Aquarian Heads Review

Brozif

Junior Member
A little about me first since this is my first post. My name is Tony, I'm 42 and I have been playing drums since the age of 13. I'm no natural talent. I can't read a lick of music and play strictly by ear! I prefer to play hard rock, heavy metal, hair metal, and progressive rock. My favorite band of all time is Rush, so of course Neal Peart is my all time favorite drummer since he was the reason I picked up the drum sticks. Other favorites are Queensryche, Dream Theater, Tool, Fates Warning, and many many more.

Now that you know what kind of music I prefer playing, I'll get on with the review.

I've been playing Remo heads my entire life. When I started playing, they were pretty much the only heads that I knew of. I was playing the Remo Pinstripes mostly because of the style of music I played. I'm very much a creature of habit, because once I find something I like, I stick to it!! Recently I decided to buy another drum kit to leave at home to practice on all the time and leave my stage kit packed up ready to travel at all times. I got tired of all the tearing down and setting up at home and out at gigs. Anyhow, becasue of the music I play, I still require or need a "bigger" drum kit. I like the versatility that a big kit gives me. I can play easy stuff like Blink 182 or Foo Fighters on a big kit easily, but I can't play Dream Theater or Rush on a little kit. Just a personal preference I guess. So I bought a CHEAP drum kit. It's a ddrum Defiant Series, which is by far the worst drum set I have ever owned!! It had Evans G2 heads on it, but no matter how I tuned them, I couldn't get them to sound good. Must be the fact that they are made from Basswood! So, I figured if I had to listen to these every day, I'd better change some stuff! What a better time to try something new than on a practice kit that sounds bad anyway. I've always played clear heads so I thought I would switch to coated heads. I started doing some research, reading a lot of threads on this forum and decided on trying out Aquarian heads.

I went with the Aquarian Force Ten's for the toms, Aquarian Super Kick 10's for both bass drums, and the Aquarian Hi-Impact for the snare.

I've been playing them for a couple of weeks now and they are AWESOME! They have a great sound!! It has actually made my practice set sound better than my gig set. I will be buying these exact heads again to put on that set, and I can't wait to hear how much better that set will sound with their maple shells!!

I will come back to this thread and post after a couple of months of playing with them. I'm not sure what their durability is yet, so I will let everyone know. I can't believe I was so narrow minded before and not willing to try something new. Then again if these heads prove to have a long durability then I will stick with these FOREVER!
 
I have a maple kit and use studio x over classic clear on toms, coated studio x over classic clear snare side on snares and super kick 1 with ported regulator front on kick and i can get 6 to 8 months out of them before they start to go dead and could only get 4 to 5 months out of evans and 1 to 2 months out of remo. Plus the music stores around here sell Aquarian for quite a bit less than the other two.
 
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I went with the Aquarian Force Ten's for the toms, Aquarian Super Kick 10's for both bass drums, and the Aquarian Hi-Impact for the snare.

I've been playing them for a couple of weeks now and they are AWESOME! They have a great sound!! It has actually made my practice set sound better than my gig set. I will be buying these exact heads again to put on that set, and I can't wait to hear how much better that set will sound with their maple shells!!

Hey Tony,

Great 1st post. Welcome to the forum!

Can you tell about the tone you were trying to achieve with the new heads?
I'm doing some research on Aquarian also for my next head change. What would we expect to hear from the Force Ten's? (I mean things like "open, short sustain"?
 
Hey Tony,

Great 1st post. Welcome to the forum!

Can you tell about the tone you were trying to achieve with the new heads?
I'm doing some research on Aquarian also for my next head change. What would we expect to hear from the Force Ten's? (I mean things like "open, short sustain"?

Thanks for the welcome BigDinSD.

Because of the style of music that I play, I was looking for a head with a nice deep punch! Something that you would feel in your chest everytime you hit them. These heads have definitely given me that. They have a great attack, with a short sustain. If you ever want to listen to them here is a link of my exact head combination being played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfkzcJcZvJs

I can't access that link here at work, so I hope it's still active.

I sure hope that tard's post with the durability of his heads is comparable to what I might get out of mine. That would be amazing! I would then just have to hope that Aquarian never stops selling them! I will definitely agree that as far as price, you can't beat the Aquarian heads.
 
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Great to hear your story, always inspires me to hear about other peoples experiences.

I'm a recent Aquarian convert myself using coated super 2's on my Toms, Super Kick 1 and Regulator reso after trying many different Evans and Remo heads. The sound I hear in my head came from the super 2's and so far after 4 months of use on and off they still sound great. Keep in mind I'm still a beginner and I don't gig at this point, but I practice almost everyday.

Still lots of life and tone and I'm going to order some clear super 2's or response 2's soon since my local store only stocks a handful of Aquarian heads. Really curious about the Force 10's so yeah would be great to hear your thoughts after several uses.
 
Great to hear your story, always inspires me to hear about other peoples experiences.

I'm a recent Aquarian convert myself using coated super 2's on my Toms, Super Kick 1 and Regulator reso after trying many different Evans and Remo heads. The sound I hear in my head came from the super 2's and so far after 4 months of use on and off they still sound great. Keep in mind I'm still a beginner and I don't gig at this point, but I practice almost everyday.

Still lots of life and tone and I'm going to order some clear super 2's or response 2's soon since my local store only stocks a handful of Aquarian heads. Really curious about the Force 10's so yeah would be great to hear your thoughts after several uses.

I will definitely get back and repost on this thread to let everyone how they sound after a couple of months of hard playing. I figure by then, I'll know if they held their tune!

On a side note. I also like hearing how people got their start, who their main influence was that pushed them over the edge and made the want to play drums. I guess it's time to do a thread search! If there isn't one, there will be one soon!
 
Aquarian Texture Coated actually makes my cheap Phil. Mahogany shell kit sound more pricey...

I agree with you. It has done wonders for my crappy basswood set! Until I get the new heads, I might just have to start taking this one out on gigs! No, I can't do that! That would be like letting my friends see me riding a moped!
 
Basswood-shelled drums can sound very good. I know this for fact. I am glad you found a head you like. For me heads come and go. Peace, goodwill, and blues.
 
Basswood-shelled drums can sound very good. I know this for fact. I am glad you found a head you like. For me heads come and go. Peace, goodwill, and blues.

You are correct! I have found that with these heads, that good sound has been achieved. I hope these heads are around for a long time and become as popular as the Remo Pinstripes. It would be great to not have to start testing heads again!
 
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