Evans G Plus, a superior resonant head

Larry

"Uncle Larry"
Last year I purchased a set of Evans clear G Plus for use as batters. As you may or may not know, the G Pluses are a 12 mil film, where clear Ambassadors and G1's are a 10 mil film. So I changed to G Pluses on the batters over G1's and I took them to one gig. The G Pluses lacked the attack I like...When I hit my toms with the G Pluses, instead of hearing "Dooom", I heard "Oooom" So off they came.
So today, ever the tweaker, I decide that I want to try the G Pluses as reso heads. I've gathered here that a thicker head will vibrate longer and have a warmer sound than a thinner head.
That's exactly what the result was. My toms note sang noticeably longer, with definite added warmth. I like an open and lively completely unmuffled tom sound with a crisp stick attack. My toms with the G1's over the G pluses are noticeably better sounding than the same tom with the G1's over the G1's. It kept the attack of the 10 mil film, but sang longer and warmer. I was very pleased with the improvement and the first thing I had to do was to say it here...G Plus Clears make superior sounding reso heads! I'd recommend giving them a try.
 
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That's interesting - I often wonder why people aren't using thicker heads as resos on their toms, since resonance is such a sought-after quality in drums.

Does having a G1 over a GPlus have a strange attack at all? To me, the feel is every bit as important as the sound.
 
No, the attack was identical to G1's over G1's. Just a longer, warmer note. Now EC1's are a single ply 14 mil film, I have a set of these where I peeled off the overtone control ring with a blowdryer and a razor blade, I wonder if these would make even a longer warmer note. I would think there would be a point of diminishing returns somewhere, but knowing me I'll have to try the EC1's as well
 
I had similar results some years back when I used coated Emps over coated Emps (back when you could find a BATCH of really resonant Emps...now you have to check them).

The sound was real big, full, and fat, but still resonant.

I'm a believer that using the same head top & bottom will get the most "sound".
Could be heavy, or dark, or bright etc... but since the heads/film is the same (and working together), you'll get the most out of whatever type of head you choose.

A smooth white Emp on the front of the bass drum gets a real full, solid tone also, and some of the higher frequencies (that you may not want) are not present, or at least diminished so you don't notice them in the overall sound of your bass drum.
 
I'm a believer that using the same head top & bottom will get the most "sound".
Could be heavy, or dark, or bright etc... but since the heads/film is the same (and working together), you'll get the most out of whatever type of head you choose.

You know I was of the same school of thought, but now I'm not so sure. There was an improvement to my ear with the G Pluses as resos, more sound, bigger. I will get a chance to test them on a gig this Saturday. I was hesitant about using a 2 ply for a resonant (like the emp) but hey if it makes my toms sound bigger and fuller, I'll abandon my preconceived notions and use them. I know for sure I need the attack of a single ply 10 mil head on the batter though.
 
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I've been doing this since the G-plus heads came out.

I use them on some of the toms only. With G1s all around as resos, a couple of the toms (the smallest two) had a shorter sustain than the others. By using the G-plus heads as resos on just those two, their sustain matches the sustain of the other drums much better.

Using something like an Emperor as a reso is a different thing entirely because they're 2-ply: you get less sustain, not more. It's an old trick to tame an overly resonant floor tom to use an Emperor on the bottom.
 
I've been doing this since the G-plus heads came out.

I use them on some of the toms only. With G1s all around as resos, a couple of the toms (the smallest two) had a shorter sustain than the others. By using the G-plus heads as resos on just those two, their sustain matches the sustain of the other drums much better.

Using something like an Emperor as a reso is a different thing entirely because they're 2-ply: you get less sustain, not more. It's an old trick to tame an overly resonant floor tom to use an Emperor on the bottom.

Interesting. I have some coated G2s laying around that I'd like to slap on my MCX kit, maybe I'll put G-Plus on the reso side.

My Unix kit came with a ported, coated Emp. on the reso side of the bass and it sounded completely dead to me. I swapped it out for a 4" ported, smooth white PS3 and it was a whole new drum, for sure.
 
I just thought of something that makes a difference.

Back then the Emps used WHITE film (and coated that), which does sound different than the clear film with the coating.

I'd think that Smooth White Emps on the bottom would give a similar effect as the older White film coated Emps I used.

BTW...you can now order the "new" old version of the emp with white film....

I think with a slightly heavier 1 ply head on he bottom--like a G1 on top and a G plus on the bottom that you'd get a little fatter, deeper sound, but it'd still be "bright" from the top head being slightly thinner.

Clear or coated is gonna change it a little too, I'd say more in the character of the sound, and not the volume.

The Emps on T&B didn't make them any quieter or louder than the "usual" Emp top, Amb. bottom combo. It just changed the "fullness" of the sound. Seemed like the same volume/attack as usual, just a fatter overall tone.

I like a single or double ply head on the kick reso without any dampening ring.
I do use a small piece of foam touching the front head to cut the extra "ring" I don't want down, and it keeps the sound from bouncing around in the large shell.
The ringed reso heads seem too dead on my kick.

One cool one for the batter that does have a ring in it is the EQ1 frosted.
That is a pretty big sounding head with just enough muffling to keep the drum sounding alive, and not an either "all punch", or "all tone" head.
It's a good one if you like nothing in your shell, and works with a ringed or non-ringed reso too.
Seems like the same idea as the Emad head, just "more" sound.
 
