Remo Ambassador coating wearing off...

Very dissatisfied customer here as well concerning the coated ambassador. Nothing is more disappointing than installing a fresh head only to see it look like the old one just removed, after only 1 practice. Still sounds great, but looks like its been on a well used house kit for years.

The coating even came off of mine at about the 8 o'clock position from playing crosstick on the snare, where the butt end of the stick contacts the head.

I tried to give Remo another chance, however this last head wore the same as the 2 previous ones. I love the sound of the Ambassador on my Supraphonic, but its gonna be Evans from now on.

Why can't Remo own up to this?
 
I am going to call them this morning to see if I can get some answers. The ones that come with my Mapex kits, that are made in China last forever.
 
I am going to call them this morning to see if I can get some answers. The ones that come with my Mapex kits, that are made in China last forever.

Please report back if you can. I'd love to hear the answer.

I made a switch to coated Evans G1 heads on my snare and toms and their coating is ridiculously durable. You really couldn't even tell I used them after a few weeks (unless you ran your hand over and felt them smooth where I strike.)

But... The tone wasn't there at all for me. I went back to Remo Emperors and even though they look well work after one session, the sound is there.

Urgh... It's aggravating.
 
Being a REMO guy all my life, it has concerned me that many of you have been having problems with your coated heads from REMO! I have purchased many products recently that have come equipped with their heads. Most of them have been heads made by REMO in china, and I was not experiencing the same issues with mine. I decided to call today, and ask about it, and this is what I was told by first customer service, and then by the REMO head manager.

About 3 months ago they had a problem with their coating process for their heads. They wouldn't get into it with me exactly what it was, but they admitted that the stuff was flaking off prematurely. After many complaints they finally rectified the situation. One thing they said, that many of you have also commented on was that the sound was still there, even after the coating had started to come off. Their pro's were telling them the same thing, so it was more just a visual concern then a audible concern!

They gave many pros the new heads to test, and they are back to being more durable. The sound has not changed. The first lady asked me on the phone, if I had any worn heads that I needed to replace, and if I did, they would be more than happy to replace them free of charge with a picture of the damage. I told her no, explained my position, and told her that I would be reporting back to one of the largest drum sites in the world.

Anyone that is still having issues, is probably getting older stock. If you do have an issue with your coating, send in a pic, and they will not hesitate to replace it. The sooner the better I would guess.

Hope this helps! Glen.
 
My heads are black all over, I don't care, its the sound i'm looking for, i put G1's all around, they sounded good after a few months, I put my old black Ambs back on, they sounded just as good if not better, I guess its up to either looking good, or sounding good, talking to Bill Stewart, his heads are pretty black, except for the snare which he need's for brush work, he told me sometimes the tom heads stay on 10 yrs, and they still sound good to him, I guess it up to the person, just my 2 cents.
 
I do love Remo heads and continue to use their heads on my toms. I use coated ambassadors, ambassador X or clear emperors and currently clear ambassadors (denting to easy with my round tip sticks?) However I just started using the Evans coated reverse dot on my Oak Custom snare and it's coating is pretty durable. It sounds great too. My other snares are still using Remo and I may switch them out as well?
 
I've had the same issue going on with my Vintage Emperors, too.

Oddly enough though, it seems to happen alot quicker on the snare. This was taken maybe about a week after putting the fresh heads on, whereas the ones on my toms were only getting that brown stick discoloration. Yes, I know the snare gets a lot more attention but it still doesn't explain the difference.

p.s. Not like I'm a heavy hitter or anything though...
 

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Being a REMO guy all my life, it has concerned me that many of you have been having problems with your coated heads from REMO! I have purchased many products recently that have come equipped with their heads. Most of them have been heads made by REMO in china, and I was not experiencing the same issues with mine. I decided to call today, and ask about it, and this is what I was told by first customer service, and then by the REMO head manager.

About 3 months ago they had a problem with their coating process for their heads. They wouldn't get into it with me exactly what it was, but they admitted that the stuff was flaking off prematurely. After many complaints they finally rectified the situation. One thing they said, that many of you have also commented on was that the sound was still there, even after the coating had started to come off. Their pro's were telling them the same thing, so it was more just a visual concern then a audible concern!

