Second: I want that kind of bass sound the really thunders. Would that be a certain type of bass that I would have to buy to get it? Is that a dumb question too? LOL Sorry, we are all bass/electric/accoustic guitar people around here. We don't know anything about percussion!
I'm not sure without an example exactly what you are talking about, but keep in mind that if you are refering to recorded music, the bass drums were mic-ed during recording and messed with to give a good punch. If you mean drums you have heard at a live venue that had a certain punch to them, then they were probably also mic-ed.
So, to first address drums that have mics on them, there are (in my experience) 3 levels of sound reinforcement on a drum kit:
1) No mics
2) Mics on the bass drums
3) Mics on everything
When I played in the band, I almost always had my bass drums mic-ed, even in small bars. It just added that lower end punch that I wanted. It helps to be using a set of sub-woofer cabs, but if your pa has 15" woofers and you are crossed over properly, you should be fine. Be aware though that the bass drum can have enourmous transient responses if you really lay into it, so your speakers need to be up to snuff or you'll blow them. Also, I can't emphasize enough that your bass mics need to have either a high spl rating (somewhere around 130 at least), be built specifically for the bass drum, or be lower sensitivity but built like a tank such as a Sure sm-57.
Now, if you weren't talking about drums going through a pa, then you are refering to the natural acoustic properties of the bass drums. On that front, there isn't really any difference as far as punch between different brands. They are all mostly a standard depth and diameter. You can buy larger bass drums, but that is kind of an off the wall thing to do. What will effect the sound though are two things:
1) Head type
2) Muffle or ring control
Head type: You will notice that drums have a lower head (or in the case of a bass drum, a front head). These heads are not meant to be struck - in fact if you do, in many cases they are thin/brittle enough that they will break. They are there as resonators. These heads increase projection, enhance tone, and add harmonics (not always a good thing), especially to the toms. On the snare drum, the lower head also serves as the surface for the snare wires to do their thing. On bass drums, most times the front head has a circular port or even a rather large hole either in the middle or off to the side. I am not a drum design engineer or anything, but my gut tells me that the port is there to allow for proper decompression of the bass drum when struck to allow a more punchy sound. If you are familiar wih loud speaker design, you will know that ports are often used on the woofer sections to enhance low frequencies (at the expense of some sonic accuracy).
Anyway, that is what you will want to be looking for- a ported front head. Because....
2) Muffle or ring control:
This topic starts to get into a lot of personal preference, and really goes far beyond what a beginning drummer needs to worry about, but basically, when I mentioned harmonics above, sometimes you don't want that. There are various "systems" and devices designed to reduce or eliminate ringing/harmonics, etc. on drums, and many of them are very good for bass drums. What these systems do for drums in general is clean up the sound and at the same time reduce the volume. As a drummer, you almost are never going to be too loud, but rather will find it difficult to integret your volume into the group. After all, there is no volume knob on a drum set. And it isn't a matter of simply playing "softer". Sure, in certain types of music you can do that, but most rock type of stuff doesn't lend itself to drum volume control. So the general idea is to control ring (unless you really do like what is coming off your drums), control volume if possible, then mic the drums so they can be integrated into the band's mix on stage.
Back to ring control and bass drums...
Ok, so what are these systems that work. If you want a very good solid punch, no overtones, with no volume control so that when you lay into the bass drum people get a "whap" in their gut, I recommend a system that is placed under the two heads of the bass drums and uses a foam ring in a tray. Basically how that works is that you take off each head, place the round plastic tray over the edge of the drum shell, place the foam ring in the tray and put the head back on. I have always used this system and loved it. I'm not sure if I can describe it right, but the tray is basically the diameter of the drum, and maybe 2" wide with the 1/'2" or so groove all the way around for the foam ring to sit in. I looked on the Musician's Friend web site, but I can't find them at the moment. I am not however refering to the foam ring systems that stick to the back of the head like weather stripping would. Those fall off over time and I don't even know if they are made anymore anyway.
But, what a lot of people (myself included) do, is simply buy a back pillow case (black 'cause it looks cool) and a queen size pillow, and toss it in the bottom of the bass drum. Works great - seriously. I use both the ring system and the pillow trick at the same time. The cool thing is that because the ports in my Pearl drum heads are so big, I can take the pillow in or out whenever I want.
So, I guess what I'm saying with all that, is that I don't think you need to worry at first about your bass drum selection. That can be modified later if you want to.
As far as lessons go, I never had one-on-one formal lessons. My brother showed me a few things when I was a kid, and I took six years of band in junior/senior high school. I would recommend it though unless you have a friend or two who are good drummers that could get you started. Unlike with a guitar, there is soooo much actual physical stuff you have to worry about with the drums. You aren't just plugging a guitar into an amp, and making sure your posture and hands are in the right spots. That stuff could be taught on a video (I know 'cause I'm trying to learn to play guitar). With drums, you need to see examples of how to physically set up the drums - where do all those damn pieces go anyway? Angle and height of the toms, snare/cymbal/throne placement - there are a hundred and one things that can be adjusted and it helps to have somebody show you the ropes. And that is just the physical setup of the kit - nothing about technique yet. So, I would definetly take at least a few lessons.
Hope that all made sense!
LDB
