Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

Great little tool to get your kit within range and you can tweak it after that! My kit hasn't sounded this good in years! haha!

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

I just had to get this device, after hours of trying to tune my DW snare with Aquarian Coated Response 2 drumheads. I also had 5 new heads on their way. I'm not a pro at tuning, but I do know the tone and pitch I'm after. I also can be a little impatient.
First off, this thing is kinda heavy. Probably required as it measures tension. I first wanted to see how close my snare batter was to their recommended specs. I was a little to loose, which was fine, because it did not sound that good. I started with the bottom head, and it was little loose as well. That head (being thinner) was easy to tune. I jumped back to the top head, and started finger tight, then brought it up about 3/4 turn. I placed the drum dial on and turned as needed. People have said that when they had to lower the tension, the drum dial would still display a high reading, when in fact a tension bolt was really loose. Steve at Drum Dial (great guy) explained that often the pressure of the surrounding lugs is enough to keep tension on the loosened lug. Especially if you have a 10 lug rim, or one that is thick die-cast or triple flanged. He suggested pressing down about an inch from the rim on the head to compensate. After hitting the marks, I then fine - tuned by ear. After that, write your reading down on the head for future reference. Awesome tool to use to "start" with. You still need your ears to finish. Steve at the shop was a great help. Go Get one, if you're not a pro at tuning by ear!!

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

My whole drumming life my problem has always been tuning! When I saw an advertisement for this I was curious and thought it was problaly hard. So for my birthday I received one. Let me tell you it is easy & fun!! It's like playing with that one toy and ignore all the rest of the Christmas toys.What a smile I got when I started to tune ALL my drums! And yes toms too. It also has an easy to read chart for most size top & bottom heads which is a major plus. Hats off to Drum Dial for their product!!

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

I'm a bass player who owns a studio... my confidence level on tuning drums was pretty low. Every drummer I meet has a different take on tuning. This is a great tool for non-drummers and I suppose drummers too. Easy to use. Well built. Made in the USA!

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

Hello! I just recently purchased the Drum Dial to aid me in tuning. I have been a drummer or 16 years and I would say my weakest area is tuning. I do fine tuning rack toms, but when it comes to floor toms or bass drums, I tend to find it hard to tune, since the pitches are quite low. I had tried to the Tama Tension Watch in the past and absolutely hated it! It was too sensitive and one had to be pretty precise when it came to putting the Tension Watch on the head. Anyhow, I just got the Drum Dial today and I can say it is a lot easier to use than the Tension Watch. However, it is still not 100 percent accurate, but it will definitely get you in the ball park. The only con I have found is that it is pretty clunky and heavy. It probably would not be wise to carry it around with you to shows, unless it's a significant and important show. Also, be mindful to calibrating it. Calibrate it each time you decide to use it.

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

I just picked up the drum dial today at my local [...] store and it helped me right out of the box. [...]I'm not the greatest at tuning drums, but using the drum dial takes away a lot of the guesswork involved and makes experimenting with different tensions much easier and consistent. It's a little pricey, but I believe it's worth every penny. My kit has never sounded so good...

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

before i bought this my set sounded so flat and dark and buying this and setting it to the scales my set sounds like a new improved standerd set

Comments about Drum Dial Precision Drum Tuner:

"Sorry about the long post � I�m funny that way! Well, I broke down and bought the Drum Dial last night. Hey, I can still return it within 30 days! Anyway�I didn�t have much time to work with it, but did manage to tune up my 14x11 Ref tom. Here�s my review: My first impression was that this bad boy is well built. It�s very heavy considering its size and extremely sensitive (more on this in a bit). Contrary to some of the people who responded to this thread, I decided to first tune up the drum the way I normally would by ear. I already love the way my drums sound when I tune them by ear. My main objective in wanting to use the Drum Dial was to get my tuning even more precise, as opposed to relying on the Drum Dial, with its instructions, to tell me how to tune my drums. I figured I would just tune up my entire kit and then make note of each drumhead�s pressure reading. And by the way, I think this is where some of these people missed the point of using the Drum Dial. After reading some of their posts, I got the feeling that they assumed all they had to do was tune their drums to the Drum Dial�s suggested tunings (it comes with such a sheet) and their drums would sound great to them. This is not the case. The manufacturer even states right in the instructions that their recommendations are only �guidelines� and that each individual�s tuning preference will depend on their style of music, the head combination, the drum being tuned, etc., so I don�t know what these people were getting so uptight about. Anyway� I first tuned my 14� tom by ear. I like to tune my drums to specific notes (I�ve been using a pitch pipe for years as a tuning aid) and with my latest set configuration, I�ve been tuning my 14� tom to F, with both heads tuned to the same pitch (usually around D). I then used the Drum Dial to find out what the pressure readings were on each head and was pleasantly surprised that the lugs weren�t that far off from each other after me tuning by ear. On each head, I came up with readings from 70-72. I decided to average it out and tightened/loosened each lug to 71. This put the drum VERY close to F, just a wee-bit sharp, so I detuned each lug A HAIR, which still read 71 on the Drum Dial and the drum sounded dead on. Now, some of the things I�ve noticed: The Drum Dial is very sensitive. I noticed the needle move even when bumping into one of the lugs (without turning it) with my drum key. I also noticed that I had to be very consistent in how I placed it on the head. The instructions say to lower it slowly to the head, which is what I was trying to do. But I noticed that sometimes, one of the lugs would be a count or two higher or lower from where I just left it. As an experiment, I decided to �reseat� the Drum Dial at the same lug position a couple of times consecutively, lowering it to the head slowly, and it did start to show the correct reading consistently. So in other words, you have to work pretty steady with this thing � no sudden movements of the dial or your drum. I also noticed that the way I like my drums to sound, based on my pressure reading of 71, is a lot lower than the suggestions offered by the Drum Dial. I use Evans G2 batters on my toms and the Drum Dial�s recommended pressure for a 2-ply batter is 78-83. I didn�t experiment with this setting, but I would imagine my tom would probably sound pretty �boingy�. As did others on this string, I noticed that one lug on each head was almost loose, even though my Drum Dial reading was still at 71 and most of the other lugs felt pretty snug, so I really can�t explain that. All I can say is that each head did sound A LITTLE �truer� (a nice, even pitch) after I used the Drum Dial, as opposed to how it sounded when I just tuned by ear, which was still pretty good. I would assume the loose lug issue wouldn�t even come up if one tuned to the Drum Dials recommendations, as the lugs would have to be much tighter in that case. In regards to tuning, I would say I would benefit most from using the Drum Dial on my snare-side head and maybe the resonant head of my bass drum. I can�t really hear the pitches differences when I try to tune a snare-side head � I pretty much have to rely on my eyes and on the feel of the head. I didn�t notice as much of a dramatic improvement in how my tom sounded as some of the other people who posted, but the drum did sound a little better. For me, I think the biggest benefit from using the Drum Dial would be in saving time. And let me just clarify this right now: if you decide to purchase the Drum Dial, you will initially spend a CONSIDERABLE amount of time dialing in your drumheads in order to record your personal pressure readings for future use. I think it took me at least an hour and a half from start to finish with my 14� tom. What I�m talking about in regards to saving time, is when you already have your readings written down and you�re putting on a brand new head(s). In the past, I would seat the head and then do"