Author Topic: subkick: anyone tried this yet? (Read 3504 times)

Blueberri · « **on:** August 27, 2006, 09:12:29 PM »

anyone here ever tried using one??

yamaha makes one, but ived read somewhere you can make one yourself by just wiring up a small subwoofer speaker...

i want to try and make one just for fun

...i have an 8 inch sub just lying around...so if anybody has tried this, any tips or notes will be welcome...

thanks!!!

Tarkuz Toccata · « **Reply #1 on:** August 27, 2006, 10:06:26 PM »

my boss made one with an 18" replacement cone kit for a peavey black widow woofer. he mounted it on his 18" sonor kick drum like a front display head. that was 15 years ago...

abyssinianson · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2006, 04:01:47 AM »

i used one on the past with my drum kit but i am not sure if this is the same thing you are talking about. the thing was called a SubBass and it was triggered by a pad that would accent some part of the song with a deep, "boom" sample.

Blueberri · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:12:14 AM »

yamaha subkick

its basically a speaker wired backwards to act as a microphone to capture low freqs.

this guy made his own:

http://www.digitaldrummer.net/subkick.htm

peeves24 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:40:09 AM »

hmmmm interesting

do you need some sort of level matching device (DI) between the diy subkick and your preamp?

KitC · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2006, 10:47:59 AM »

Quote from: peeves24

do you need some sort of level matching device (DI) between the diy subkick and your preamp?

Most likely. The preamp is expecting input from a 600-1.2k ohm device while speakers are usually rated at 3 - 12 ohms. Definitely might need an impedance matching transformer.... others folks just insert a pad.

Blueberri · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2006, 01:37:12 PM »

Quote

do you need some sort of level matching device (DI) between the diy subkick and your preamp?

ito nga rin iniisip ko...pwede ko ba to directly ikabit sa inputs ng mixer ko?
what sort of device do i need to make this work...anyway, im just experimenting anyway...ill try plugging it into the mixer and just crank up the gain and see what happens!!!...ahehehe

KitC · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2006, 01:45:47 PM »

Quote from: Blueberri

ito nga rin iniisip ko...pwede ko ba to directly ikabit sa inputs ng mixer ko? what sort of device do i need to make this ork...anyway, im just experimenting anyway...ill try plugging it into the mixer and just rank up the gain and see what happens!!!...ahehehe

You can, but use pins 2 & 3 of a balanced XLR connection. You will also have to check for phase. The effect is mostly subsonic but does add depth to bass freqs. Like I said earlier, most people add a pad because of the impedance mismatch of a direct connection so instead of racking up the gain, bring it up slowly and always check for phase.

peeves24 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2006, 02:53:16 PM »

if it works let me know, i'll build one inside my bass drum so i dont have buy another stand (seriously

). wonder if it'll work with my pg52

marvinq · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2006, 04:37:44 PM »

Quote from: peeves24

if it works let me know, i'll build one inside my bass drum so i dont have buy another stand (seriously ). wonder if it'll work with my pg52

it works. been happy with mine ever since i started using it (DIY lang, hindi yung yamaha). i wouldn't recommend building it inside the drum coz you might wanna experiment first which distances sound good to you. buy a cheap stand. got mine for less than P200.

Blueberri · « **Reply #10 on:** August 28, 2006, 05:25:54 PM »

marvinq, details naman on your diy subkick..ano size, brand and impedance ng speaker na gamit mo? did you mount it sa drum shell or does it work kahit hindi na?

tnx

marvinq · « **Reply #11 on:** August 31, 2006, 07:27:32 AM »

no i didn't mount it to a drumshell. didn't want to invest so much coz i didn't have any idea of the outcome. just had it mounted to a cheap tabletop mic stand. very important tip: DON'T short pin 1 with pin2 or pin3. it's not gonna be good for your mic preamp if you use phantom power. mine is a generic 6.5 sub i bought at raon.

hopefully your preamp is equipped with a pad, coz you're gonna need it. i'm guessing you're gonna need even more with an 8" speaker.

i've seen some diy subkicks mounted on drumshells but it's not very clear to me what the shell contributes to the sound, so i decided not to do the same.

marvinq · « **Reply #12 on:** August 31, 2006, 07:32:21 AM »

peeves, if you do decide to mount the speaker inside the bass drum, you might wanna put a potentiometer in the path of the signal. that might help solve the gain problem associated with such a project. i was supposed to do the same, but never got to actually being able to do it, coz the position that sounded best to me was always 4-6 inches from the front drum head.

marvinq · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2006, 07:51:05 PM »

a friend suggested to me that i use a DI box enable the pad to make the signal a little less hot. so i did. i bought a DI box and used it, and enabled both pads, thereby reducing the signal from the subwoofer by 40 dB.

well, to make a long story short, he was right. this indeed solved the gain problem.

there's alot of hiss though. but you can use a lowpass filter to elimininate all the hiss. and it really doesn't matter, you only need the low frequencies anyway.

be careful with your studio monitors dudes.

peeves24 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2006, 09:44:32 PM »

Quote from: marvinq on August 31, 2006, 07:32:21 AM

peeves, if you do decide to mount the speaker inside the bass drum, you might wanna put a potentiometer in the path of the signal. that might help solve the gain problem associated with such a project. i was supposed to do the same, but never got to actually being able to do it, coz the position that sounded best to me was always 4-6 inches from the front drum head.

thanks sir marvin but i stopped using the speaker after 2 weeks. could never get a clean/decent sound anyway so i just stuck my cheap pg52

just out of curiosity, what speaker are you using?

i used a 10" starvox rated at 40 watts that i salvaged from an old karaoke

balta · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2006, 10:22:49 PM »

ahh so thats what it is!!!
I keep on seeing numerous drum studio setups in magazines and pictures
with that in front of the bass drum.

im not really smart when it comes to these things...
.. so what does it exactly do? (layman's terms please

)

KitC · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2006, 10:36:26 PM »

Quote from: balta on November 12, 2006, 10:22:49 PM

im not really smart when it comes to these things...
.. so what does it exactly do? (layman's terms please )

Ever wondered why it feels like the kick sometimes hits you in the chest? That's one of the secrets (aside from judicious eq, compression, subtle layering with a sine wave, and knowing what the resonant frequency of the human chest is).

balta · « **Reply #17 on:** November 13, 2006, 04:16:41 AM »

AWESOME!!!

marvinq · « **Reply #18 on:** November 13, 2006, 07:09:03 AM »

Quote from: peeves24 on November 12, 2006, 09:44:32 PM

thanks sir marvin but i stopped using the speaker after 2 weeks. could never get a clean/decent sound anyway so i just stuck my cheap pg52

just out of curiosity, what speaker are you using?

i used a 10" starvox rated at 40 watts that i salvaged from an old karaoke

it's a generic 6.5" subwoofer from raon. less than P200. it's meant to be a second mic. use it together with your pg52. try flipping the phase of the speaker mic. maybe that'll sound better. you're just going for the low frequencies.

at 6.5" the output of the subwoofer is already too hot, so i can already imagine how distorted the sound from the 10" is.

you'll have better luck with smaller speakers. just a guess...

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Author Topic: subkick: anyone tried this yet? (Read 3504 times)