Orange Amps Forum

As if trying to get the OMEC up and running wasn't enough, I'm in the process of building a subkick- like the Yamaha Subkick, but with a matching 10" tom for my Ludwig kit. I have a 6.5" woofer, am going to mount an XLR connector where the vent hole is, and have a snare stand on the way to mount it in front of my kick. Trying to get that oomph on record.

Here's a Yamaha one:



but I think mine will look better... pix coming!

It's going to be hard to beat the looks of the Yamaha, but a bigger, deeper shell is a good place to start. I've always wondered how the Subkick works. If you get good results, I might have to copy the idea with my spare snare shell.

What is a sub kick and what does it do?

a subkick is essentially a speaker used as a microphone. the speaker is quite good at catching low frequencies. if you look at the backside of a yamaha subkick, you will see a speaker(white?) behind a some kind of screen(like from stockings)

Wow, I played drums for 5-6 years and this is the first time I've ever heard of one of these haha.

GL with the project.

Basically, the cool part about it is, the inherent nature of a woofer is that it's only going to pick up very low end- so you get the thump but without any bleed through from any other drums or cymbals or stuff!

I got it wired up and drilled the hole tonight. I'm mounting the speaker to a metal speaker grille, but just discovered that the grill slips though the rim mount of the drum... I was hoping to simply clamp down the rim mount and away I go but no.... I'm going to have to make some sort of mounting clip that attaches to the drum lugs...

and my kit is wine red- the 10 inch tom I got matches the kit (and is Ludwig, too) so I think my subkick might look better than the Yamaha when complete.

I got the idea from watching The Roots on Jimmy Fallon and got to wondering what that little drum in front of the kick was all about...

That's a very ingenious idea! Way cool thinking. Let us know how it turns out Billy, I'm curious to know how you'll match impedances and such!

bclaire wrote: Trying to get that oomph on record.

We've done this a couple of times with my band, but always the other way around. Playing on a 20" bass drum with a larger one behind it. Last time we had a 26" behind.
I get the theory behind doing this, (smaller kick, larger sub) but why do you want the smaller drum behind?

Orphin wrote:

bclaire wrote: Trying to get that oomph on record.

We've done this a couple of times with my band, but always the other way around. Playing on a 20" bass drum with a larger one behind it. Last time we had a 26" behind.
I get the theory behind doing this, (smaller kick, larger sub) but why do you want the smaller drum behind?

Where the heck did you find a 26" speaker?

(I take it you didn't!)


Andy.

The small drum is merely a housing for the woofer- it doesn't function as a drum but is used to preserve "a look."

That's pretty cool. Just as an aside, I remember reading the beatles used a sub as a mic for McCartney's bass...maybe around Sgt Pepper...

My 24" Starclassic Birch and a bass drum mic has plenty of low end. I'm not sure what these things do that a Beta 52 or D112 and a little EQ can't?!

i'm trying to understand this.

so the subkick is a speaker that catches the signal from the kicks and repeats it? so the sound comes from the subkick primarily, feeding off the sound produced by the kick?

Can I summarize? Thank you. It works exactly like a microphone, it just looks different, and doesn't hear the sound of your other drums. Basically a bass frequency only mic.

If I understood Billy correctly anyway.

those things are so sick. my drummer built one by using an old computer speaker housing, and putting a mic in there, along with some other stuff. i have no clue how, but it sounded pretty good!