Maple drum head advice

[deano]

Hi guys,
I'm Deano and I'm new here.. Bought myself a Pearl Session Custom kit, all maple. Looking for some new drum heads.. I kinda want a nice full tone, with not too much ring off of it. Was gonna go for pinstripe heads on the 10, 12, 14 & 16" batter head toms, and maybe clear emporers on the reso heads..
Can anybody give me any info on how this will sound, or any advice on gettin a good sound from the kit please?
Thanks for the replies..
Deano.

[somedrummer]

Well, as some of us here will tell you, putting Pinstripe heads on any drums other than cheap, low-end sets is really a waste. I'd personally reccomend EC2s, they're a really good head that doesn't "kill" so much of the sound like the pinstripes. I also have the Session Custom maple, and I use actually a combination of heads on mine, with thinner, 1 ply heads on the smaller toms, then gradually making my way up to thick EC2s on the larger drums as a way of equalizing the amount of ring from each drum.

Good choice on those drums, by the way.

[Stevesmithfan]

Anything single ply should be fine.

[deano]

Alright then thanks for the advice lads.. I'll have a listen to some different combos then and see what I think..

[konaboy]

I'm also of the opinion putting pinstripes on that kit like yours defeats the purpose of having a nice kit, they just seem to suck the sound and tone out of the drum. A regular single or two ply head should sound really good. If you want a little bit of muffling and like the feel of a single ply you might look at the new EC1 by evans. I haven't had a chance to check these out yet but the seem very interesting! I'd probably go with a single ply on the reso for tone.

For single ply batter or reso: Remo Ambassador, Evans G1 (not sure of the aquarian equivelant)
two ply: Remo Emperor, Evans G2
tone controlled: Evans EC2 (2 ply) Evans EC1 (single ply.)

[aceman]

Just get yourself a set of Evans g2 batters and Evans G1 reso. heads Tune em' up right and those maple shella will sound beautiful. The pinstripes and ec2's might sound good to YOU behind the kit but out front they will muffle and kill the drums resonance. Maple shells are designed to have a full, warm resonate tone to them, Why kill that and make them sound like a CB kit? Just my opinion.

[PureRockFury]

I've never heard a better combination of heads on a maple kit than Clear Emperors over Clear Ambassadors. It's pure, has nice sustain, isn't muddy, great attack, and because of the Remo Dupont mylar the heads are warmer sounding than Evans, but not even close to the warm sound of Aquarian.

[konaboy]

I've never heard a better combination of heads on a maple kit than Clear Emperors over Clear Ambassadors. It's pure, has nice sustain, isn't muddy, great attack, and because of the Remo Dupont mylar the heads are warmer sounding than Evans, but not even close to the warm sound of Aquarian.

I actually think the Remo's sound "brighter" than Evans. But sound is a very subjective thing.

[deano]

Alright then sounds good,
I'm torn between the Evans G2 over G1, or, clear emporers over clear ambassadors. What should I go for on the bass drum though? For a nice thumpy sound.. Was gonna go for a pinstripe but after hearing what I have I don't know. The bass drum sound really sweet as it is with Pearl protone on it, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep a decent sound. What you guys think?

[PureRockFury]

Remo Clear Powerstroke 3 over an Ebony Powerstroke 3. They aren't the industry standard for anything. They will give you everything you need. If you want a tight punch you've got it, if you want an open boomy sound, you've got it. They are extremely versatile.

[konaboy]

PS3 on the bass would sound nice, also might look at the Aquarian Super Kick 1 and the Evans Emad. Unless your really hard on your bass head I'd opt for a single ply like the ones listed instead of a 2 ply, it won't be quite as dead.

[MadJazz]

Here's what I'd use (top/bottom):

SD
coated amb / clear emp SS

BD
clear EMAD or clear EQ4 / coated EQ3 with piece of foam

10"
coated amb / clear amb

12"
coated emp / clear amb

14"
coated emp / clear emp

16"
coated emp / clear emp

[Ozzy Biz]

Here's what I'd use (top/bottom):
SD
coated amb / clear emp SS
BD
clear EMAD or clear EQ4 / coated EQ3 with piece of foam
10"
coated amb / clear amb
12"
coated emp / clear amb
14"
coated emp / clear emp
16"
coated emp / clear emp

Emperor on snared side? Do you want no response from your snares? Might as well tighten your snares as tight as they can go to choke the head too.

I'm not keen on the double ply resos (especially on the snare). My suggestion is Coated G2/Emperors over clear or coated (if you want a little less high-end ring from your resos) G1/Ambassadors on the toms. Coated Ambassador/Power-Centre-Reverse-Dot over Hazy300/Amb. snare side on snare drum. Coated P3/EQ4 over Amb(ebony, smooth white or coated, your choice)/EQ3 reso head on your kick. Perhaps go for the EMAD1/EMAD reso combo on the bass.

