Maybe a 16" deep but anything beyond that starts to look out of place with the other drums. Now if you have the old power toms then maybe a long BD would look okay, not my style but if you play in a "Hair Band" cover band maybe so. A 20" deep BD with smaller hanging "floor toms" and a tiny mounted tom just looks stupid. Now remember I'm over 50 so that is my perspective. I have an 18" BD that is only 12" deep and it sounds great. Put a microphone on it and it sounds really big if you EQ it correctly and it fits on the stage. That's my two cents.:2Cents:

The longer the bass drum 16++ the deeper the resonance in hertz or "Canon" effect. I like both sizes. Here's a pic of my 18" X18", 6 ply Maple Camco floor tom (the one on the bottom) converted to a bass with a boomy but focused tone that can compete with a 20"X14" bass in tone depth. The 16" floor tom completes the "Boom" for this kit.

Cheers!

-kellyj

I love the look of longer kicks personally. Especially in a 1 up 2 down configuration, something cool about having a big freaking bass drum right in the middle of it. One of these days I'm gonna build an acrylic set and it will have a 20X20 bass drum.

As far as sound goes, I think you lose a little punch but you gain more bottom end. Take an old 20X18 tom, strap some wood hoops and clamp on spurs on that bad boy and it makes a mean bass drum!

Hmmm, if it were me, I think I would want my bass drum to be in the Hertz range. Maybe 5 to 200 Hertz. I would leave the Kilohertz to the cymbals.

I was always led to believe it was the diameter of the drum that determined the lowest fundamental, not the depth. Besides, it seems to me all the deep bass drums tended to sound more soft and boomy, rather than provide a punch you can feel in your gut.

Respectfully,

BH

Thanks! Meant to say Hertz. Haven'y had my coffee yet...

The "punch" you feel in your gut as you term it, is in fact, the lower dynamic range (lower hertz') emanating from the shell as a result of its increased length. This has the similar effect that increased shell diameter does.

Come on you sound physicists, jump in.

-kellyj

I too have been experimenting lately questing after a bass drum sound that I can truly fall in love with. I like to set my drums up low to the ground and find that a twenty inch drum and less deep mounted toms gets that job done. The other thing that I have played around with is switching the batter and resonant sides of the drum, especially if the bass drum tom mount is not positioned in the middle of the drum. This allows for your leg and foot to be much further forward and really gets the bass drum out in front of you regardless of it's depth. Spurs can pose a challenge with this and may need to be swapped side to side if the are not matched, but right or left side. Really, experiment away!!!! I settled on a 22" drum with tweaked heads and a customized "breather hole" on the resonant side. I did a live stage show outdoors this last Sunday and I was thrilled with the sound out front. With NO pillow inside either. Was really noticeably improved. I will take some photos and explain my discoveries in a different thread, I'm sure some of you would like to give it a go and save a bundle of money on drum heads to boot.

Glen

LOL, that's what I thought Kellyj. I had the advantage, in that I just finished my coffee when I read your post.

I'm certainly NO physicist (math was never my strong suit) but, it would just seem to me that the deep shell would form a long passage for the impulse of striking the batter head to travel through. That length takes time to traverse, not to mention all the increased opportunities for scatter and refraction inside that tunnel. The impulse column of air would take longer to arrive at the resonant side, and due to the distance may arrive spread out. That would result in an impluse having a long risetime, yielding a "mushy" response.

Whereas in a short depth larger diameter bass, the beater impulse has a short distance to travel (quick response of the reso) yielding a fast risetime waveform for a more pronounced thump.

If you take it to extremes. Suppose you have a 25 foot deep 18" bass (find a bag for that!) how would that compare to a 1 foot deep 22"?

Dunno if my logic is correct, just seems "logical" to me.

BH

Not only do I love Bonzo's kick sound which he achieved on a 26x14 kick but the best kick I have is my old Gretsch 22x14. It sounds like Bonzo light. It booms so nicely. I only have a Remo Muffl inside against the batter head. I have an old Pinstripe for the batter and a Clear Ambassador for the reso side with mic hole and sticker of Chef from South Park. "Hello there children. How are my little crackers today?" Ha! Seriously it sounds huge. I have gotten lots of compliments in the studio when doing the big rock stuff. It is my favorite kick to play and once I get my 13" die cast hoop that kit will be my favorite again.

IMHO - buy what you like, tune it the way you like it...........then play the mess out of it. I think the issue at play here is the "sound in your head". We are all looking for that drum/head combination that matches the sound in your head. For me it was my first "real" pro level drumset - a Noble & Cooley set of CD Maples. 8,10,12,15,20 with a solid shell piccolo snare. Sitting behind it is the closest I've heard to a mic'd kick in an arena and that was the sound in my head. With that said I have a 20x14 Camco Oaklawn that I finally got happy with the sound of and a DW 22x16 or 18 that took a while to get happy with. Both great drums but totally different than the N&C so I had to adjust what I was looking for sound wise.