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[duane massey]

Somewhat off-topic, but Randy (Randall) May and I went to high school together. His office is within 2 miles of my house, yet I haven't had any contact with him since 1969.
Great to see he is successful.

[Stephen Kirby]

I know a couple of actively gigging folks with the Kelly Shu in their drums.  Some with solid resos others with ported resos.  That's up to the feel the drummer wants.  Folks who bury the beater have trouble with solid resos.

I personally don't think it sounds as good as a well placed mic in front since you're effectively enclosing the mic.  But it gets a reliable sound and does prevent people in front from knocking the mic around.

[Tom Roche]

I personally don't think it sounds as good as a well placed mic in front since you're effectively enclosing the mic.  But it gets a reliable sound and does prevent people in front from knocking the mic around.

Agreed.  Placing the mic on a pillow (laundry) is efficient when you play a lot of gigs and provide your own sound.  And yes, I no longer worry about anyone bumping into the mic stand and tearing the reso head. 

[Luke Geis]

I don't care for mics just sitting inside the hole of the reso head, so I mostly just set the mic inside the kick on the pillow; perhaps why I'm particular to my Beta 91. In either case, I agree an inside mounted kick drum mic is a better option. The Kelly Shu looks nice, I haven't seen one yet, but have seen other types with the flexible mic booms ( ala table top and lectern style booms ). The rigid types work better at the cost I think of more shell sound getting into the mic. I haven't come across an internal mic mount I didn't like though. Just different.

[Stephen Kirby]

I don't care for mics just sitting inside the hole of the reso head

Because that's the absolutely wrong way to use a kick mic.  We all know what happens when singers cup a mic.  Sticking the head of a mic into a drum (worst yet, one with a KickPort tube) accomplishes the exact same thing.  Pulling it out so that the cardioid porting is functional and aiming it to "listen" though the port into the drum at the batter head gets rid of a lot of the boom and overhang.  Anywhere from the head even with the face of the mic to the mic pulled back an inch or two allows one to adjust the balance of front head and shell tone to the attack of the batter head.

[John P. Farrell]

Kelly Shu is the only tour grade mount I've had zero problems with.  Highly recommended.

JF

[Tim McCulloch]

I've worked with a few drummers who use the May system and the primary attraction for me was consistency; the down side was the actual drum sound.

"Plinky" is the best way to describe what I heard from 2 out of 3 drummers.  I'm suspecting head selection and tuning but it wasn't my place to make suggestion back then.  At any rate the 3rd drummer's kit sounded outstanding acoustically and was plink-free in the mics.

Specifically regarding bass drum mics:

I've seen the Shu with a number of Nashvegas drummers, a Beta52 or Sennheiser e-something mounted and they velcro the boundary mic to the damping material inside, leaving the cable free in the reso head port for connections.

When I see May I see the entire kit using the system, not just the kick.

So YMMV, Mike.

Optional story-

Frank the Crazy German (his words) mixes for a politically conservative guitarist and he sizes up the system guy du jour with the driest humor this side of the Mohave Desert.

"I put zee SM58 in zee kick drum so when people leave they will sing zee kick drum part."  If he gets the "deer in the headlights" look, he knows it's gonna be a long day.  "No, I put zee 58 in there because it's only the kick drum, not the guitar (some nice mics on that rig...).  If the people don't leave singing Wango Tango I have not done my job."

Frank does a good job for his boss, I wish we had a console knob for "just play your damn guitar."

/optional story

[Robert Patch]

If it has a hole, it's usually a rock kick and if it doesn't have a hole it's called a bass drum.  If it's a bass drum, you want it to sound natural and that doesn't include mounting anything in it or to it.  If it's a rock kick, you might as well use a drum track because there is no basis in the acoustical world for what you are trying to do.  Not to say that that's a bad thing!

[Robert Lofgren]

You can also use a LP-Claw attaching it to the shell but if you have some hardware then mount an arm onto the cymbal or tom stand.

[Mike Holtzinger]

It's a rock kick and I like some snap-but since we play anything from Tom Petty to AIC and the mix is "set it and forget it", it's gotta be somewhat generic too.
re-the claw, I don't see how this would get the mic inside the drum. My usual kick mic position is pretty deep inside the drum close to the beater point.

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