New Music Gear Monday: Avantone Kick Sub-Frequency Bass Drum Microphone

One of the things that engineers have always struggled with was getting enough girth frequencies on the kick drum. This was eventually solved by Nashville engineer Russ Long, who mounted a common (at the time) Yamaha NS-10 woofer on a snare stand and used it as a microphone exclusively on the bass drum. The sound caught on and soon Yamaha came out with its own version of the innovation. The problem was that it never sounded quite the same as the original DIY version using the NS-10 woofer. Now Yamaha as discontinued the unit, but other manufacturer’s have tried to fill the void. The latest is the new Avantone Kick sub-kick mic.

The difference between Avantone Kick and other models is that it tries to accurately reproduce the original NS-10 sound. Since the company recreated a version of the revered NS-10 last year with its CLA10, they already had the 6.5″ white-coned transducer available, and this is what you’ll find in Kick.

Just like the original, the Kick’s 6.5″ press-formed driver comes inside a real birch drum shell and mounted to a double-braced stand for hassle-free positioning and long-lasting durability.

Not limited to just kick drum duty, Kick also works on bass cabinets too. Just place it about 6 inches away from the source and you’ll have low end for days.

There’s not much to say about this unit since there are no parameter controls. and nothing is variable. Just plug it in and go.

The price is just $349, and while you can build your own for the price of the 6.5 inch driver and a snare stand, it’s the kind of driver that makes the difference. Many have tried to do it the DIY way only to discover that it just wasn’t “the sound” that they’d come to know with that NS-10 driver. That in itself makes the Avantone Kick worth checking out. Find out more here.

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