Ok, rather than making another thread (never have had the need to do here!) I did a little search and out of the 100 of pages I think this one will do to ask a question!

I've never asked and found out but when does everyone replaces the reso's? I've had mine on for quite a bit now!

-Trys
 
Ok, rather than making another thread (never have had the need to do here!) I did a little search and out of the 100 of pages I think this one will do to ask a question!

I've never asked and found out but when does everyone replaces the reso's? I've had mine on for quite a bit now!

-Trys

Really, when they no longer sound good while tuning up...
 
hi Larry, I'm a little confused as this thread made me go check out the Evans website. They now have a litlle chart when you click on each head showing the defining characterictics of each head, and it says the G plus would have more attack than the G1. And also less sustain.

Seems like the Evans website is saying the thinner the head the less attack and more sustain you get. I'm not personally disagreeing since I haven't tried these combos myself but am just curious. I currently use coated G2s over G1s.

What I can't figure out is for resonant heads Evans rates the Genera Reso with more sustain than the G1 but they are both the same thickness. Why the difference?

I'm looking at the ratings Evans has under the Toms section. (although they're there for all types of heads.) I know the Evans rep was on here before talking about improvements being made to the site. This must have been what he meant.
 
It's a law of physics that all things being equal, a thicker head will stay in motion (resonate) for a longer amount of time than a thinner head. I used clear G1's over clear G1's for a long time.(G1's are a 10 mil single ply head) A fine sound, no doubt. As an experiment I tried clear Diplomats, a thinner head, (7.5 mils) as resos. I thought it would make for a livelier tom. I got noticeably less sustain that the G1 over G1 combo. So I went back to the G1's as resos. I tried the clear G plus's (a single ply 12 mil head) as batters and lost the attack I like. Instead of my toms sounding like "doom doom" they sounded like "oom oom" to me. So I went back to the G1 batter. Months later I wanted to experiment again, because I felt my 10" DW tom wasn't sustaining enough. Since I had a set of barely used G plus's laying around I decided to try them as resos. I immediately heard more warmth and sustain from my drums, right in keeping with the law of physics. This does go counter with what Evans claims, but I know what I hear and that's what matters most. I trust my ears and sensibilities over another mans marketing hype any day. Evans make fine heads, not knocking them, I use them, but experiments convinced me that G pluses sustain longer and sound better as resos than the G1's. Now, the EC1's are a 14 mil single ply head, even thicker that the G Plus'. This should make for and even longer sustain. I do have a set of them that I peeled the overtone control rings off of with the help of a blowdryer...(I'll control my overtones thank you very much) but I haven't experimented with them yet. Haven't tried the 2 ply EC2 heads as reso's either, but I will probably experiment with them as well. Meantime, I am very happy and satisfied with the sound of clear G1's over clear G Plus. Next experiment is with the EC1's, I'll make a post when I do.
 
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I've been using clear G Pluses on my floor toms for about three months now. With coated Emperors as batters, this is the best combination I have found to date.
 
Exactly. Check out Remo's explanation of the Diplomat vs. Clear Ambassador.

Sorry, it seems like the Remo site is agreeing with the Evans sight that a thinner head gives more sustain and a thicker one gives more attack.

http://www.remo.com/portal/products/3/8/49/ds_clear.html

I too was interested in trying the G plus as batters but if they do give an Oooom sound instead of the Doooom then that's not what I'm looking for. Overall I'm still pretty happy with the G2s but will probably do some experimentation myself with different Resos.
 
And the plot thickens. This video which I linked to from the Evans website seems to go against what the site says regarding Reso head sustain.

http://www.tothestage.com/MediaDetail.Page?MediaId=774

You can clearly hear the G1 (as a reso) sustains longer than the Genera Reso head which is thinner, even though the descriptions say the Genera Reso should sustain longer.

Looks like the Evans sound descriptions may need some tweaking.
 
Sorry, it seems like the Remo site is agreeing with the Evans sight that a thinner head gives more sustain and a thicker one gives more attack.

http://www.remo.com/portal/products/3/8/49/ds_clear.html

I too was interested in trying the G plus as batters but if they do give an Oooom sound instead of the Doooom then that's not what I'm looking for. Overall I'm still pretty happy with the G2s but will probably do some experimentation myself with different Resos.

HHHHHHHmmm....very interesting. I thought I had read somewhere (maybe one of their ads or a catalog?) that the sustain was supposed to be shorter, with a thinner, single-ply head.

We need to get to the bottom of this mystery, scoob.
 
Yes, sustain is shorter with a thinner head, longer with a thicker head. Physics 101. If anybody says otherwise, they're violating basic laws of physics.
 
Yes, sustain is shorter with a thinner head, longer with a thicker head. Physics 101. If anybody says otherwise, they're violating basic laws of physics.

Well, we could play devil's advocate. Perhaps there are some variables that come into play, such as batter head thickness, depth of the drum and dynamics?

It might be that someone who plays very softly would not push enough air through the drum to sufficiently excite a thicker resonant head. Or similarly, maybe the drum is too deep and it isn't being struck hard enough to send enough air through it. OR...the batter head is a thick, double-ply head like the EC2, of which might require more force to fully excite a thick resonant head.

Or...any combination thereof.

Just thoughts...haven't actually tested any of this. There has to be a reason that a medium-weight single ply has become a defacto standard as a resonant head.
 
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