What is the difference between heads ?

[ammarolli]

I want to know what is what is the difference between coated on the top of the drum and coated on the bottom.

I want also know what is the difference between coated on top and clear on bottom.

I want also know what is the difference between clear on the top and clear on bottom.

I want also know why coted is so often on the snare drum and what is difference between coted on bass drum and clear.

[KarlCrafton]

I want to know what is what is the difference between coated on the top of the drum and coated on the bottom.

I want also know what is the difference between coated on top and clear on bottom.

I want also know what is the difference between clear on the top and clear on bottom.

I want also know why coted is so often on the snare drum and what is difference between coted on bass drum and clear.

Hensforth (in this post), Coated shall be known as CT.

CL shall be known as Clear.

This (my descriptions) applies the most to single ply heads on top and bottom IME.
Actual sound varies between manufacturers, and any mixing of brands.

CT top CT bottom:
Open warm tone, a bit more control in tone, less top end (high pitched over ring).
A little more warm or mellow tone from the drum. Slightly more mellow attack sound.

CT top CL bottom:
Same open tone, a bit brighter tone from the CL bottom head. A few more overtones. A little longer note.

CL top CL bottom:
Very open tone, a lot brighter, more length of note/tone. Brighter attack.

2 ply heads will deepen the tone. The amount of difference will vary depending on brands and film used (Mylar, Dynaflex, Polyester films, weight of films etc...) dry vents, etc....

Snare heads...
The coating offers a drier tone & flattens out some of the over ring most people don't want on the snare.

CT'eds MAY be most common because people are just USED to it, and it seems wierd to have a clear head on the snare..looking down and seeing the wires....

I've played a few CL heads on the snare and they are sharper and brighter sounding than
CT'eds.
The better sounding clears were the dot heads (CS) that bring the real bright overtones under control more (hense the 'controled sound' name...).

CS heads are pretty common as snare heads, and offer a bit different sound.
They also last a pretty long time before they sound like crap.

Neil Peart used a Remo clear dot head for eons.
All the classic Rush stuff had a CS Clear dot on a Slingerland 5X14 wood shell snare.

Mike Portnoy uses one, and Thomas Lang uses them on his clear kits snares, just to name a few.

The CLEAR dot has a little softer attack, and a touch warmer sound than the BLACK dot
does. Same on the bass drum.

Bass drum...
CT'eds have a little warmer, smoother tone than CL. Also I find a little more articulate attack sound.
Cl's have a brighter attck, and a longer note...before people pad the crap out of it.

This will also vary between a CL film with a white coating, and a WHITE film with a coating (and the aformentioned differences in brand, type blah de blah).

This has been my experience over the years and trying out countles heads, and spending countles $$$ in finding out what I like best.......then changing my mind........

Again :)

[Cymbalrider]

Coated heads were invented to offer a warmer sound and texture. That's the main reason really. You can't use brushes on clear heads. I'm not a fan of a plastic sound, mainly because it's only suitable for loud volumes. A warm but sensitive sound is very versatile. Coated heads on the bottom help to warm the sound as well. Same with bass drums. Then there is stuff like Renaissance where you have a textured head and Fiberskyn where you have a laminated textured head. 2 ply heads are typically muffled. The most versatile set-up is still singly ply coated heads all the way around.

[mind_drummer]

Just to add that any head manufacturer offer about the same heads caracteristics from each other. Whatever it's REMO, EVANS, AQUARIAN or ATTACK. They offer coated, clear, single ply, double ply, medium weight, thin weight, control dot, control & dampening ring and various type of heads varying upon application like calfskin emulation or big band sound etc...

[KarlCrafton]

The most versatile set-up is still singly ply coated heads all the way around.

Yep, they just always sounds good no matter what the style. Tweeked a little higher or lower, depening on the situation, and you're good to go.