Evans vs. Remo

Pollyanna said:
I agree with all of that. My last drum teacher got me an Aquarian batter head. I liked the sound a little more than the Evans but a bit less than an Ambo. The coating was as durable as Evans.

I find they can all produce a good sound in their own way. Any thoughts on ease of tuning between brands?
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That's true, and it's just as much in the hands of the person tuning it. I think Remo heads are a bit more temperamental to tune up. Maybe it's a quality thing...or maybe they just produce more (over)tones, making them tougher to dial-in? I really dunno. Evans heads do seem a little bit easier to tune, for some reason. Although, they never seem to break in and warm up like Remo heads do, after a few weeks. You get what you get.

I'm gonna give Aquarian a run on my "small" kit when it's due for a head change. The 16" floor tom is identical to the one I use in the big one, so I'll be able to compare them side-by-side.

The coating thing chaps my ass. Either I'm crazy or...when enough of it comes off, the sound of the head begins to change - particularly on the snare. Just really unhappy with this last batch of Remos that I picked up. Booooo!
 
My brand new Evans G14 heads got here today. Guess what I'll be doing tonight. Oh, my vote, Evans of course.
 
Muckster said:
What do you use for the bottom head.....EC2's as well?
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God no, Clear G1's are the way to go on the bottom, good for just about every batter head which makes it easy to change it up since you can obey the 3 for every 1 rule for head replacement... So you can try out multiple batters on the same reso.

Some people like the genera resonant... which is a little thinner than the G1, but I found it was too bright for me... I like a nice fundamental, creamy note with a bit of a pitch bend, a little bit of hard attack, and those EC2/G1's are awesome for that. I use them on my 10,12,13,16, my 8 I use a G2 batter (G1 reso) to help open up the dud shell that its mounted to.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
My brand new Evans G14 heads got here today. Guess what I'll be doing tonight. Oh, my vote, Evans of course.
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Let us know how they work out for you. I just installed coated Gplus' on my toms (ordered them based on the sound files on the Evans site) and I don't love em. Now I normally use clear heads so maybe that has something to do with it but they sound "thin" and I can't seem to find the sweet spot with these heads.
 
I like Evans heads. Can't say I've done exhaustive research comparing them. My local drum shop guy recommended G2's for the sound I wanted. I put the G2's on and got the sound I wanted. Search over.
 
I am an Evans guy, and I pay for them too. I stray occasionally but always come back. I really like the EC1 Reverse Dot as a snare batter head. On my toms I like clear G2 over EC Resonant. For bass drums I like EQ3 on the back and EQ1 Resonant on the front. Other heads are good, and I have tried them all, but I prefer Evans.
 
keep it simple said:
Evans for me, & that's partly historical brand loyalty, partially because I know them so well, but mostly consistency in manufacture. We (Guru) recently tested a good number of heads from different manufacturers for consistent rim to film dimensions, & Evans came out on top by some margin (I will admit that the Aquarian sample batch was smaller). Evans scored an inconsistency in about 5% of heads, Remo was closer to 20%.
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I like both companies for different reasons but one thing I noticed though is that Evans heads often don't come completely round where the joints come together... they seem to continue going towards the inside in a heartshape matter... ever noticed? I brought back a few to my music store and the sales guy went: geeez, never noticed that before but it's so true!!! What about you guys?
 
I'm an Evans guy. Not to say Remo make bad heads or anything. But I used to use Remos but I was never happy with the sound I was getting from my kit.
I played a gig in 2010 and the kit there had Evans heads. It sounded great so I thought I'd try some out on my kit and ever since I've been using Evans. I've played other kits with Remo heads and they sound good, but for me and for my kit its Evans all the way!
 
Mrcoffee said:
I like both companies for different reasons but one thing I noticed though is that Evans heads often don't come completely round where the joints come together... they seem to continue going towards the inside in a heartshape matter... ever noticed? I brought back a few to my music store and the sales guy went: geeez, never noticed that before but it's so true!!! What about you guys?
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I have noticed that several times on several heads of mine, More so on the smaller sizes because the arc is so much more extreme. Maybe EvansSpecialist can weigh in on it more but I have never found those "defective" (double quotes because in reality its just a visual imperfection) heads to have any trouble tuning up or breaking in and or holding a tune. So I suppose it is within QC limits at Evans since it does not have an effect on the sound.

