A DIY Sub Kick Microphone / Target Salad Bowl

music6000

Well-known member
I was in Target the other week & came out with this.
A Sub Kick is basically a Speaker wired in reverse & it becomes a Microphone.
I purchased a 8'' 30w Woofer with a peak at 70w, Range 35Hz - 6kHz & matching Speaker grill with rubber surround.
Cut a 20mm thick (3/4'') wood Ring & glued it flush with top off the Bowl, Mounted Speaker with 4 Screws & opposing 4 screws to hold the Grill.
Drilled 6 - 13mm (1/2'' Port Holes.
Purchased a near new Snare drum stand & removed the Basket held with a 3.25mm (1/8'') Roll pin.
Replaced with a stainles steel 19mm (3/4'') Tube with 5/8'' Microphone Thread.
Got a flexi Microphone goose neck and heated enough to pull female & male ends off.
Got a piece of Steel rod & mounted both ends with 3.25mm (1/8'') Roll pins.
Drilled a Hole in the Bowl & mounted the ex flex end with a 3/8'' (10mm) stainless steel Bolt with stainless steel washers.
The XLR plug has an 100ohm resistor wrapped around pins 2 & 3 & 1k resistors on the + & - wires to the Speaker wired in Reverse.
This is used to reduce impedance & stop it peaking, Worked perfectly!
It faces as close to centre of Kick Drum Front Head & 50mm (2'') away!
It has been used succesfully in the Studio & 2 Gigs so far....... !
It is now owned by the Drummer!
Custom Sub Kick Final 1.jpg
Custom Sub Kick Final 2.jpg
 
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How does the recorded drum using the woofer-mic compare to a regular mic recording?
Nice job with the construction. I guess the bowl has potential for a few other small drivers as well. : ^ )
 
How does the recorded drum using the woofer-mic compare to a regular mic recording?
Nice job with the construction. I guess the bowl has potential for a few other small drivers as well. : ^ )
It is used in tamdem to get the Sub Frequency along with the the standard Bass Drum microphone that is missing.
 
We used to use speakers like this for bass drumics but never incorporated the bowl... Great idea!
We used to connect a UTC LS-33 transformer to the speaker VC to better match the impedance of the mic input of the board. Worked great! Unfortunately, everyone now knows how good the old UTC transformers are, they are mega expensive. I was lucky to get into audio when most considered them "old junk" and would give the stuff away.
 
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