Harder mallets for bass drum

[el gaitero]

Suggestions for a harder mallet to get a more crisp sound from the bass ... especially on parade.
We're not s competition band...don't need the soft muffle sound.

[Pablopicasso420]

I really like the new TyFry bass mallets. They aren't particularly harder but smaller and seemed to give a more punchy sound.

It could also be the bass itself. If you are getting a nasty ring when you smack it, try putting some felt under it or you can buy the new, fancy self muffled heads.

[Margaret]

Suggestions for a harder mallet to get a more crisp sound from the bass ... especially on parade.
We're not s competition band...don't need the soft muffle sound.

Tuning and good bass heads make a huge difference and you won't have to rely on mallets that aren't well set for pipe band bass - that's what I would address first as hard mallets still make your bass player work too hard and you'll get a less than lovely sound out of your bass.

Mike Cole has great mallets (I use them) https://twistedthistle.com/ , and also Beat Street mallets are nice (I have those too if I have to play all day) - both can be purchased through Tartantown.

[Pablopicasso420]

Do you have any damping on your bass heads? that is also a way to get more of a Bam! than a Boooooom! sound from the bass regardless of mallets. Something else I've noticed is that top level bands are getting away from the Full Head Logo which obviously messes with the sound of the head. I say obviously while I have had big printed or even applied stickers on just about every bass drum I have ever had in a corps.

Of course military pipe bands just use mallets and whack the heck out of them in a totally different style if that is more to your liking.

[Tucker Fleming]

This bass drummer is a beat keeper. No fancy tone tricks, just a hammer on the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o62ux3RfajM

[el gaitero]

This bass drummer is a beat keeper. No fancy tone tricks, just a hammer on the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o62ux3RfajM

Yes!! ...this vid is what inspired me ask my Q.... especially insofar as our band plays Atholl...

[Margaret]

Do you have any damping on your bass heads? that is also a way to get more of a Bam! than a Boooooom! sound from the bass regardless of mallets. Something else I've noticed is that top level bands are getting away from the Full Head Logo which obviously messes with the sound of the head. I say obviously while I have had big printed or even applied stickers on just about every bass drum I have ever had in a corps.

If you get the logo or image in the bass heads (versus too thick decal applied externally) there isn't really a sound difference at all - just gotta spend the bucks for nice quality heads - Most Grade 1 bands are still playing full image heads as shown by SFU today at the Indoor:

image.png

[Pablopicasso420]

Interesting picture. That's not the SFU bass i'm used to seeing. This is more what I was referencing

image.png

[Pablopicasso420]

image.pngThis one almost looks transparent

[Margaret]

This one almost looks transparent

nope, it's just the image, it's not see through. The really good bass heads have the image inked and sandwiched during the process, so the image thickness is so infinitesimal it doesn't affect sound. Decals on the other hand really do affect the sound you're trying to get since the vinyl is thicker (in the old days you had two choices, painted or sticker).

This really opens up your image options if you want a showy bass. I think these SFU heads aged out a while ago. With 5 bands in the SFU organization, you see the RMM heads with one band or the other for a season or two on occasion.

image.png

Ours is a pretty simple image on Articulators, and sounds really nice.

image.png

[Margaret]

On Facebook, the We Love Pipe Bands page has a whole photo album of different bass drums - some are pretty wild:

image.png

[Matt Weasner]

Yes!! ...this vid is what inspired me ask my Q.... especially insofar as our band plays Atholl...

Sorry, but this is icky. Sounds like he's playing a 5 gallon plastic bucket down the street. Bass drums can sound MUCH better than this, though I get your end goal.

Sorry to be critical. GL!!

[AB_Koupal]

The densest pipe band bass mallets I've ever used are the ones by Andante, also one of the least expensive to boot. Anything denser and you risk getting a loose-paper sound from the heads because the tensions we use are too low for such dense mallets. One could significantly raise the tension on the heads but then you probably won't be tuning to the same note as the bass drone, which is fine yet massively atypical.