[cabalumnidrummer]

Jim Nevermann, on 30 December 2011 - 07:16 PM, said:

I don't know.

You or anyone else here ever play Stingray? I'm told the snares & tenors were VERY heavy. Although how much heavier could Stingray tenors have been than most other manufactures today are? To me they're all absurdly heavy.

We had Stingray drums for several seasons, in that exact red/white combination., though not the wedge model. Yes, they were very heavy for 14" drums. We/I replaced them in favor of the 15" Ludwig metal shell drums we currently use. They are not only lighter, but we feel they have a more authentic look and sound for an alumni corps.

Reilly Raiders still have Stingrays, though a different model from those that we had. Yankee Rebels also had them until their disbanding in 2009, though they were using some of the small wedge snares for parades, so that will tell you something about the weight of the Stingrays.

[Jim Nevermann]

Why 99% of the drum manufacturers continue to make [and corps & bands continue to buy] such ridiculously heavy drums --especially tenors-- is completely beyond me. I hope Al Murray's able to steer Ludwig away from their "us too" heavy-drum design mentality.

This post has been edited by Jim Nevermann: 03 January 2012 - 10:26 PM

[Stradivarius]

I think it would be pretty cool to have a uniform look of the drums across the entire battery. I saw an ad in the "Halftime Magazine" and they are apparently all the same size (relatively small) and can be tuned to all the pitches of the bass drums.

[Jim Nevermann]

Technically, single horizontal marching basses [even in the form of Ergosonic's semi-tilted ones] are not a new concept.

A very few weeks after the Boston Crusaders premiered their revolutionary, single-headed, horizontal double-bass set in 1967 --THAT long ago?!-- many corps quickly turned some/all of their normally vertical carried single basses horizontal [with or with out both heads] as a sort of "Hey, us too" move. Here, two such basses in the very sharp looking 1969 Des Plaines 'Vanguard'.

Des Plaines also expanded their marching tympany section that same year, though I'm not sure they're in this photo. Note also their red sparkle REMO snare heads, and -- very progressively -- *three* sets of Ludwig timp-toms which replaced their former single-shell tenor section of 1968. Des Plaines was the first corps to make that pivotal instrument switch. Yet, for at least one more year, practically everyone else continued using their single tenors along with [if they had them] one or two sets of timp-toms, promoted in Ludwig ads of the day as a "tonal bridge between (single shell) tenors and bass drums".

[Stradivarius]

I just wish my school could afford all new drums We use basses 0-4 because bass 5 is broken

[old skool drmmr]

Jim Nevermann, on 03 January 2012 - 10:22 PM, said:

Why 99% of the drum manufacturers continue to make [and corps & bands continue to buy] such ridiculously heavy drums --especially tenors-- is completely beyond me. I hope Al Murray's able to steer Ludwig away from their "us too" heavy-drum design mentality.

Generally speaking, the heavier drums tend to sound better. Thicker and deeper shells = more projection.

This post has been edited by old skool drmmr: 31 January 2012 - 08:36 PM

[zdrumdude]

I saw these bass drums at N.J. music educators conference in New Brunswick. These are cool. Wooden shell not like sting ray or north drum. Pretty light and the way they are made the smaller drum can play a lower pitch. A great product. Time to update bass drums. I talked to a guy who used them for his parade band and he said it was the first time in 12 years of teaching that he could really hear his bass drums during a parade. I love all these guys who rag on the look of these drums and say they don't look traditional. Probably the same guys who voted for electronics and vocals in drum corps. Gimme a break !

[eshmos]

Everett (MA) H.S. winter percussion line is using them this year. They're a PSO line and will be at Dayton this week. I'm not sure they project like a traditional bass drum does, though with only having 3 snares the balance seems to be okay.

I guess if you're teaching your students to play match grip, these drums may have an advantage.

[MikeN]

I love the idea in theory - a uniform line like that would open up a whole new set of visual possibilities. I'll have to wait and hear how they sound in practice. But they definitely seem promising.

Mike

[jonnyboy]

Finally some vids of these basses are showing up online Everett High School.

Everett Bass Line