Did I make a bad decision?

[mrh]

When I got my new drumset a few months ago, I got ebony ambassadors for the resonant and black suede emperors on the top. Was this a bad choice? Am I killing the sound? They are really hard to tune and they just dont sound as good as I know they should. Would even getting coated emperors be better or should I just make the complete switch to clears?

[harryconway]

Lets start at square one. What kind of drums do you have? What kind of sound do you want to get?

[mrh]

I have maple Slingerlands from the early 80's. 5 piece: 12", 13", 16" toms. I play funk, folk, and alternative rock mostly. I want a warm, open sound that can really bring out the lower registers of the toms. Right now I'm getting a higher pitch which is, almost tinny sounding, but it just sounds like its not resonating well.

[Big_Philly]

How long have you been playing? I am trying to estimate how much experience you have with drum tuning and the like.
Most beginners have yet to learn that a kit from up close is different from a kit 30ft. away, which in turn is much different from a mic'd and EQ'd kit you hear live or on recordings. Mic'd toms sound much, much lower than unmic'd toms. Almost an octave lower than the tone you perceive, it appears.
If you are sure that you tune them correctly than I don't know what the problem is. Maybe buy 1 coated emperor head for one of the toms and see if hat makes much difference...

[Sparkman]

In tuning you need to make sure after you bring the head to what you like, (tension, feel, tone, etc.) you got to tap all of the tension rods about 2" away from the rod and then go around the drum doing that and make sure all of the tension rods sound the same. If you are confused at what I am saying check out Bob Gatzen's videos on tuning. Click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pkBsvHCC8Y&feature=channel), here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFjADvzcyA&feature=channel), here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75UBl_UzXUE&feature=channel), and if you want to watch the intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spAPeP2TtPM&feature=channel) (I never have). At first this process might seem to take awhile, but after getting practice at tuning correctly, you get faster and better at it. If you find it really hard to make all the rods sound the same you might want to pick up a drum dial and that way you can get it all sounding the same.

[mrh]

I've been playing close to 10 years now, but I'm not an expert tuner since I've only cared about actually tuning my drums well for a year or two. But I know how to tune the drums and I watched Bob's videos. And that is very true about where I am in relation to the kit, and unfortunately I am forced to have my drumset right next to and facing a wall, so I know that messes with a lot of the sound. Even when I bring them out into more open areas they still dont have the right tone I'm looking for. I didnt know that about the mics though, thats really interesting.

I will go out and buy some different heads, just to mess around with. Its a good thing its summer so I have time to do this now.