@slaw, that drum on "Built To Last" sounds like what you think it is, what’s called a concert bass drum. The same drum in a shallower depth (drumhead-to-drumhead) is played in marching bands at football games, and is then referred to as a marching or parade bass drum (for the obvious reason ;-) . Both sound as they do because they are 1- much larger in diameter than a drumset bass drum (28" minimum, usually larger), so there is less tension on the head, and 2- played with a "mallet", a stick with a large felt ball on the end that strikes the head, the felt creating a sound with less "attack" than does a normal drumstick’s wood or plastic tip. Good ear there buddy!
By the way, one of the reasons John Bonham’s bass/kick drum had it’s well-known unique sound was that he played a 26", as opposed to the more common 20" (Ringo’s kit on the early Ed Sullivan shows and the ’64 U.S. tour, and one of Ginger Baker’s two kicks), 22" (Ringo’s subsequent kits, and Baker’s second kick. Keith Moon’s double-kick set contained two 22"), or the occasional 24" (many Big Band drummers including Buddy Rich, as well as Mitch Mitchell and Carmine Appice). The second reason was he used no muffling in the drum or on it’s heads, playing it "wide open". The third was he had it distant mic’ed, not close mic’ed. And fourth, he "buried" the felt bass drum beater into the head; that means instead of letting the beater bounce off the head after each note, he kept the beater pressed tight against the head, which tends to kill the natural resonance and ringing of the head, a form of damping.