Basically, when the hoop is rolled, it is cut by a machine that is automated to calculate the length needed for a specified size, so to have a few here and there that are cut short (creating the V you mentioned at the joint) or cut long (creating the opposite effect of an external point at the joint, which I have never seen) I would expect. A machine can only determine how far the rollers move, not whether or not the alluminum channel actually moved with them.
 
There's no doubt that both Evans and Remo (and Aquarian, as well) make good heads. I've found many drummers are loyal to one brand over another simply out of habit.

I've ALWAYS used Remo and have never found the need to try anything else because they work for me. I can dial the desired sound in easily and they hold up very well. They sound warmer to me after they've been on awhile and are broken in. Plus, Remo has such a large selection of different models, I'm sure to find exactly what I'm looking for.

It's interesting that a large majority of high-end and custom drums come factory-equipped with Remo heads more often than not.

Another point to make is that many retailers prefer Remo; at least where I live, anyway. A large Guitar Center, a 5-Star Pro Drum Shop and three small independent music retailers seem to have a better selection of Remo than any others.

Bottom line - whatever works for you is all that matters. Buy any of the three because they're all still made in the US, or at least I think they are.

Tom
 
I used Remos for nearly twenty years and never had any issues with them. I still play them on drumsets at churches, and I don't have any compunction about ordering Remo heads for those drums. I have also tried Aquarians and found the SuperKick to be a great head. Personally, however, I love the consistency, durability, diversity, and tone of Evans heads. For those reasons I prefer them on my own set.
 
I'm an Aquarian guy...
Yes I do endorse the product, but I play them because I love them, and have even turned down other companies just to stay with a product I really love.

I just changed all my heads to the new Force 10 they came out with.
Fantastic sounding heads and more durability than I have ever come across in any other model or brand. I suggest trying them out!
 
I think both companies make great heads. I have not used an Aquarian head, other than I tried a superkick on my Yamaha MCA bass drum and it sounded boingy no matter what I did to it. I've heard them on other kits and they sounded good though, so maybe it was the drum. I used to use remo coated emps on my snare, but they changed the film (white to clear) and the coating came off after one show. Because of that reason, I tried a coated G2 and was very happy with them. I use them 99.9% of the time on my snare live. On my kick I had an Emad, great head, and I also run a Remo PS3. It's a little more open sounding and I like a more open sound on my kit, so the PS3 gets the call. I tried the Evans equivalent to a PS3 and it just seemed to lack some "meat". Toms get clear emps, G2's or coated vintage emps. I alternate between those heads. I will say that Evans heads seem to be more consistent in sound.
 
My first choice is Aquarian, I love the Modern Vintage heads for my jazz gigs and Reponse 2 heads for my toms on Rock gigs. I really like the Superkick1 batter head for bass drums with the ported Regulator front head. I really like a lot of their different snare drum heads. Saldy Aquarian are not well stocked in Toronto.

I have become an Evans fan due to the scarcity of Aquarian heads. i really like the Evans J1 etched heads for my toms for Jazz Gigs (top and bottom) , Coated G1 for the snare batter and hazy 300 for the resonant side. I really like the coated EMAD single ply for all my gigs both jazz and rock. I have really started to like the Evans coated white G Plus heads for my Rock Gigs, really versitile heads and they hold up well.

I have not used a Remo head since they started using the pie shape logo on them. They just went down hill from there. Coating issues got my goat for the most part.
 
Really, I can´t complain neither one of them.
I use Remo Ambassador on the snare and Evans G1 on the toms. The RA's give an smooth wide open sound while EG1's put a bright punchy sound...So I like them both for a purpose and function.
 
For years I used Remo. I put an Evans Genera dry on my Acrolite and it sounds like a whole new drum! Remo does make some good specialty heads, like the fiberskyn, which are fabulous on rope tension drums.
 
RickP said:
. Saldy Aquarian are not well stocked in Toronto.
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Even at Long and McQuade? They always had them in stock up there and I used to have the guys ship my heads to me in Nova Scotia till Long and McQuade bought out all the Music Stop franchises in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.



cdrums21 said:
I tried a superkick on my Yamaha MCA bass drum and it sounded boingy no matter what I did to it.
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What were you using for a front head? I just cant imagine anyone finding a super kick boingy. I have used them on MCA's, Pearl Masters, Tama Rockstars and now on the Radial Pros which tend to more resonant than most and have always got a big fat thud from them no matter which kit I put them on.
 
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