Using a coated head as a resonant head

dbshorter

Senior Member
I was talking with a drummer the other day about different heads and such, and he gave me the advice that if I wanted a really warm sound for my toms I should try using coated heads on the batter AND reso sides of the tom. I had never really heard of this before, but I guess it makes sense. I'm assuming anything other than a single ply coated head wouldn't work well.

Has anyone ever used this? I want my toms to sound deep and warm, without tuning them low enough to the point of being dead.
 
I just put Suede Ambo's on the reso side and I found that this did warm the toms some. My guess is about the same as coated Ambo's Thing is is that I put Suede Emp's on the batter side and now have this warm, beautiful tone that I would definitely use in a recording or mic'd gig situation. But most of my work is gigs without tom mic's so they are now a bit quiet for me, and my snare out voices them tons.
 
I've tried Ambassador X over Ambassador X which is 12mil single ply and IMO it was too dead of a sound for me. I liked the minimal attack from the strike of the stick on the head but just wasn't that great of a sound to me. It was a very dry effect and fairly short sustain. Though that's with these thin 5mm Chinese maple shells. I tend to believe that a thicker shell and especially harder wood would work better with coated top and bottom but I'll never go that route again. If nothing else just coated on top.

IMO you could try Ambassador X over coated Diplomat, or maybe try coated Emperors over a clear Diplomat or Ambassador.

Good luck.
 
Right now I've got Ambassador coated on batter and resos of my toms and kick. I don't exactly know if the sound is "warm" (because I don't know what exactly people mean by a "warm" sounding drum). I would rather characterise it as "lively". Think Buddy Rich's setup.
 
I use Coated Vintage Emperors over Coated Ambassadors. It's a classic combo and sound.
 
I use coated single ply over coated single ply. Aquarian Modern Vintage over Texture Coated. I get a nice warm sound out of my toms.
 
I use coated single ply over coated single ply. Aquarian Modern Vintage over Texture Coated. I get a nice warm sound out of my toms.

I've actually been looking into Aquarian's Modern Vintage heads, that will most likely be the next head that I try.
 
I've actually been looking into Aquarian's Modern Vintage heads, that will most likely be the next head that I try.

They are a great head. The coating lasts forever. I've currently had the one on my snare the longest--since April and it sounds great. I play mostly jazz and a little blues with that particular snare though.

I don't know how long they are "supposed" to last but the last head was on for over a year or so before I started having issues tuning it. Turned out it was just time to change it. The coating was a little smooth but it was still there. These heads really last a long, long time.
 
It works well for me. I have Coated Emperors over coated Ambassadors on my floor toms (Oak Customs). I found less of an effect on my 12" tom - but still slightly fatter sounding...
 
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