New Coated heads?

[furbeedog@gmail.com]

Hey, I am looking to buy a new set of heads for my set. I am most likely going to buy coated heads because I've always liked their feel, and I find the clear heads to be a little too plasticky for my taste. I play a lot of classic rock and blues stuff. Powerful, but not pointless and destructive banging, and no "deathmetal waah cut myself boohoo we're all abused and underpriveleged in our middle class suburban homes" sort of stuff where the lead singer screams like a bat. I'm trying to decide between Ambassadors and Emperors at this point. I used the configurator, and I want some sustain because I dig that in my music and it sounds interesting in contrast to the usual thud of rock drummers, but I also want some really deep tones. I don't know if that is going to be an issue with my 12,13,16,18 tom setup, or if it is more about tuning. But if the heads make a big difference, I'm definitely looking for some solid sustain but am willing to sacrifice a little bit of sustain for really deep sounds and some nice overtones. I want boomy and musical. Any advice or other ideas would be great, thanks.

[44Ronin]

Coated Ambassadors.............or If your really daring and want to try something different

Fiberskyns

[Skitch]

Hey, I am looking to buy a new set of heads for my set. I am most likely going to buy coated heads because I've always liked their feel, and I find the clear heads to be a little too plasticky for my taste. I play a lot of classic rock and blues stuff. Powerful, but not pointless and destructive banging, and no "deathmetal waah cut myself boohoo we're all abused and underpriveleged in our middle class suburban homes" sort of stuff where the lead singer screams like a bat. I'm trying to decide between Ambassadors and Emperors at this point. I used the configurator, and I want some sustain because I dig that in my music and it sounds interesting in contrast to the usual thud of rock drummers, but I also want some really deep tones. I don't know if that is going to be an issue with my 12,13,16,18 tom setup, or if it is more about tuning. But if the heads make a big difference, I'm definitely looking for some solid sustain but am willing to sacrifice a little bit of sustain for really deep sounds and some nice overtones. I want boomy and musical. Any advice or other ideas would be great, thanks.


You may want to go with the Emperors for the deep tone; and I am not saying that you can't get that with the Ambassadors, but you will probably like the Emperors a little more.



Mike

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

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

[maddrummr]

I like my emperors because there is a little less resonance that I like. On other sets I have heard the Ambassadors and I feel there is a little more ringing. But of course theres tuning and quality of the drums that are factors too.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Most of my toms have Coated Emperors on them now. I get nice low tones, especially from the rack toms. However, they are giving me a little trouble with the floor toms. To get the low tone from my 16, I have to leave the Emperor kind of slack, and you lose a little tone in exchange for more stick attack. It's great for real hard rock stuff, but I want more tone from my floors. I've got a Coated Ambassador on my 14 floor, and it's just right. I'm going to try the same for my 16. I may leave the Emperors on my rack toms though, because they sound very nice. The trick I found with the floor tom is to tune the reso low (not slack), and tune the batter almost slack. I've also been experimenting with clear studio-x heads on the reso side of the toms. It's cool, but I'm not sure how it will translate in a larger room like a club.

[punkdrummer1]

I've been hearing that evans makes a better coating head then remo, and aquarian makes the best coating for heads. Can someone tell me what's this all about!! (private message me if you have an anwser).

[cdrums21]

It sounds like a coated double ply head would probably best meet your needs. Coated emperors are great if you are lucky enough to get 12, 13, 16, and 18 heads that are all consistent in tonality. I used emperors for years and had trouble with some of the heads being duller sounding, so when I went around the toms it was like....boom..boom...blaaat...boom. I hated that, so I tried Evans G2 coated heads and I haven't had that problem. Very consistent and a nice full tone. That's my opinion anyway, for what it's worth...

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I've been hearing that evans makes a better coating head then remo, and aquarian makes the best coating for heads. Can someone tell me what's this all about!! (private message me if you have an anwser).

I have a coated Evans Genera HD Dry on my snare right now and it has held up pretty well. I've been using it since I bought my Tama kit pretty much, so I guess a couple of months. You can feel in the center it is kinda smooth, and toward the edges there is the texture. There is no real discoloration or chipping though. That happens pretty quick with Remo heads, even if you don't pound on them. I've mainly used only Remo until recently when I've been experimenting with other brands. I think when it's time to change batter side tom heads I will try some coated Aquarians of some type.

Coated emperors are great if you are lucky enough to get 12, 13, 16, and 18 heads that are all consistent in tonality. I used emperors for years and had trouble with some of the heads being duller sounding, so when I went around the toms it was like....boom..boom...blaaat...boom.

Maybe that's just the problem I had with the 16 coated emperor I have now. I really love them on my rack toms. I didn't have a 14 coated emperor to try on that floor tom. I've got the coated ambassador on the 16 though and it sounds nice with the 14.

[dannyrests]

I too have a 14 and a 16. I've been debating on which heads to get for awhile..I think after reading this post I've actually come to a conclusion, so thats good. I definitly think going with the Ambassadors on the floors, and keeping the Emperor on the rack is a very good idea. It'll obviously open up the floor toms a lot more, giving them more tone, and while the rack tom is a smaller drum with higher pitch, the Emperor will not kill the tone, but only maintain it. I've been thinking about switching to Evans though, because I too have run into the problem with getting 'dead' heads, where as Evans does seem to be more consistent. Just my 2 cents.

[furbeedog@gmail.com]

Are you guys sure about the 2-plys? I had one on my old 10", while keeping a single ply on my old 12" and 14". The head kind of dulled it. I'm not sure if it was the plastic, the tuning, the head itself, or the fact that it was the only 2-ply head I had on, but it just didn't sound good to me at all.

[44Ronin]

Are you guys sure about the 2-plys? I had one on my old 10", while keeping a single ply on my old 12" and 14". The head kind of dulled it. I'm not sure if it was the plastic, the tuning, the head itself, or the fact that it was the only 2-ply head I had on, but it just didn't sound good to me at all.

2ply heads don't sound good at all to me.

[cdrums21]

Are you guys sure about the 2-plys? I had one on my old 10", while keeping a single ply on my old 12" and 14". The head kind of dulled it. I'm not sure if it was the plastic, the tuning, the head itself, or the fact that it was the only 2-ply head I had on, but it just didn't sound good to me at all.

If you only have one double ply head on a drum, especially the 10" and compare that sound to the other drums with single ply heads on them, sure, it's going to sound significantly duller. I prefer single ply coated heads myself for sound quality. If durability is a factor, two ply heads may be the right choice. With emperors and G2's, they are open sounding enough to still give good tone without dulling the sound too much, especially the consistency of Evans heads. they seem to sing a little more. All the things you mentioned above could be the reason why the drum sounded alot duller but in general, the double ply coateds will give you a "darker" sound than the single ply heads.

[Skitch]

I've been hearing that evans makes a better coating head then remo, and aquarian makes the best coating for heads. Can someone tell me what's this all about!! (private message me if you have an anwser).

The coating wearing off on the Remo heads doesn't bother me at all; it is part of the great Remo sound found in the recordings the legenadary Earl Palmer and Hal Blaine!



Mike

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

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