What heads now?

sabian92

Senior Member
Hey,

I'm looking for a different set of heads to put on my Gretsch Catalina Club kit. I've got Remo Ambassadors/Emperors on my toms with a Powerstroke III on my snare, and a Superkick II on my bass drum.

I'm happy with my bass drum sound, it's my toms and snare I'm not so happy about. My snare coating is flaking off after only a few hours of playing in quite a bad way (I know it's supposed to but not this bad, and not after so little playing). My 18x16 tom seems very dead whatever the tuning as well, I'm not sure if that's me or the drum but it just doesn't seem to have a nice feel to play either. It's very... flappy, even though it's tuned as high as it can be (my 16x16 floor tom is pretty low but that's the sweet spot for that drum).

I'd like to try Evans or Aquarian, I'm not so happy with Remo. I play mainly rock, so any suggestions are welcomed for what you think is good.

Thanks.
 
I've never seen a kit that couldn't get a good sound out of Emperor batters and Ambassador resos. That's a fairly all purpose combo. If they are too dead for you,you could try Ambassadors on top too.

G1's and G2's are the Evans counterparts to those heads. You might like them better but they are very similar.
 
If you're coming from Remo, as comparable setup in Aquarian would be Satin Finish Texture Coated or Response 2 over Classic Clears.
 
I would say go with single ply on top of the toms.
That will make them sing!
I find that an Aquarian coated head has long lasting coating. I recommend that you try a thick coated single ply Aquarian for a snare batter.
Go to their sight and pick one! Try the Focus X.
 
I think its more than likely inproper tuning,Try messing with the bottom head while hitting the top head,there has to be a point of the drum coming alive.You will hear it.Also for me they should be close to the same pitch.Your heads that you got are good,you just havent found that sweet spot.Good luck......
 
I would say go with single ply on top of the toms.
That will make them sing!
I find that an Aquarian coated head has long lasting coating. I recommend that you try a thick coated single ply Aquarian for a snare batter.
Go to their sight and pick one! Try the Focus X.

The Focus-X is a really good head. You just have to choose the right drum for it. I put one on my church's sonor birch snare a while back; it sounded a little dead.
However, it sounds great on one of my Mapex maple snares.
The best use I have found for the Focus-X is as a reso on my very ringy floor tom. It takes off just enough of the ring to sound great.
 
The Focus-X is a really good head. You just have to choose the right drum for it. I put one on my church's sonor birch snare a while back; it sounded a little dead.
However, it sounds great on one of my Mapex maple snares.
The best use I have found for the Focus-X is as a reso on my very ringy floor tom. It takes off just enough of the ring to sound great.
I also like to take the Aquarian Studio-X coated heads and peel the thin stick-on muffling rings off of them.
They sound great on both toms and snare.
The coating last, and last.
 
I also like to take the Aquarian Studio-X coated heads and peel the thin stick-on muffling rings off of them.
They sound great on both toms and snare.
The coating last, and last.

They come off? I had no idea. That may be something to try... How does the sound compare to the standard Texture Coated head?
 
They come off? I had no idea. That may be something to try... How does the sound compare to the standard Texture Coated head?
I found out that they peeled off by accident.
I did some recording with Studio-X's and when I was finished recording I was going to buy new non-dampened heads but I was low on funds.
I peeled the thin sound rings off of the Studio-X's and I really liked them that way!
I think that they sound a bit warmer than a standard single ply texture coated. It may just be my imagination!

I now buy Studio-X heads for my studio kit. I rotate the old heads to my other kits after I peel them.
 
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