Give me some truth: Resonant Heads

iamjohn

Senior Member
Hi Guys,

So what do you truthfully think? Does the quality of reso heads make that much difference? I've still got the stock ludwig heads on my Classic Maples. They sound pretty good but I'm wondering if upgrading to higher quality reso heads would make a noticeable difference or not.

Chime in with your thoughts please.
 
The Classic Maples come with Ludwig's US made heads, which are generally okay. I haven't noticed a significant difference replacing those resos with my usual Evans G1 clear. But on many of the Asian budget kits with budget heads, there is absolutely a difference, and they should be swapped out. Ludwig's budget kits sport Ludwig heads made by Evans, but they're really not either, they're just a cheap head made in Taiwan or China.

So save the money changing the resos, but definitely invest in new batters. :)

Bermuda
 
Thanks Jon. Good advice as always. I did change the batters to G2 clears and those sound great.
 
I really like the EC Reso head and I think it would pair nicely with the clear G2. Or you might try something like the Strata 1000 on the bottom if you're looking to bring a little more warmth and midrange into the tom sound.
 
Strata 1000 will make the CM toms sing! I've mentioned them a few times in other threads, and they're a well kept secret, a nice blend of a G1 coated and clear, but really not either. Evans would do well to bring them out of the obscurity of the "concert" section on their site, and promote them as jazz and vintage rock heads.

Bermuda
 
If you are questioning....you eventually will have to try and see, if you're like most. So why not just get it over with? For real, it won't sound worse. It will probably make you feel better, because you know you've done the best you can with your drum.

But just to be sure, before you spend money, try this. Turn your drum upside down, tune the batter like a reso, tune the reso like the batter. If it sounds worse to you, that should provide you with the proof you need to warrant spending some dough on new resos. If the tone is the same or better to your ear, then those heads are fine. It's all about your ear.

My reasoning is if you dislike the Ludwigs as a batter, then you will probably think that as a reso, you could do better too.

You don't have any top quality single ply clear heads in good shape that you can do a test with?
 
Last week, one of my Pearl snares' reso heads popped. I wasn't aware that my leg was blocking off the pressure port on the shell, causing too much pressure, which caused the reso head to burst. I had a Evans hazy 300 on it and it sounded great. I went out and bought a Remo Hazy. I put it on and I couldn't get it to sound good for the life of me. I went back the next day and grabbed a Evans Hazy 300 ( what I originally had on it ). It now sounds just as good as b4 it popped. So, Yes, absolutely, it does make a massive difference.
 
I will chime in here. Yes, reso heads make almost as big a difference as the batter heads. Peace and goodwill.
 
There is nothing like a fresh lively quality reso head to brighten up a drum.
Do like larry said, turn a drum over and see how the reso sounds as a batter.
 
There's two different answers pertinant to this thread. As a general rule, I totally agree with the heard. Upgrading to a quality reso head certainly produces better results.

But more specific to your individual question. As Bermuda said, the heads (both batter and reso) on Ludwig CM's are a far cry from the cheap crap that is put on most lower and intermediate level kits. They are head and shoulders above a Remo UT for example, so there is no immediate need to swap them out purely because it is seen as an "upgrade".

That said, I'm not a fan of their overall sound either. I find Ludwig heads a little thin sounding for my tastes and have swapped them out on all my Luddy snares immediately.
 
Lots of great comments and suggestions here. I guess the thing I feel my toms are lacking is articulation. I've got a 13" rack and a 16" floor so they're bigger sizes. I use a full moongel on each drum but if I use more than that I feel like I lose too much tone for the sake of definition. Perhaps better reso heads will help with that. The quest goes on...
 
I find thinner reso heads work the best for me. And I think the answer to your large Tom tone issues may unfortunately still lay in your batter heads. I think u might be impressed with Evans EC2 batters with hazy 300 or 200 resos. Seems to sound best for me on larger toms. But please keep in mind that this is just my personally opinion. I think everyone will agree with me that we all prefer different heads along with different tuning as personal preferences.


Ohh, and the G2's u put on are also great heads. I find that E-rings seem to work better than moon gels on those particular heads. Lower than average tuning also works good with the G2's.
 
I like two ply coated batter heads on my kit with 9x13 and 16x16 toms.
I also like the Evans EC Clear Reso on the floor tom.
Thats my liking as of late. I tune just over medium with the reso slightly higher than the batter.
 
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