Aquarian drum heads anyone?

Nice! Now the worst part; how much is this ganna cost me LOL. 4 toms plus floor Tom- 8",10",12",13",16" and the 22" impact series kick drum head. Does Aquarian offer any value packs? Even if I was able to purchase a pack that included the 12",13", and 16", that wouldn't be so bad. Then, I can buy the rest seperatly.


There are definitely pre packs but you'll have to look around for types of heads you want. I've only gotten pre packs for Super Kick/Regulator combos and Texture coated.

Here's one from Sam Ash. Look around there for others

http://www.samash.com/p/Aquarian_Performance II Standard Sizes Drum Head Pre Pack_-49991694
 
music123.com usually has some multi packs but they have pretty good prices on singles anyway plus they have free shipping as well.
 
I have tried a lot of Aquarian's heads over the years.
Right now I'm playing their new Force 10 heads on my toms.

The Force 10 is like a Remo Emperor X without a dot on it.
two 10 mil plys sandwiched together. But they don't choke and you can tune them real loose to get a nice "studio eq'ed" sound. They have a great response and last forever!

If your looking for that Black Album Lars sound I would try clear Performance II's without a dot, or Studio-X heads with a dot. Studio-X is a single ply head, so if you are a heavy hitter your going to rip through them quick without the dot.
 
I just put a Texture Coated on the batter side of my 18" bass drum. With a little felt strip only on the batter side, I'm in heaven. If you are into a round jazz sound, it's a great head!
 
For those of you that know the sound of Lars' toms on Metallica's black album, that's the sound for me

I wasn't there or anything - but from what I've seen of A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica Part One I believe that Lars had clear Remo Pinstripes on those toms with 2 or 3 additional muffling pads on each (depending on the size of the tom). If you watch the bit when they're recording The Unforgiven you can see the heads quite clearly. Indeed there's a bit when the snares disengage [I think - presumably owing to heavy rimshots and a loose strainer] and Lars is so pissed off he puts his stick right through the snare batter head - a coated Remo Controlled Sound by the look of it.

As I understand it Aquarian's Performance II is touted as an equivalent to the Pinstripe so I guess you're on the right track . . .
 
I use a super kick 2 on my main gigging kit. Very durable head. I dont use anything inside the drum, no pillow/blanket/dirty socks. I used to but when I heard someone play my kit from the audience, i realized the bass was not coming through.
 
Just received my force 10 heads for my kit. I am using them on a 13, 16, 18 this weekend and I will post how they sound/feel after that. First impression out of the box, they are very heavy and "thick". I recently bought new sticks, Ahead rock sticks and tried them for the first time last Saturday and they dented the crap out of my studio x heads. I love the sticks so theses heads should hold up Im guessing.
 
Just received my force 10 heads for my kit. I am using them on a 13, 16, 18 this weekend and I will post how they sound/feel after that. First impression out of the box, they are very heavy and "thick". I recently bought new sticks, Ahead rock sticks and tried them for the first time last Saturday and they dented the crap out of my studio x heads. I love the sticks so theses heads should hold up Im guessing.

I use Ahead sticks and the Force 10's as well.
Granted I don't use a heavy rock stick, I use the 5AB Hybrid, but these heads do stand up to a good beating.
 
I use a super kick 2 on my main gigging kit. Very durable head. I dont use anything inside the drum, no pillow/blanket/dirty socks. I used to but when I heard someone play my kit from the audience, i realized the bass was not coming through.
and that's the performing world realisation that hits us all at some stage ;) Makes me want to shake the YT "tumble dryer" guys by the nuts sometimes. Ah, the pathetic smugness of age :(
 
Masonni I put them on last night and did a quick tune but was too lazy to set up my kit ( in the cases ready for sat.) Holy crap you would think heads this heavy and thick feeling off the drum would be terrible on it but boy do they sound great!!!
Andy, hahaha youtube tumble dryer hahahaha that image is killer!!!
 
Aquarian makes some great drumheads for sure. They are darker/warmer (depending on your ear) than Remos or Evans.

Performance II's are for sure the way to go for metal. Back when I had my '78 Tour Custom, I had Studio X-s on all of my toms except the low floor tom (a 15"). I put a Performance II on there for good measure (for low end thump). I got a nice studio dooom out of all the toms, and the lowest tom with the P2 had a studio thump. I remember thinking to myself, if anyone were looking for a deep, dead (in a good way) sounding tom, these would be the masterpiece. Mine had the power dot.

Glad to hear you made the right choice!
 
Here is my kit ready to play with my new, untouched Force tens. These heads were great and didn't dent at all. I really pounded on them. They also sound great, I tighten them fairly tight when tuning, well above JAW and they have great tone.
 

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I'm don't know much about gear but is there any reason no one's mentioned Remo Powerstroke? I tried to settle down a ringy tom with one of those heads and it thudded like a dead cat dropped on a carpeted floor.

It was too dead for me but, if you prefer an engineer-friendly thud, I'm guessing that Powerstrokes could do the job you're asking.
 
I also use Aquarian Performance II's, if your looking for a good metal sound, I really recommend these, they tune really well and get a nice, fat sound, the best thing: No ringing YAAAY!!!
 
I've been using the Performance II's for almost a year now and I have to say that I am very impressed with them. They actualy sound better after a couple months too. I have them on concert toms, 13 & 16, and I tune the 13 pretty high using 2.3mm triple flanged hoops. It holds the tuning really well and still sounds good. The floor has a thick warm sound with slight, pleasing overtones. Still hard to tune, but once you hit a sweet spot, it sounds really good. I am thinking of trying the Black Chromes out of curiosity, but I'm pretty happy with these.

I've tried a Texture coated Aquarian on the snare drum too and it is also a really nice sounding head. If I can't find a coated Amb, I'll use one of those heads no problem because it seems a bit more durable anyway.
 
Perfect. I like what I'm hearing. Megadeths drummer also used Aquarian heads on the Countdown to Extinction album which really has the Tom sound I've been craving. I'm not sure if he used the performance II tho, as the album was recorded in the very early 90's. that being said, are there any other Aquarian heads available that also put out that deep thuddy Tom Tom punch? He may have been using a form of hydrolic heads from Aquarian, but I find that hydrolic heads don't project enough. So, the performance II's ehh?

Nick was using the Studio-X heads around that time. I remember cause I was big into that album.

On another note, I'm also a recent Aquarian convert!
 
Here is my kit ready to play with my new, untouched Force tens. These heads were great and didn't dent at all. I really pounded on them. They also sound great, I tighten them fairly tight when tuning, well above JAW and they have great tone.

Why are the logos all out of whack? I like to place mine evenly.
 
I'm don't know much about gear but is there any reason no one's mentioned Remo Powerstroke? I tried to settle down a ringy tom with one of those heads and it thudded like a dead cat dropped on a carpeted floor.

It was too dead for me but, if you prefer an engineer-friendly thud, I'm guessing that Powerstrokes could do the job you're asking.

Nice description, lol.
I don't like Powerstrokes. Mainly for this reason.
 
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