What's the head I'm looking for?

Cameo

Gold Member
Hi,
looking for some heads that will produce a deep, low, fat, controlled and clean sound, especially on toms and kick. Do you recommend anything new? Benny Greb has a nice sound, Chris Coleman and Tony Royster Jr, as well.

I was thinking coated two ply on top and coated suede one ply on bottom. Something with external muffling on kick. Suggestions and tips, please?

They have to be extremely versatile (funny). Have been playing coated single ply over clear single ply, but it's too ringy. :)
 
They have to be extremely versatile (funny). Have been playing coated single ply over clear single ply, but it's too ringy...

... I thought that is the combo used by Benny Greb :))

Tuning, size of shells, wood species and shells thickness also play a part in the sound you're hearing from the seat POV. :)

Most of Benny Greb's clips and vids feature a mic' up drums and has been processed and EQ'ed, so perhaps you're trying to achieve this type of sound acoustically, and while it's not impossible, it's harder to realise such sounds, have you tried a piece of moongel? It could be just what's needed... :)

However, I agree with Andrew, the Fyberskin series will produce the sound you're looking for (it's subjective, though), also consider Aquarian's Modern Vintage heads :)
 
Too controlled for my taste but I believe the sound your looking for can be found with Aquarian coated performance 2 batter with coated studio x reso and for the bass a super kick 2 with a ported regulator front, you might want to try the coated focus x on your snare as well.
 
On his DVD Benny says it's usually A/A or sometimes E/A. Kick reso is a Fibreskyn, not sure about the batter.

It's a PS3.
What about this...
Evans G2 coated over G1 coated
Evans EMAD2 over Fiberskyn

Does Evans offer an equivalent to the suede "blank" heads as Remo?
 
I think I'll definitely go with this setup. Thanks to Noah, by the way!
Evans G2 coated over G1 coated
Evans EMAD2, with Fiberskyn reso. Which thickness do you recommend? Amb?
Snares change over time, but I like the Remo CS Dot.
 
Don't use Remo products until they fix their coating issues. I use Evans G2 coated heads with a G1 coated bottom.

I tune the bottoms about 1 1/4 turns. The tom batter 1/2 turn or a touch above. The floor tom I bring up from wrinkle stage until the buzz's are gone but lowest pitch. This is how I get my deep sound. I turn wide open also and have no issues with live sound nor do they sound bad.

Clear powerstroke 3 on kick! For some reason the Evans heads don't produce a fat sound like the PS3. Not sure why the are very similar heads.
 
Don't use Remo products until they fix their coating issues. I use Evans G2 coated heads with a G1 coated bottom.

I tune the bottoms about 1 1/4 turns. The tom batter 1/2 turn or a touch above. The floor tom I bring up from wrinkle stage until the buzz's are gone but lowest pitch. This is how I get my deep sound. I turn wide open also and have no issues with live sound nor do they sound bad.

Clear powerstroke 3 on kick! For some reason the Evans heads don't produce a fat sound like the PS3. Not sure why the are very similar heads.

You sure about the PS3 and Evans comparison? I went to an EQ4 from a PS3 and I swear they sound identical. It must be the black dot on the reso head ;)
 
You sure about the PS3 and Evans comparison? I went to an EQ4 from a PS3 and I swear they sound identical. It must be the black dot on the reso head ;)

I thought the EQ4 was a lot darker and the beater attack wasn't pronounced as the PS3. I even thought you could almost get away with no muffling with the EQ4.
 
I thought the EQ4 was a lot darker and the beater attack wasn't pronounced as the PS3. I even thought you could almost get away with no muffling with the EQ4.

Hmm, I get away from muffling on both heads. You're probably right about the darker EQ4, afterall, it is a double ply head, whereas the PS3 is only a single. But I swear, to my ears they're not that far away from each other. Next time I pick up a PS3 (after I go through this EQ4), I'll give it a more detailed listen - when I'm not shaking the walls with my bass drum ;)
 
I use an Evans EQ4 on five of my bass drums, the other is a Remo PS3, they sound very much alike in terms of tone and punch. The EQ4 is a single ply 10 mil head with an internal ring sized (width) in proportion to the diameter of the head. I would say from my short experience with the PS3 that it and the EQ4 are for the most part interchangeable.

Dennis
 
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