: 04 Jun 2004 Posts: 3

I've noticed some people leave reso heads on while some play without. What exactly is the difference in sound?

Premier Artist · Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2004 11:43 pm Post subject:

The difference is huge. It's like removing the bottom lid of an acoustic guitar (not really, but almost). The reso head helps the drum to resonate more, sort of keeping the sound inside the drum, allowing the shell to resonate and display more of the shell tone. Without the reso head the air will just shoot out from the drum, and You will mostly hear the head sound and not the shell sound.

However, some people remove the reso head to decrease volume. If You dampen the beater head and remove the reso head, the drum will be practically mute, which is ideal if You want to practice at home and remain friends with the neighbours. Also, some drums (such as concert toms, octobans, timbales and rototoms) doesn't have any reso heads at all, making them sound the way they do.
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Barbie · Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2004 9:05 am Post subject:

Looking for Lugwig Versilite drums and running across a lot of older stuff on ebay I found the older stuff (70's 80's) mostly don't have have reso heads. The toms tend to be slightly bigger as well.

B

punkrocker7341 · Lion Joined: 23 May 2004 Posts: 926 Location: AZ

They are probably bigger so that they can be tight but still somewhat deep.
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