I play a 26, though I've been playing a 36, and I've got a 28 on the way.
I wouldn't get too hung up about getting the beater in the center of the head though. Some of the best bass drum tones I've heard came from being off-center. With the 36" drum, it was inevitable, obviously. But I never complained, or heard a complaint about its tone. Quite the opposite, actually. You can always add "punch" with proper dampening, but tone is either there, or it's not.
Been using a 26" Radio King with calf heads for several years on all kinds of music. Different beaters (lambs wool, hard felt, wood, etc) will give you different attack timbres for different genres. If you can, snag a couple of the old-school clamp on mufflers. I run my drum wide open and will dampen using one or both of the mufflers. Experiment to find the right combination for your sound. Nothing sounds like a 26.
Chappy,do you use 1 muffler on each head or 2 on the batter side?
I just started playing with my new 70s Slingy converted marching bass: 26x14
If you can't get your hands on mufflers yet...
I've got it sounding really nice with a Coated Emperor and two felt strips on the batter side. And a Coated Ambassador with 1 felt strip on the reso. Achieved a nice round warm tone and eliminated the ping. No hole!
I play a 26, though I've been playing a 36, and I've got a 28 on the way.I wouldn't get too hung up about getting the beater in the center of the head though. Some of the best bass drum tones I've heard came from being off-center. With the 36" drum, it was inevitable, obviously. But I never complained, or heard a complaint about its tone. Quite the opposite, actually. You can always add "punch" with proper dampening, but tone is either there, or it's not.
My "gigging" kit. Sorry about the grainy and out-of-perspective iPhone photo. Not vintage-- they are 1999 six-plys. But I want to echo that your beater will fall below center. I find that these larger drums don't sound good if struck dead-center. I also have a 1969 three-ply kit with a 28" I have used on gigs (sorry no pictures yet, they are in the long line of stuff slated for resto work).
I also want to add that my 13-16-26 setup (18" black vistalite in the photo, added just for fun) has actually been an extremely versatile setup for gig situations-- it can really cover a lot of ground. Great for reggae, even-- think kick + snare click on the 1's and 3's.
Be prepared to pay a hefty premium for a three-ply 26", even for a marcher. That Led Zeppelin connotation has really pushed the prices to the stratosphere.
I just got another 26... only 8" deep. It's a "scotch" drum. Looking forward to using it as the basis of a lightweight gigging setup.
Bobby Cee I use whatever combination or single muffler that works for the sound I'm trying to get. The beauty of the 26 is that it can mimic so many different sizes of kick drum. I probably use a single muffler on the batter side more often than one on the reso side. It's taken me a year or so to get a feel for "feathering" the drum and it's still a work in progress. I've started using a Fiberskyn 3 Power Stroke on the batter on the recommendation of a friend that techs for Jay Bellerose. While it's a lot less effected by the humidity, it doesn't have as wide a range of sounds. So much of drumming is spending lots of time with your drums. I force myself to use this kit on all kinds of gigs and learn something new about them every time. Hope this helps.
