G1 coated vs clear reso

akhenig

Junior Member
I've pretty much settled on G2 Coated batter heads for all my toms, and G1s for the reso heads. I still can't decide though if I want coated or clear heads for the resos. I'm looking for the kind of sound Nick Mason gets on The Wall.

I have a six piece Mapex Meridian Maple kit.
 
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Clear G1's will sound slightly brighter than coated G1's, but the difference will be slight.

I'd suggest pairing coated resonant with a coated batter, as it helps reinforce the warmer tone the coating offers.
 
Ok, thanks! I had another question regarding the snare heads: I like a snare sound with very little or no ring to it, so I was thinking to go with either a Genera HD Dry, a Genera Dry, or an ST Dry, all over a Hazy 300. What do you think would be the best combination to get the kind of sound I like?
 
I use coated Amb resos (g1 equivalent)......, old -school, and prefer their warmer sound. I also like the look.
Don't forget the "sound Nick Mason's getting on The Wall" is a drum all processed and eq'd in a studio, not a drum "live" to your ear. Impossible to attain a perfect match.
 
Ok, thanks! I had another question regarding the snare heads: I like a snare sound with very little or no ring to it, so I was thinking to go with either a Genera HD Dry, a Genera Dry, or an ST Dry, all over a Hazy 300. What do you think would be the best combination to get the kind of sound I like?

The HD dry is the deadest head I have ever tried.mi like some controlled ring, but that thing was a phone book to me. I use HD over hazy 300 on most every snare.
 
I'm assuming this is going on the 14x5.5" Meridian snare drum, correct?

I've used all three of the heads you mentioned, and the HD Dry especially cuts a lot of tone out of the drum. I've used it on a steel snare with good results but I think it takes the guts out of a wood snare. Similarly, the dry vents and control ring on the Genera dry is a little more aggressive for my taste too, but the ST Dry sounds pretty good. It still has some openness to it.

Honestly, I'd probably go with a plain old coated G2 on the snare too, and get some Moongel to tame any ringing.

I like the more "complicated" snare heads with rings and vents and whatnot for specific drums with specific needs but the problem with them is you can't add any liveliness back to them; if they dry out the drum too much the whole drum can sound dull and there's nothing else you can do with it.
 
I'm assuming this is going on the 14x5.5" Meridian snare drum, correct?

I've used all three of the heads you mentioned, and the HD Dry especially cuts a lot of tone out of the drum. I've used it on a steel snare with good results but I think it takes the guts out of a wood snare. Similarly, the dry vents and control ring on the Genera dry is a little more aggressive for my taste too, but the ST Dry sounds pretty good. It still has some openness to it.

Honestly, I'd probably go with a plain old coated G2 on the snare too, and get some Moongel to tame any ringing.

I like the more "complicated" snare heads with rings and vents and whatnot for specific drums with specific needs but the problem with them is you can't add any liveliness back to them; if they dry out the drum too much the whole drum can sound dull and there's nothing else you can do with it.

It's a 14x6" actually. So what do you recommend for getting a big deep snare sound with very little ring? If you listen to Comfortably Numb you'll see what I'm talking about.
 
I've avoided addressing specifics in trying to duplicate a sound found on a recording because you'll never get a studio processed sound through head choices alone.

I'm not familiar with Nick Mason's drum set up, but from listening to Comfortably Numb I hear a snare that is probably a Ludwig Supraphonic with an Ambassador or Emperor batter head. Back then there weren't that many choices for drum heads and the crisp "pop" and open tone is enough to make me believe the batter head isn't loaded down with muffling. Most likely any lack of ring or sustain is either from noise gating, selective EQ, or the fact most over-ring is absorbed into the overall sound of the whole band.

Again, I'd get a G2 and a pack of Moongel so you have some options in how much muffling you need to get the sound you're wanting.
 
I've pretty much settled on G2 Coated batter heads for all my toms, and G1s for the reso heads. I still can't decide though if I want coated or clear heads for the resos. I'm looking for the kind of sound Nick Mason gets on The Wall.

I have a six piece Mapex Meridian Maple kit.

I'm using Remo coated ambassadors over coated ambassador resonant heads on the toms of my DW Classic drums. They just seems to go great with the vibes of the drums and the mahogany and poplar shells. You get a more focused sound with coated, 1 ply resonant heads. All my other kits have the "standard" 1 ply clear heads on the undersides. The results will vary with different makes of shells and of course their tuning.

Dennis
 
I've avoided addressing specifics in trying to duplicate a sound found on a recording because you'll never get a studio processed sound through head choices alone.

I'm not familiar with Nick Mason's drum set up, but from listening to Comfortably Numb I hear a snare that is probably a Ludwig Supraphonic with an Ambassador or Emperor batter head. Back then there weren't that many choices for drum heads and the crisp "pop" and open tone is enough to make me believe the batter head isn't loaded down with muffling. Most likely any lack of ring or sustain is either from noise gating, selective EQ, or the fact most over-ring is absorbed into the overall sound of the whole band.

Again, I'd get a G2 and a pack of Moongel so you have some options in how much muffling you need to get the sound you're wanting.

Ok, but I'm not sure about it not being loaded down with muffling. I've read that he used to put a tea towel over his snare.
 
I'm just going by what I heard in the song you asked me to listen to.

If you're going to follow Nick Mason's advice and put a tea towel on the drum it really doesn't matter what head you pick. The Ambassador that's on there already will be just fine.
 
What do you think would be better on the bass drum batter: an EMAD or an EMAD2?
 
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Ok, here are the heads I've settled on for the whole set:

Bass drum batter: EMAD Coated
Bass drum reso: EMAD Black Reso
Batter on all the toms: G2 Coated
Reso on all the toms: G1 Coated
Snare batter: G2 Coated
Snare side: Hazy 300

Thanks for the advice!
 
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