I am just about to try my first Super 2 coated head on my Black Beauty. That drum is very sensitive to head coatings. Old used coated heads sound amazing. Brand new coated heads sound much deader. I'm talking coated Emps and Evans G2's. I tried an Aquarian Response 2 on it recently. Out of all the brand new heads I put on my BB, the Aquarian was the most lively right out of the box. But to my ear, any brand new coated head on say the snare....the coating has to be beat down for a few weeks before it starts to come alive and reveal all the overtones. New coated heads sound so dead.
As a sidenote, I ordered a response 2 head along with a Super 2 head at the same time. The Response head was fine, but the Super 2 clearly had a manufacturing defect, the underside ply separated to the point where you could see a tubular arch forming from one side of the head to the other. The arch was big enough that a tampon could have fit under it.
Anyway, I called up Aquarian, and the woman put me right through to Roy, who listened to my description of the problem, and said he'd send me out a new head. Which he did. I asked Roy if I should send the defective head back and he said no, he'll take my word for it. THAT was a breath of fresh air to hear. I told him how he has a wonderful reputation among the drumming community, and that he is a really good man. He told me that it's hard to get good mylar. He said that film for drum heads is a very small percentage of the mylar manufactured, and he made it seem like the drum head manufacturers get the bottom of the barrel as far as mylar quality goes.