Has anyone else broken their bass drum head?

jwildman

Senior Member
I was jammin and all of a sudden my bass drum head broke. And this head aint no peice of crap stock head, its a Evans EMAD Onyx. I've only had this head for about six months, is this unusual? I also have a pad on the head so I was even more shocked. Should I contact evans about this or try to get a refund for a defective head?
 
Are you positive that your beater wasn't angled in a way that it was digging into the head slowly but surely?
 
Very rare to break a bass drum head.
I have worn through clear protectors and through the first ply with a heavy wooden beater and not broken the head before I replaced it.
If it wasn't a defective head then it must have been a misaligned beater.
 
I have... once. Mostly because it was the head that came with my set which were horrid to play and tune. :p It was partially the head itself and partially the fact that i turned my beaters on my dbp to the non felted side to get a different sound.. which I liked. And yes, I had kick pads but they were too thin. so ya. But now, I have a Remo head on it now... which will do for now.
 
I don't think after 6 months you could request a refund. When I was playing out up to three times a week as a youngin' I was changing the entire kits' batter heads about once a month. I don't think what you experienced is unusual. Everyone's mileage will vary. Too bad you don't play guitar instead, eh? A pack of strings is only $7!

I've broken bass drum heads too, but usually it's been because I broke the beater head off and before I know it, the rod goes through the head. I've created dents in the head when I used the hard side of a DW beater, but the head gets changed out soon after that.
 
I usually use felt or powder puff type beaters with a clear patch on the bass drum's batter head. I can't remember breaking a head, but if i did, it was probably over thirty years ago. The batter head on my Bubinga kit looked a bit thin in the center, so I replaced it right away with another Evans EQ4. The heads on the bass drums don't get replaced as much as the other heads on the kit.

Dennis
 
I was jammin and all of a sudden my bass drum head broke. And this head aint no peice of crap stock head, its a Evans EMAD Onyx. I've only had this head for about six months, is this unusual? I also have a pad on the head so I was even more shocked. Should I contact evans about this or try to get a refund for a defective head?
This is why I'm here! : )
(to help out and offer expertise)

95% of the time that we here about someone breaking a bass drum head it's because of one of the following reasons:

1) The head had been played beyond it's lifespan (the most likely case here)
2) The head was the wrong choice for their playing style (usually much heavier hitting)
3) The bass drum beater was misaligned
4) A heavy beater such as wood or metal was used

If you could send me some photos of the head, the patch and the beater you were playing with, I can get a better idea of what happened. As I mentioned above, heads wear out over time, and depending on how much playing the head saw and how heavy you were playing, it's not surprising that it would break after 6 months).

You can PM me the photos or email to Evans @ daddario . com (no spaces of course)
Thanks!
 
Back in the day I used to break BD heads. Wasn't too tough really, but that was before the Falam Slams and their Evans equivalents. I don't remember ever breaking a head since using those and I tend to kick pretty hard.

I broke someone else's head summer before last, but he didn't have a patch on there. I ponied up for the new head anyway b/c I'm such a nice guy!
 
I broke an EMAD once without a patch using a terrible PDP pedal with those MASSIVE beefy beaters on them... and it was on a terrible kit where I think the bearing edges were way off and caused for really uneven seating of the head and made it even easier to push through. I also hadn't been playing for all that long and sucked even more with the double pedal than I do now.

Never broken one otherwise... I've had my coated PS3 on my kit for over a year with a patch and I kick pretty hard and it's still going strong.
 
I second the Falam Slams I can be a heavy hitter at times & used too go through the first head on pinstripes back in the day until I discovered the Falam Slam.

Haven't. gone through a bass head since.

Bonzolead
 
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