Buying new heads. Which are best for my kit for metal?

Pulseofthemaggots

Pulseofthemaggots

Junior Member
Hi, I'm buying new heads to trade out my stock ones. I want good sounding heads for metal (Slipknot mainly), and I was wondering what would be best for my kit and what thinks I should know before buying heads.

Kit:
Gretsch Catalina Maple 6 piece:
22x18 kick
10x8 and 12x9 toms
14x14 and 16x16 floor toms
14x6 snare

I know 0 about buy drum heads, so any tips?
The ones I've been looking at are:
Evans G2 Clear for the toms,
Not sure about the snare or bass.
And Remo Clear Emperors for toms,
again not sure about the snare or bass drum.
If you have anything else, feel free to say whatever. Thanks.
 
There is no one true answer to your question.
There is no formula that looks like this,
(brand of kit) x (type of shell) divided by (musical genre) = perfect sound that the drummer is looking for.
Drumming is a journey and a learning experience.
You have to follow your own path.
You have to do your own research.
You have to select your own heads.
You have to spend time experimenting with tuning.
You have to find the sound that you like.

You will own many drum heads during your lifetime.
You will learn something from every head that you put on your kit.

By the way, Don't look to buy a head that will produce a sound that you hear on an album.
Music is recorded in studios and the sound that you hear on an album is not the sound that you will hear when you play your kit live.
 
bobdadruma said:
There is no one true answer to your question.
There is no formula that looks like this,
(brand of kit) x (type of shell) divided by (musical genre) = perfect sound that the drummer is looking for.
Drumming is a journey and a learning experience.
You have to follow your own path.
You have to do your own research.
You have to select your own heads.
You have to spend time experimenting with tuning.
You have to find the sound that you like.

You will own many drum heads during your lifetime.
You will learn something from every head that you put on your kit.

By the way, Don't look to buy a head that will produce a sound that you hear on an album.
Music is recorded in studios and the sound that you hear on an album is not the sound that you will hear when you play your kit live.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. I've heard the whole thing about playing what you think sounds good and whatever. And I know there is no simple answer. I am mainly looking for opinions. By the way, I still like the sound of Joey Jordison's kit when he's live, so I'm not just going by how it sounds in the studio because that would be stupid of me.
 
Any live kit that is amplified would also have its sound manipulated, so you can't trust that either.

You won't get any better advice than what Bob gave you, so off to GC and find out for yourself what you like.

Dutch
 
I usually recommend the following to any of my metal drumming brothers. (If deep and dead is what you're after)

For toms:
-Aquarian Performance II (super easy to tune, and last forever)
-Evans EC2's clears or Hydraulic

For Snare (depends whether it's metal or wood)
-Aquarian Studio-X coated w/dot
-Aquarian Hi-Energy (extremely heavy, great for very hard hitters)
-Remo Powerstroke 3 coated w/dot
- or my ultimate favorite ever, Remo Control Sound coated.

For Bass
-Evans Emad II or GMAD
-Aquarian Superkick II
-Remo Powerstroke 3 (if you want more bite than bump)
-Remo's new Powersonic Pro

again, you just need to experiment. Every drum will prefer a different head so there are no real short/quick answers as other have already stated. So off to Sam Ash you go! ;)
 
I gave you a legit reply.
The same head combinations that have been mentioned can be tuned differently and any other kind of music can be played on them.

I have used all of those heads for Blues, Country, Moderate Rock, and Jazz.
It just depends on the sound that I am after.

Try, experiment, and have fun with different heads.
 
bobdadruma said:
I gave you a legit reply.
The same head combinations that have been mentioned can be tuned differently and any other kind of music can be played on them.

I have used all of those heads for Blues, Country, Moderate Rock, and Jazz.
It just depends on the sound that I am after.

Try, experiment, and have fun with different heads.
Click to expand...

Not really, dude. You just told me something I already know and didn't help me out much.
 
If you already knew what bob had said, you would know that it is the drummer that makes the sound, not the gear, and that any heads can be used for any genre of music. Discovering you own personal sound is an adventure to be taken with joy, not something that others can decide for you.
 
Perhaps this is not the right forum if you're looking for help to form your own opinion. Good luck with the suggestions provided earlier, they're all great heads.

Dutch
 
Pulseofthemaggots said:
Not really, dude. You just told me something I already know and didn't help me out much.
Click to expand...

Hey "dude", you need to chill out. Be grateful for the people who took their time to answer to your asked-a-million-times-could-have-used-the-search-function-or-simply-googled-it question, and be respectful.

You're not gonna do well here if you keep with this attitude. Think about it and welcome to the forum.

Cheers.

PS: Remo Clear Pinstripes on the toms, Coated Emperor or Emperor X on snare and Powerstroke 3 on the bass should work for a beefy heavy rock sound.
 
I have a friend who is in a Metal band. I just bought a Jimmy DeGrasso hammered brass SD (pictured elsewhere on this forum) that came with an Evans reverse dot batter head. I play jazz primarily and was not happy with it for that. I sold it cheap (practically new) to my friend and he really likes it for metal. Anecdotal information.
 
I guess you guys didn't understand so much what I was asking. All I wanted were people who play metal's opinions on heads. And if they have the same kit, what heads they like.
 
Just buy whatever Joey Jordison has on his kit (or endorser page) so we don't have to go through another "what should I get to make my kit sound exactly like a pro studio produced album?" thread. These threads do usually garner a laugh from me though. Maybe it is best I say- Fiberskyn batters. Then you can say " Those are not what he uses" and we can go from there?
 
It's awesome when people who ask questions that are not as easily answered as they may think, disrespect those that attempt to give them some guidance.

Talk about no appreciation. Damn 15 year old Joey jordison fan boys.
 
Mostly i hear one of the best to get are Aquarian clear response heads for the toms and hi-energy batter for snare.
 
helmetface said:
It's awesome when people who ask questions that are not as easily answered as they may think, disrespect those that attempt to give them some guidance.

Talk about no appreciation. Damn 15 year old Joey jordison fan boys.
Click to expand...

Yep.

Protip: Jordison triggers his drums. You're never ever going to get your kit to sound like that no matter what head combination you put on it unless you record it, EQ and compress the living crap out of it and otherwise effect it. Or buy your own triggers. But unless you're playing at ridiculous speeds, triggers are completely unnecessary... and the only way you'd sound like Jordison sans triggers is if you PLAYED like Jordison sans triggers.
 
helmetface said:
It's awesome when people who ask questions that are not as easily answered as they may think, disrespect those that attempt to give them some guidance.

Talk about no appreciation. Damn 15 year old Joey jordison fan boys.
Click to expand...

Way to assume! I'm a girl, but thanks. And say anything sexist you want. I really could care less.
 
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