OCDP Bass Drum Cut Down

Brief History

This OCDP kit was acquired second hand around 1998-99 and have no idea who the kit belonged to before me. I reached out to Orange County Drum & Percussion and they couldn’t tell me anything about the drums which all checked out after listening to the Drum History Podcast:  Episode 163.  This episode is a great listen. 

The virgin bass drum on this kit was originally 20×22 with reinforced rings and mighty thunderous! 

The Cut Down

After reading alot of posts on forums,  watching numerous videos, and considering just buying another bass drum, I decided to have the bass drum cut down. I determined I wasn’t going to lose too much of the bolstering sound and the cost benefit was too great so I reached out to Andy at Drum Supply House in Nashville, TN.

We went over a few options and I decided cutting 6 inches from the batter side would be the best solution. I wouldn’t have to move the spurs and there wasn’t a tom mount to contend with. I also didn’t mind that the badge is now off-center (and didn’t want to move it and have to plug and drill more holes). Instead of having another re-ring put in, I had them do a round over edge on the batter side. 

Tone

The pitch is minimally higher than the deep thunder it once was, but don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great sounding bass drum. II play this with an Evans EMAD2 and EQ3 Reso. The EQ3 Reso gave me the sound I was looking for with the right amount of punchy boom.

I can play it wide open (empty shell) for the thunder, but usually keep an Evans Pro Cushion Pillow in there to achieve the warm deep punchy sound I want. 

I may add a 24″ or 26″ to the collection one day, but will likely never want anything deeper than a 16″ 

    

Conclusion

I am very happy with my long drawn out and over though decision to cut this bass drum down to a 14×22.