They gave many pros the new heads to test, and they are back to being more durable. The sound has not changed. The first lady asked me on the phone, if I had any worn heads that I needed to replace, and if I did, they would be more than happy to replace them free of charge with a picture of the damage. I told her no, explained my position, and told her that I would be reporting back to one of the largest drum sites in the world.

Anyone that is still having issues, is probably getting older stock. If you do have an issue with your coating, send in a pic, and they will not hesitate to replace it. The sooner the better I would guess.

Hope this helps! Glen.

They need to have a better quality control method where as they have control numbers or date manu. numbers and recall the bad ones rather than pass them on to the customers knowingly.
 
I had the same problem with coated emperors. The coating didn't last an hour in the center, plus there were spots by the lugs from tuning.
I called customer service, sent back the head, and they sent me a new one.
Same thing happened. So i just cut my losses.

Now i'm pretty much done with Remo. Because of the flaking, plus the fact that i don't like how Remo heads in general seat on the drums, I've switched to Evans.
It's no longer a struggle for the heads to sit evenly on the drum, unlike Remo. And the coating lasts way longer. Plus I actually like the sound of the Evans better.

Also, if the Remo heads sound good with the coating worn off, whats the point of having a coated head then?
 
They need to have a better quality control method where as they have control numbers or date manu. numbers and recall the bad ones rather than pass them on to the customers knowingly.

Agreed. Why keep the stragglers out there? You'll lose fans because not everyone knows this. Case in point? This thread.
 
I'm not a big Remo "hater", but I mentioned before that I've experienced the coating issues. Several times, actually.

I just took this coated Emperor off my snare tonight. This is after a couple/few months of practice at home and some recording, but no gigs on this particular head and not tons of rehearsals. I do practice alot, though, so it's probably the same as a few gigs.

I circled the worn area, just in case you can't see it. :)
 

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Nice pic :)

I just got a new coated ambassador for my snare and the coating started to flake off in the center during the first tuning.

I was working in a furniture factory a few years ago and we had similar problems when we switched from one paint supplier to another one. The paint coming from the new company was supposed to be similar but there were some issues with the white paint we used not being consistant in quality.

I wasn't working in the painting department so I don't remember the specifics but I think solving it was a case of having to play around with the ratios used in mixing the paint, thinner and catalyst together.

Might have been a case of a new paint / a new work method / a new machine handling the paint that was causing the trouble at the Remo factory also
 
I would like to point out that I've gotten several Remo coated heads since my last post and for whatever reason, the coating is lasting. I'm starting to agree with people that maybe they had a few bad batches? Not sure, but I had problem after problem there for a while. Now it's lasting.

Really weird, but I'm glad.
 
I would like to point out that I've gotten several Remo coated heads since my last post and for whatever reason, the coating is lasting. I'm starting to agree with people that maybe they had a few bad batches? Not sure, but I had problem after problem there for a while. Now it's lasting.

Really weird, but I'm glad.
That's good to hear. I had Ambassadors on my toms for not quite a year, and a new round on my snares, but the coating was wearing off very quickly. Because of that, I thought it was time to try coated G1s this last round. I have to say that I don't like them as much as Ambassadors, so after hearing this, next round I may give the Remos another shot.
 
That's good to hear. I had Ambassadors on my toms for not quite a year, and a new round on my snares, but the coating was wearing off very quickly. Because of that, I thought it was time to try coated G1s this last round. I have to say that I don't like them as much as Ambassadors, so after hearing this, next round I may give the Remos another shot.

I got fed up with the Remo coating too, so I tried coated Evans G1s on my toms and snare. I didn't like the sound, but the heads still looked brand new weeks later! I was amazed by that and wish like hell I liked the tone! But... I didn't.
 
My situation is exactly the opposite- I got 12", 14", and 16" coated Ambassadors for tom reso heads last year. Obviously I haven't hit them a lot but they haven't come off. However I had to get a Evans G1 for my 10" reso and the coating wore off when I tapped it with a drum key. Even now the center and lug spots have little chips taken off of them. I think it sounds much worse as well.

I've had a Coated Ambassador and a Coated Vintage A as interchangeable snare heads for about 2-3 months now and neither show any sign of flaking.
 
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