Sonor Force 3007...looking for drum head recommendations

streetmachine79

Junior Member
Hello...

I have been reading this forum off and on for a few years now. I finally decided to register to use the forum.

I am looking for some drum head recommendations. About two years ago, I purchased a Sonor Force 3007 kit. At that time, I really had nowhere to set it up, however...the deal on the kit was too good to pass up at the time. So...I bought it knowing that it was going to have to sit in the boxes and that I was going to have to wait for the right time to finally set it up.

More recently, my son has started taking drum lessons. He had a Ludwig Junior 5-piece set that I bought him and he showed enough interest that I feel that he will stick with it. I ran across a very good deal on a now discontinued Sonor Force 5-piece set, so I bought it for him and sold the Ludwig Junior set that he had to offset some of the cost of the new set.

I replaced all the heads on his 507 kit (with the exception of the bass drum...still using the stock Remo/Sonor head, which sounds fine) with Evans G2 clear heads on all toms and a Evans G2 coated white on the snare. They sound pretty good to me, however...the toms still need to be tweaked a bit as far as tuning is concerned. This is the first time that I have purchased Evans heads...always used Remo heads in the past. It seems that Evans is the new standard of what most people use.

So...in wanting to finally get my 3007 kit out of the box and set up so that I can help my son with practicing and get back into playing myself after a few years of not playing, I am trying to figure out what the best head option(s) would be for my kit. The 3007 shells (I believe) are 9-ply maple. The shells on the 507 kit are 9-ply basswood. I did read a post online where someone stated that regardless of what heads are used on the 3007 kits, they will still sound great because of how well the shells are constructed.

I was considering the Evans G2 clear or Remo pinstripe clears for the toms, an Evans G2 coated white or Remo Ambassador coated white for the snare with an Evans Hazy 300 on the snare side, and a Remo Powerstroke 3 clear on the bass drum...leaving all resonant heads stock (at least for now).

I would greatly appreciate any recommendations from anyone that has had any experience with these kits and what heads they are using...both batter and resonant.

Thank You!
 
Hello! I play a sonor 3007 as well, and so far I've tried;

Stock heads, single ply over single ply.
Coated emperors over clear ambassadors
Clear emperors over clear ambassadors
Evans clear G2 over clear g1
G1 over G1

It all comes down to personal preference but single ply over single ply definitely has the most lively and natural tone, which is what I prefer. The stock heads actually sound pretty great but have a limited tuning range, I couldn't tune the 12" tom to Ab (which seems to be this drum's sweetspot) because the head was barely tensioned and I tune both heads very close in pith, the batter head maybe just a little bit lower than the reso.

Well, I'd suggest trying 2 ply over 1 ply at first, i.e emperors/g2 over ambassadors/g1 and if that sounds too loud and full, switch to 1 ply batters. I've been meaning to try some Evans G plus heads, which are 12mil single ply, so just in between the others. Remo probably has an equivalent as well, but I recommend you to stay away from Remo with a 3007 kit since the shells seem to be a bit over sized, at least on my kit, and Evans are slightly bigger than Remo. This has really been an issue for me, with drum heads not sitting evenly on the bearing edge prior to tuning because the drum head is too small. It might be even better with those new Evans heads :)
 
Hello! I play a sonor 3007 as well, and so far I've tried;

Stock heads, single ply over single ply.
Coated emperors over clear ambassadors
Clear emperors over clear ambassadors
Evans clear G2 over clear g1
G1 over G1

It all comes down to personal preference but single ply over single ply definitely has the most lively and natural tone, which is what I prefer. The stock heads actually sound pretty great but have a limited tuning range, I couldn't tune the 12" tom to Ab (which seems to be this drum's sweetspot) because the head was barely tensioned and I tune both heads very close in pith, the batter head maybe just a little bit lower than the reso.

Well, I'd suggest trying 2 ply over 1 ply at first, i.e emperors/g2 over ambassadors/g1 and if that sounds too loud and full, switch to 1 ply batters. I've been meaning to try some Evans G plus heads, which are 12mil single ply, so just in between the others. Remo probably has an equivalent as well, but I recommend you to stay away from Remo with a 3007 kit since the shells seem to be a bit over sized, at least on my kit, and Evans are slightly bigger than Remo. This has really been an issue for me, with drum heads not sitting evenly on the bearing edge prior to tuning because the drum head is too small. It might be even better with those new Evans heads :)

Hello...

