Snare Head?

Nelsonic

Junior Member
Hey there...
I've been playing drums for a long time, (mostly rock, 20+ years) but have never had that "favorite" snare head. Any suggestions? I just busted a Remo Powerstroke3 on stage Saturday night. (I NEVER break snare heads btw, it was weird)
Anyway, I play a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare and my style is groove or funky more than heavy.
So, I'd love to hear what you guys like and use...
Thanks!
 
I've heard that Evans Genera HD Dry heads are really strong and great for rock, that's what I'll change too once I bust my current head.
 
What I use are Evans Genera HD Dry. I use it on five snares. Coated.
 
Hey there...
I've been playing drums for a long time, (mostly rock, 20+ years) but have never had that "favorite" snare head. Any suggestions? I just busted a Remo Powerstroke3 on stage Saturday night. (I NEVER break snare heads btw, it was weird)
Anyway, I play a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare and my style is groove or funky more than heavy.
So, I'd love to hear what you guys like and use...
Thanks!
How much resonance do you want? I use a Power Center and would recommend them if you want sensitivity and resonance, but if you want something extremely strong you need to go 2 ply. If you need durability, go with a coated Emperor or my personal favorite, a Black Suede Emperor. The HD Dry is dead and nasty sounding to me, but I like a lot of ring. A better "dead" drumhead would be a Black X.
 
Thanks guys...I've read good things about the Evans head.

Poly, I do like a little resonance, I hit a lot rims and like a snappy funk sound most of the time. I do need durability of course but would sacrifice that for a tight but snappy-sizzley sound. Who makes the Power Center?
 
Thanks guys...I've read good things about the Evans head.

Poly, I do like a little resonance, I hit a lot rims and like a snappy funk sound most of the time. I do need durability of course but would sacrifice that for a tight but snappy-sizzley sound. Who makes the Power Center?
The 14" Remo coated Ambassador to snare drums is like a 350ci to Chevy.

A lot of drummers have play them and might be what you're looking for.

Bonzolead
 
Thanks guys...I've read good things about the Evans head.

Poly, I do like a little resonance, I hit a lot rims and like a snappy funk sound most of the time. I do need durability of course but would sacrifice that for a tight but snappy-sizzley sound. Who makes the Power Center?

Remo makes the Power Center. If you want tight but sizzly my best recommendation would be the Remo Ambassador. I like those and the Emperors best, both coated of course. Incidentally a Remo coated Ambassador is what Yamaha put on your snare when they made your drum. I also use a Yamaha zero-ring on my snares to get that focused punch I like...you should try this out too as it may give you the sound you're looking for more so than the head. I prefer theirs because they are narrower (and I think thinner too) than typical zero-rings so they focus the punch without killing the tone.

BTW, the Remo Powerstroke 3 and Evans Genera heads are very similar to each other.

Hope this helps and good luck,

Mike
 
Hey there...
I've been playing drums for a long time, (mostly rock, 20+ years) but have never had that "favorite" snare head. Any suggestions? I just busted a Remo Powerstroke3 on stage Saturday night. (I NEVER break snare heads btw, it was weird)
Anyway, I play a Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare and my style is groove or funky more than heavy.
So, I'd love to hear what you guys like and use...
Thanks!

I play the same drum and use an Evans Power Center Reverse Dot batter most of the time. If I know that I'll be doing a lot of brush work, it gets changed to an Evans G1 coated. I actually use the Reverse Dot heads on four of my snares. It gives me a slight bit of control and works extremely well with the various genres of music I play, which is most.

Dennis
 
Well, my personal favourite is a plain old Aquarian Texture Coated. The thicker coating gives it a bit more of a fatness that's missing on the Remo Ambassadors and Evans G1s. I've only got the one snare, a Mapex M-Birch 14x5.5 and I think this head is what I'm going to be using from now on. First one lasted 6 months and I only changed because I found another one for $5 (and that's Australian so that's a STEAL)

My personal recommendation :D
Cel.
 
Thanks guys...I've read good things about the Evans head.

Poly, I do like a little resonance, I hit a lot rims and like a snappy funk sound most of the time. I do need durability of course but would sacrifice that for a tight but snappy-sizzley sound. Who makes the Power Center?
If you want that sound, a single ply head is the best choice. Dot heads like the Power Center or PCRD are in between single and double ply heads. They're a little more focused, but retain most of the sensitivity of a normal single ply head and add much more durability. The PCRD is a tiny bit more resonant than the Power Center because the dot is mounted on the underside of the head to allow brush playing. Although Remo makes dot heads as well, the Evans heads, maybe because the dots are vented, sound a lot better to me.
 
I've always used a coated ambassador on my snares. I can tune it very open and ringy, or if i want a dry sound, I can use a moon gel.
 
I have a fave three... Evans power center reverse dot, Evans genera and Remo ambassador, i tend to change between them, but to my ears thease are just made to sound great... i hit hard and have never broken any of thease..
 
Remo Control Sound Coated....it is an Ambassador weight head with a reverse power dot on the under side. Best sounding snare head I have ever used. Gives you the tuning options of an ambassador with the durability of an emperor.
 
yeah stay away from heavy two ply snare heads- they deaden the sound like none other

I play on a kit that has a remo Coated CS black dot- quite nice
nice and snappy
but not too bright

i also play a kit with The Evans Power center i believe
i prefer evans over remo in this case as well
it sounds just a bit more open than the Remo black dot

go for what you're looking for
but my recomendation is the Power center Evans
 
I had a power center (reverse dot) from evans on my pacific snare (yeah yea i know). I hated the sound. To me the dot added some power to my stroke, but it lacked specific sensitivity I was craving. Plus the sound was just do deep and thuddy for my taste. I then got a Genra HD Dry head. I liked this one much more. It was more open than my previous head and had a real nice crack when you played a rim shot. It was also very durable (the reverse "dot" started ripping after 6 months). After a while though, I realized I still wanted more sensitivity and definition with my ghost notes. I then went to a Remo Ambassador. I think I like this head best out of three. Though it lacks the same "crack" as the Genre, the sensitivity is wonderful. Plus it has a little bit of ring to it that idk...gives some flavor.

Good luck!
 
I've been using coated two-ply heads (either Emps or G2s) for the last 100 years or so, but have recently been using coated Abassadors. Generally, I don't like heads that have any built in deadening. I had some kind of dry head from Evans (don't remember what it was) but I remember thinking I could have achieved that sound with duct tape or moongels. I took it right back off my snare (it didn't last a whole day even).
 
Back
Top