12in clear Emperor

LedFoot65

Head Questions with no end...
I just put on a 10in clear Emperor on and it sounds great. I put a 12in clear Emperor on and it just wouldn't tune. If I tune it low the head sounds floppy so when I tune it up it becomes to bright. Has anybody had this problem? If anybody has any ideas please let me know. Thanks
 
My guess when you say "tuned low but sounds floppy" would mean the head is not tensioned down enough.
 
Im not a big fan of clear Emps.
I just bought a new kit that came with them and I switched them with Coated G1's after a few weeks.
I also didn't like the Clear Emp on my 12 inch tom.
It was OK if it was tuned high but it had terrible overtones when tuned med and low.
 
You need to find the drums "sweet spot". And on a 10 or 12 inch tom ... those aren't low tom sizes. 14, 16, 18 inches ... those are low toms. So, while you can tune and play a drum tuned lower than it's "sweet spot", it's not gonna sound optimal. Play with tuning your drum. As you torque the head, you'll hear the drum hit it's sweet spot. Kinda like tuning an engine ... you know when the engine is "missing" ... and you know when it's "spot on".​
The right tool for the job. The 12" rack tom. Charlie Watts plays a 12". Nice size. Two of my kits have 12" racks (as the only rack). But, I don't try to get a John Bonham sound out of my 12"ers. No, for that, you need a bigger drum. A 14 or a 15 inch rack, that'll do the trick.​
And I'm with Bob, clear Emperors = very bright. Coated ... much better. A 12" with clear Emperors is gonna sound bright. The nature of the beast. You want a "darker" sound, a coated Powerstroke 3, or coated Pinstripe. Clear heads will sound brightest, and some might say "plastic-y" (but a lot of that also has to do with the quality of the kit, and the quality of the tuner).​
 
Thanks guys my kit is a Tama Starclassic Performer all birch. The 10 has a nice tone to it but the 12 is like you said sounds plasticky. I might try to bring the bottom head up a little in pitch. I always fight Remo's when it comes to tuning. I might try an Evans again. Thanks again.
 
If you want a real nice low mellow sound you may want to try one of the Evans EC2 heads.
They have three different styles of EC2.
I also use discontinued 14 mil single ply EC1 Coated as tom batters. They have been replaced by the newly released G14
 
Thanks guys my kit is a Tama Starclassic Performer all birch. The 10 has a nice tone to it but the 12 is like you said sounds plasticky. I might try to bring the bottom head up a little in pitch. I always fight Remo's when it comes to tuning. I might try an Evans again. Thanks again.

The Evans G2 has a nice open sound that is often easier to tune than most other 2-ply heads because of the film grain alignment (prevents a choked/dead sound by reducing the possibility for phase cancellation between the two plies of material).

Give 'em a shot! Cheers
 
OP, this is surely a tuning issue. In my experience, 12" toms are harder to tune than 10" or 8".

The tuning range for most 12" toms is somewhere between G and C, try B for instance.

To anyone with experience, how do evans G2s differ from clear emperors? I've been using G2s for quite some time now and they are nice heads, but I'd like an even more open tone. Single ply heads might be the solution, but they don't last as long and drumheads cost money... Do emperors also have oil between the plies by the way?
 
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A friend of mine manages a Five Star drum shop and he just received a new personal four piece Ludwig Legacy kit. Before they were out of the box right, he was putting Remo Emperor heads on his toms. I don't know how they sounded or if he installed different resonant head because I had to leave. His toms are a 12 x 8 and a 14 x 14.

The Remo Emperor heads do not have oil between their plies. The only heads that I'm aware of that do are the Evans Hydraulic heads.

Dennis
 
To anyone with experience, how do evans G2s differ from clear emperors? I've been using G2s for quite some time now and they are nice heads, but I'd like an even more open tone. Single ply heads might be the solution, but they don't last as long and drumheads cost money... Do emperors also have oil between the plies by the way?

To my ear, there are "tonal nuances" for lack of a better term. I hear the difference moreso in the initial attack than I do in the following overtones. But all things being equal, tone wise they are pretty much like-for-like heads.....sorry EvansSpec, I know that one will flip your lid. ;-)

If you are looking for a more open sound I'd suggest a single ply head. I really don't think you're going to find too noticeable a difference between a G2 and an Emp as far as that 'open sound' is concerned. Durability rather than tonality seems to be the main argument between the two brands.

Dennis is correct, there is no oil between the plies of an Emporer. In fact, there is no oil between any 2 ply Remo head.
 
There is no oil between G2 heads. The oil that you think that you see between two ply heads is actually "Newton Rings" (Goggle it)
Only Evans Hydraulic heads use oil.
 
There is no oil between G2 heads. The oil that you think that you see between two ply heads is actually "Newton Rings" (Goggle it)
Only Evans Hydraulic heads use oil.

Just wanted to chime in on this- Bobdadruma is correct. The only heads with oil between the plies are the Evans Hydraulic series. All else is simply light in the form of Newton's Rings. Cheers!
 
I just put on a 10in clear Emperor on and it sounds great. I put a 12in clear Emperor on and it just wouldn't tune. If I tune it low the head sounds floppy so when I tune it up it becomes to bright. Has anybody had this problem? If anybody has any ideas please let me know. Thanks

Are you sure it was seated properly? Get it on the drum, tension each of the rods a little, then push down on the centre of the head with the heel of your hand. There's a bit of a 'cracking' sound, the head will detune a little and need to be tightened to playing tension, but then tuning becomes more straightforward as the head is properly 'seated' on the bearing edge. I do this whenever I put a new head on. Just a thought.
 
Are you sure it was seated properly? Get it on the drum, tension each of the rods a little, then push down on the centre of the head with the heel of your hand. There's a bit of a 'cracking' sound, the head will detune a little and need to be tightened to playing tension, but then tuning becomes more straightforward as the head is properly 'seated' on the bearing edge. I do this whenever I put a new head on. Just a thought.

The only company that recommends seating a head that way anymore is remo and only on the vintage polyester heads, not mylar, evens does not recommend it and aquarian strongly recommends that you dont do it as it can actually damage mylar heads, I stopped seating heads this way after damaging 5 out of 9 when doing a complete head chage a few years back.
 
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