[mofle]

Here's what I'd use (top/bottom):

SD
coated amb / clear emp SS

BD
clear EMAD or clear EQ4 / coated EQ3 with piece of foam

10"
coated amb / clear amb

12"
coated emp / clear amb

14"
coated emp / clear emp

16"
coated emp / clear emp

I use the same head configuration as you (on my Yamaha Maple Customs), only I have an 8'' and use coated amb / clear amb on it...
I also use Coated Powerstroke 3 on batter and Coated amb on reso for bass...

[Ozzy Biz]

I use the same head configuration as you (on my Yamaha Maple Customs), only I have an 8'' and use coated amb / clear amb on it...
I also use Coated Powerstroke 3 on batter and Coated amb on reso for bass...

Do you really use an emperor for the snare side head like MadJazz says?

[PureRockFury]

Dude there is an Emperor Snare Side. It's a 5mil weight head compared to the Ambassador Snare Side which is 3mil and the Diplomat Snare Side which is 2mil.

[MadJazz]

Emperor on snared side? Do you want no response from your snares? Might as well tighten your snares as tight as they can go to choke the head too.

I'm not keen on the double ply resos (especially on the snare).

If I had to answer so condescendingly as you did, I'd say "don't you know an emperor SS is not the same as an emperor head??!" Emp SS is a single ply 5 mil.

And yes I do want some response from snare wires, but I do not like the metallic, aggressive, steel sound which you get from thin heads or from tightening up the head or wires too much. I want the warmth of the maple shell to be more prominent than the steel wires. Hence a thicker reso. If I had to pick a small 10-12" snare, I'd be happy with an ambassador SS. 14" and up do well with a slightly thicker head.

Btw, floor toms do need a thicker reso. No sense in sticking conservatively to stock heads and never try a different approach.

Deano, I'd avoid pinstripes. I've never like them as batters. They performed better as reso's for me. Makes your floor toms rumble!
To control overtones, I'd pick coated batters. Then tune the reso's on rack toms significantly (1/2 or 1 turn) higher than batter. This will cut sustain and increase pitch. Since you don't want a high pitched floor tom, bring both heads on floors pretty low. Here you can control sustain by taking a thicker head (reso side).

[deano]

Thanks alot lads.. Lots of different ideas flying around there but I see emperor batters over ambassador resos seem to be a popular choice. Think I'll go for that and a PS3 or EMAD on the kick batter with an Ambassador reso.. Should have probably mentioned that I play a 6.5"x14" free floating copper snare, but I've had no trouble with a coated ambassador on that so I'll stick to that.
Mad Jazz you recommend coated batters? Warmer sound I suppose?

[Ozzy Biz]

If I had to answer so condescendingly as you did, I'd say "don't you know an emperor SS is not the same as an emperor head??!" Emp SS is a single ply 5 mil.

And yes I do want some response from snare wires, but I do not like the metallic, aggressive, steel sound which you get from thin heads or from tightening up the head or wires too much. I want the warmth of the maple shell to be more prominent than the steel wires. Hence a thicker reso. If I had to pick a small 10-12" snare, I'd be happy with an ambassador SS. 14" and up do well with a slightly thicker head.

Btw, floor toms do need a thicker reso. No sense in sticking conservatively to stock heads and never try a different approach.

Deano, I'd avoid pinstripes. I've never like them as batters. They performed better as reso's for me. Makes your floor toms rumble!
To control overtones, I'd pick coated batters. Then tune the reso's on rack toms significantly (1/2 or 1 turn) higher than batter. This will cut sustain and increase pitch. Since you don't want a high pitched floor tom, bring both heads on floors pretty low. Here you can control sustain by taking a thicker head (reso side).

My bad, I didn't notice the 'snare-side' bit in relation to the emperor head. That makes a lot more sense. So is the Emp SS roughly equivalent to say an Evans Hazy-500?

As for resos, I've been playing around with different models and I liked the results best with good ol' G1 clears. Looking at upgrading to a higher quality kit soon-ish, so I'll have some more fun with head choice then.

[Skitch]

My bad, I didn't notice the 'snare-side' bit in relation to the emperor head. That makes a lot more sense. So is the Emp SS roughly equivalent to say an Evans Hazy-500?

As for resos, I've been playing around with different models and I liked the results best with good ol' G1 clears. Looking at upgrading to a higher quality kit soon-ish, so I'll have some more fun with head choice then.


I have never heard of an Emperor snare side head!

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

[PureRockFury]

I have never heard of an Emperor snare side head!

Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

Here is a screen capture from the Remo catalog.