Thank you for the reply! I think I'm going to try the Evans G2 clear for the toms, EMAD2 for the bass drum, and an HD Dry for the snare. I was going back and forth between the Remo PS3 and the EMAD2 for the bass drum. I have seen mostly positive reviews on both, so either way, I don't think I can go wrong there. I always used Remo heads in the past, but recently I have been reading a lot of bad things about them and their quality. Not to say that I'll never use them again, but Evans seems to have become the new standard when it comes to heads, overtaking Remo. Seems as if Evans is more about quality and really putting forth the effort to improve their products, and I can't say that I've seen the same thing with Remo...however, I have been out of the loop for awhile. Finally getting back into it!

Thanks!
 
I also have a set of 3007's. So far I have tried Remo vintage coated emporers, coated ambassadors, clear emporers, and Evans clear EC2's on mine. All of these batter heads were used with Remo clear ambassador reso heads. I was using the EC2's when I was playing in a hard rock band and they sounded great. I didn't care for the clear emporers (although the set I used was a little worn), and the coated vintage emporers sound pretty good also. Right now I'm using the coated ambassadors and playing in a classic rock band and they sound great. I haven't quite got the mounted toms to sound like I want but the floors sound awesome. Probably just a tuning issue on my part. Hope that helps.
 
I haven't quite got the mounted toms to sound like I want but the floors sound awesome.

10" and 12" I assume? The 10" for me, is pretty much slap any drum head on, tune up around D-D# and the drum will sound amazing. But the 12"! Hours and hours of fiddeling, fine tuning, different heads, different pitches, different mounting options... still doesn't sound quite right. 8" is easy to tune although I don't like the 5 lugs, 14" and 16" are easy to tune and sound great.
 
10" and 12" I assume? The 10" for me, is pretty much slap any drum head on, tune up around D-D# and the drum will sound amazing. But the 12"! Hours and hours of fiddeling, fine tuning, different heads, different pitches, different mounting options... still doesn't sound quite right. 8" is easy to tune although I don't like the 5 lugs, 14" and 16" are easy to tune and sound great.

Agreed!, the 12 is a pain, and has been for many of my kits, I can never get the tone I want from it.
I know Benny Greb isn't playing 3007s by any means, but he mentions using the Coated Emperors over Coated Ambassadors. I haven't seen this combo mentioned yet, and while I do have a CE on my 8", and love it, I don't have the bottom of it coated yet. I think this will be my next combo. right now I mainly use G2 coated, and think they're too dead. They might be good for studio work, but not so much live.
 
The OP keeps mentioning batter heads but I want to make sure that he replaces the stock resos. Not saying you can't live with the stocks but I believe the right batters with the right resonant heads and - good tuning - will get the 3007's close to the upper line Sonors in sound.

I personally have used coated G2's over clear G1's on my Yamaha MCAN kit with great success. Honestly though that set seems to sound good with all kinds of combos . :)

Since this kit is for a younger player I might recommend Evans EC2's with EC Resonants. Although every drummer has their preferences, younger players seem to like a wee bit less resonance. IMHO, this combo would probably be the best for a younger player who wants to hear a more controlled sound from where he sits but still have some resonance. You could also look to Evans G12's (formerly G Pluses) which are a thicker single ply.

I make the above recommendations because the target player is younger and because the OP mentioned Remo Pinstripes.

My .02

Jim

FWIW: I usually get very satisfactory sounds from my Gretsch 80's 12" and Yamaha 12" toms. Love the 10's but 12's are usually not a hassle for me. Now if I throw the 13" from the Gretsch next to the 12", then I have a real challenge in matching timbre and tone.
 
I've got a Sonor 3007 kit and I agree with much of what has been said except when I put a G plus on the 10" and 12" toms it reminded me of thumping on an empty plastic milk containers. So if a dead thud is what you are after, thems the ones! My favorite tom batters (rock) were G2 or EC 2s, EMAD or a Power Stroke for the kick and a Genera to dry the snare. The snare on my 3007 kit was a real ringer. And that said, it really is just personal opinion. Good luck.
 
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