fellow stage custom owners...

[moe.ron]

what heads do you run on your kit? i have coated emperors over clear ambassadors and i cannot get a good sound out of them. the 12" rings alot and i put a moongel on it to fatten it up and it kills the top head while the 14" gets a great tone but no resonance. any suggestions? i'm thinking i either need to get premuffled heads like studio x or just let them open up all the way and get coated ambassadors, however i was thinking fiberskyns.

[Cymbalrider]

I've played on Stage Custom kits with Pinstripes and Hydraulic heads on them and they still sound open and resonant, so I'm not sure there's anything you can do there. Studio X heads would be a good option as well as Fiberskyn Ambassadors. Personally I would recommend the Fiberskyns just because I like them and are getting a set for my maple kit. Another option is one I've seen with Stage Customs and that is the little plastic rings you lay on top of the heads. It kinda kills the attack though and they are hard to keep up with. I would say the Fiberskyns are your best choice. A lot of people around here with birch,oak or other loud kits are using Fiberskyns are control heads.

[aceman]

It sounds like you have a tuning issue. I have a 7 piece stage custom advantage and although they do require a little more patience to tune, when they are, they sound very impressive. I have been using Coated g1 batters for my 8 and 10" toms and coated g2 batters for my 12, 14, 16. Clear g1's reso's all the way around. Try tuning your reso on your 14" tom tighter. As you do this, make sure to tune your batter the same amount lower. I tune all my batters a bit lower than the reso's and have had great success with these drums.

[Cymbalrider]

I just remembered...

The Powertroke Fiberskyn 3s are another choice. Diplomat weight would act like a regular ambassador weight head because of the added thickness of the ''fiberskyn'' on the mylar head.

[dblinkhorn]

moe.ron

I used your exact head set up with superb results. I was blown away with the sound of the kit for the price I paid for it.

One thing I noticed, though, is that these drums (or maybe just mine!) like to have both heads in the same pitch. In fact I can't quite seem to understand why anyone would tune differently. I think all drums I've heard sound optimal when both heads are in the same pitch. You get the least unwanted overtones, rings, and buzzes when both heads vibrate the same when the batter head is struck.

Anyway, coated Emperors and clear Ambassadors on the bottom were the best combination I've ever used on these drums, and I've experimented with a lot of different heads/combinations. Just make sure you try and get both heads as close to the same pitch as you can, and make sure the lugs have matching pitch when you tap each one on each head.

[drumzilla]

Also, am I the only SCA owner having trouble tuning the 14" snare drum? Is this common to you guys as well? Or is this drum really notorious when it comes to tuning?

I currently have a Fiberskyn Diplomat batter, and an Aquarian Classic Clear reso - tuned similar in pitch, tight & high. I end up having a 'splatty' sound to it.

What snare heads do you guys use, and how do you tune it? Any suggestions?

[dblinkhorn]

Are you sure you got the snare bottom version of that Aqauarian head. That would make a big difference.

Also, make sure you tune the top head quite tight. I noticed with my snare that it needs to be quite a lot higher than most other snares to get rid of that "splat" sound from the snares. In addition, you could try tuning the resonant head just a tad lower than the top. Just make sure they are both tight enough. I mean, I really had to crank those lugs on my snare to get rid of that.

[gish]

I posted in another thread about experiencing a slight lack of warmth from behind the kit, although they sounded great out front. Maybe that's what your talking about. I'm using coated emperors over the stock resos, and I was thinking maybe the resos were the culprit. I'm going to change the resos to clear ambassadors, so if I'm still not getting the warmth I like, I'll switch out the batters. Less expensive drums typically have too many highs, and not enough low end coming from the shells, so choosing heads that cut some highs and enhance low end would be the way to go. I'm going to try either the Evans EC1 or EC2 when I change heads, since cutting highs and enhancing lows is exactly what these heads are supposed to do. On paper, this looks like a great choice for Stage Customs.

[dw D]

I used to have a 6pc stage custom.

I used evans ec2 clear on batter and single ply resonant. The kit sounded great but was impossible to keep tuned.............constantly tuning!

[thumper]

The snare that came with my SC is sitting in my closet right now...it never sounded good to my ears; too "hollow" for my liking.
I prefer my 14" Yamaha steel snare (late 1960's) over it by far.