Another Remo Emperor

D2 Drummer

Senior Member
Hi everyone,

I have tried a few drum heads on my Ddrum D2 set for a while. The drums are sort of low end, and i'm a little confused about the shells. Some sources say Mahogany & others basswood. After using several drum heads, I liked Coated Ambassadors, Clear Emperor & Clear pinstripes.

Coated ambassadors needed some muffling to tone down the projection & to sound fat. Pins needed more tone. The clear emperors were great, but needed muffling to sound controlled.

The clear emperors were the closer to my liking. Durable with a bright and punchy sound. I wished they sounded just a little controlled though, so i don’t have to use any moon-gels on them.

Now, is there another Remo Emperor Drum head that has the original sound of the clears, but with just a little muffling already on the head, so I have lowered projection, with a controlled and slightly muffled sound.
 
You could try the smooth white emperor, but I don't think it will make much of a difference with muffling, but it will be a tad warmer. I would also try the clear controlled sound heads. One more option would be the powerstroke 4, which is a two ply version of the powerstroke 3. Good luck!
 
Are you playing live or are you not liking the sound in your drum room? None of these heads are a bad choice live (though I don't prefer pinstripes), but maybe they seem uncontrolled from the drivers seat? This will not make itself apparent in a live context. I have had many fill-in gigs where a member of the band is the FOH/Moni. We would check the drums and they would complain about the kick ringing out (I use full resos and very, very rarely muffling which is an absolute shock to most) or the toms ringing from hitting the kick. I always tell them to not worry about it because once everybody gets going you won't hear it anyways. However, this resonance helps carry my sound. They always agree after we perform. Real FOH/Monitor guys know this but most weekenders and drummers don't.
 
Agreed. I always tune my drums to what they'd sound like from ten feet away by the time they get to the audience. Usually at that distance any ringing will have been gone and nobody in the room can hear that. If you want to hear what your drums really sound like, take them outside and play them where there are no walls around the kit.

However, you should try the coated emperors. I think you'll find that bit of coating tones the unwanted overtones down a bit. But I tend to go back and forth between coated and non-coated, and although I know I'm getting more ringing with clear heads, the effect is negligible to the audience.
 
Are you playing live or are you not liking the sound in your drum room? None of these heads are a bad choice live (though I don't prefer pinstripes), but maybe they seem uncontrolled from the drivers seat? This will not make itself apparent in a live context. I have had many fill-in gigs where a member of the band is the FOH/Moni. We would check the drums and they would complain about the kick ringing out (I use full resos and very, very rarely muffling which is an absolute shock to most) or the toms ringing from hitting the kick. I always tell them to not worry about it because once everybody gets going you won't hear it anyways. However, this resonance helps carry my sound. They always agree after we perform. Real FOH/Monitor guys know this but most weekenders and drummers don't.

I'm not recording live, but just at home. As far as room, my gear is in the basement. However the basement is unfinished, so i have some stuff around for sound control. I use moon gels on the emperor's which borders me a little because i don't like adding muffling to my toms.

Tuning wise, i consider myself okay. I can get the drums sounding really good, i was just wondering if there's another form of clear emperors. Example, sued, ebony...
 
Agreed. I always tune my drums to what they'd sound like from ten feet away by the time they get to the audience. Usually at that distance any ringing will have been gone and nobody in the room can hear that. If you want to hear what your drums really sound like, take them outside and play them where there are no walls around the kit.

However, you should try the coated emperors. I think you'll find that bit of coating tones the unwanted overtones down a bit. But I tend to go back and forth between coated and non-coated, and although I know I'm getting more ringing with clear heads, the effect is negligible to the audience.

You're right, but I'm doing studio work a home, so i tend to what them controlled from behind d the seat
 
You could try the smooth white emperor, but I don't think it will make much of a difference with muffling, but it will be a tad warmer. I would also try the clear controlled sound heads. One more option would be the powerstroke 4, which is a two ply version of the powerstroke 3. Good luck!

I haven't tried the controlled sound or powerstroke heads on toms. I would like to try different versions of the empror heads, because i think the sound that i want is from that genre.

I have tried the coated emperors though
 
Ah. Then you shouldn't really be concerned with projection if the sound is only traveling into a mic, eh? Get zero rings, or more moongels, or wallets taped to your snare.... ;)

Yep, i use Powerstroke 3 on the snare which are fine. For the toms i use clear emperors but i want a little more muffling to them, instead of using moon gels. I was wondering if i were to say get the sued, vintage or ebony emperor's, would they do anything for the little muffling i desired without the use of moongels
 
In that case try the black suede emps tuned low. I don't care for their feel, but they do sound good on tape.
 
Yep, i use Powerstroke 3 on the snare which are fine. For the toms i use clear emperors but i want a little more muffling to them, instead of using moon gels. I was wondering if i were to say get the sued, vintage or ebony emperor's, would they do anything for the little muffling i desired without the use of moongels

I currently have vintage emperors now on my kit and they sound nice and controlled. I'm told they are a little thicker than regular emperors - I got them because the store had all of those in the sizes I needed ;)
 
I currently have vintage emperors now on my kit and they sound nice and controlled. I'm told they are a little thicker than regular emperors

I'm late to this party, but the vintage Emps were gonna be my suggestion. Worth a try.

As always buy one head, if you like it, get more....if not, let it slide.
 
I'm late to this party, but the vintage Emps were gonna be my suggestion. Worth a try.

As always buy one head, if you like it, get more....if not, let it slide.

Thanks, that is also on my list of Emperor head. I have tried a few different heads, but i always seem to be fond of the sound i get from the emperors
 
I currently have vintage emperors now on my kit and they sound nice and controlled. I'm told they are a little thicker than regular emperors - I got them because the store had all of those in the sizes I needed ;)

Thanks, i'll try them out i think they're 7.5mil
 
+1 for Vintage Emperors, they sound very sweet!
 
Back
Top