What heads to put?

drummerman188

Junior Member
Hey guys!
I posted before about wanting to sell my drum kit but its just bothering me because once i saw and heard this kit i knew i had to have it. but now a month later i'm not feeling the same but i'm thinking it might be the heads.

Would anyone have any preference to what heads to use. I am a heavy hitter since i'm in a rock/metal band but i also play a lot of jazz because that is what i am going to study in university. My teacher said to put Evans ebony on all the tops but to be honest I don't really like the sound that comes from them.

Before this kit i had a pearl forum and i put pinstripes on all the tops and emperor on the snare. But for some reason could never get them to stay in tune.

This kit is a Tama Starclassic B/B with hyper drive sizes so if anyone has any idea or tips to deciding on which skins to put on it i would appreciate it.

Thanks!

I also know that there are many posts like this but i just want to see if anyone else with the same kit could lead me in the right way.
 
what heads do you have on them now? dont the tama starclassic's come with evan g2s under the tama name?
 
what heads do you have on them now? dont the tama starclassic's come with evan g2s under the tama name?

There are clear G2s on tops for toms and all resos are some tama brand skin. the snare has a coated G1 that i am pretty happy with. my 10" tom just always feels just flat when i play it. Im just not sure what to do. would it help if i swapped out all the resos. I dont have a big budget since i've been saving since grade 6 for a professional drum kit and now i have nothing to spend.
 
maybe they are just out of tune. G2s are good. tune them

if its not that, you could always get evan ec2 heads for the top. they have the ring that controls the over tones.
 
I'd recommend you look into Aquarian, if budget is an issue. They have truly wonderful heads, and you'll spend less, overall on outfitting your kit.
The Performance II heads are notoriously easy to tune, hold their tuning well, and also ease up on the overtones. Excellent for hard rock/metal. They also tune up fairly well too.
 
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We have G2's on the Starclassic kit at the studio and it sounds great (when it's tuned properly). Maybe instead of buying a new set of heads, you can hire a pro to come over and tune them and give you a few tips on keeping them tuned properly. That's what the owner of the Starclassic does. He never asks me to tune them for some reason. ha ha!

I put coated Emperors over clear Genera resos on my Rockstar kit and it's the best sounding kit I ever owned. But I don't have a lot of experience with many different heads. I tried the EC2 heads before on my Imperialstar I used to own, but they didn't do much for me. It sounded better, but it didn't have the wow factor that the Emps over Genera did.
 
We have G2's on the Starclassic kit at the studio and it sounds great (when it's tuned properly). Maybe instead of buying a new set of heads, you can hire a pro to come over and tune them and give you a few tips on keeping them tuned properly. That's what the owner of the Starclassic does. He never asks me to tune them for some reason. ha ha!

I put coated Emperors over clear Genera resos on my Rockstar kit and it's the best sounding kit I ever owned. But I don't have a lot of experience with many different heads. I tried the EC2 heads before on my Imperialstar I used to own, but they didn't do much for me. It sounded better, but it didn't have the wow factor that the Emps over Genera did.

Were they coated or clear for the G2s? and should i just put Genera reso on the bottoms?
 
Were they coated or clear for the G2s? and should i just put Genera reso on the bottoms?

They are clear G2's. More attack and sustain than the Emps. I think his reso's are stock Tama, I've never looked at them close enough, but I put Genera reso's on my Rockstar and they sound great. Of course, they replaced the original ones that were from 1988.

It wouldn't hurt putting on the Genera resos, but I'm pretty sure the Tama reso and the Genera reso are both 10 mil thickness, so the only difference would be that the film might be slightly different because of age and different manufacturers, I think. You would get the famous, new Level 360 system heads if you go with Generas. You're not actually hitting these heads, so both of them being practically the same in many respects, I can't guarantee you'll get any wow factor results by switching reso heads to Genera.
 
I think the opposite- Try changing the reso heads to "real" heads. Think of it this way- the top head gets all disrupted and warped while resonated due to stick contact, but the bottom head gets no stick attack, just vibration through the shell and the air- therefore, it should resonate more evenly and sustain more purely, no?

Just a hypothesis, but what I can otherwise tell you is that my Superstars sounded MUCH more full and sustained after I replaced the coated Ambassadors with clear ones- so I can't imagine the magnitude of difference between whatever alley plastic Tama uses and actual, well-tuned Mylar.

The Genera Resos are a clear kind of plastic that have, basically, more high-end and a 'sparkly' sound. G1s, Ambassadors, and (I believe) Classic Clears are a semi-hazy film that's a bit more controlled. If you're looking for a subtly less sustain-y sound, try G12s and G14s as reso heads. They have the bonus of being naturally lower-pitched as well.
 
Are you sure you aren't beating the crap out of them?
 
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