Remo vs. Evans

R

robmieesta

Junior Member
Just bought a brand new Pearl Masters kit. Been using Remos on my Yamaha Stage Custom for a long time. Black Suede Emperors on Toms (w/ Ambassadors on reso) and a Black Suede Powerstroke 3 on my bass (w/ ebony powerstroke on reso). People have been trying to get me to switch to Evans (onyx on toms (w/ black glass on resos) and emad on bass.

What do you think out there. My Pearl masters kit is all maple. 10, 12, 16, and 22 bass. I do like the sound of the EMAD on my friends Gretsch kit. Very fat and thick. Not sure if I should give EVANS a try. Any thoughts???
 
Like you, I played Remo for many years and decided to give Evans a try based on my experience with a Genera Dry drumhead. I think there's merit to both companies, they both make a fine product; there's also not a single law in the land that says that you have to have all the same brand of head on all your drums. If you like the EMAD but are not sure you want to change up a tom sound you like, just go buy the EMAD. There, everyone's happy. (Plus, the audience will never know - - or care.)
 
Pretty much, I'll never EMAD any of my drums. Just not a sound I'm into.​
Powerstroke3's, one of my favorite kick drum batters ... and I'll even use them reso., sometimes. Pinstripe, Fiberskyn, Controlled Sound, Ambassador and Emperor, all good heads.​
Right now, I'm playing with all Remo heads, on my Ludwig kit, and experimenting with Evans, on my Yamaha RC's.​
 
My Gretsch Renown kit came new from the factory with an Evans EMAD bass drum batter head. It came off immediately and was replaced with an Evans EQ4. The EMAD just sucked up too much of the bass drums tone and would not project. I bought an EMAD a couple of years ago for my Yamaha kit and it didn't stay on there very long either. It all depends on what sound you're trying to get. I like a fairly open deep resonant sound.

Dennis
 
I have still yet to figure out which Id like to go with an make uniform around the whole kit. I was a Remo only guy, but now have Evans for my snare heads and I just LOVE it better than any Remo head for snare. I have Remos on my toms and I do like them, but I feel as if they dont stay seated as well and as long as they should. Kick drum I use Aquarian Superkick 1 and I love it! But Ill be switching that when I decide on which brans name to make uniform for when I wanna try for endorsement deals someday. Ill probably make my decision based on the next time I replace tom heads Im gonna try Evans and well see if I go with Evans instead of Remo for good!
 
I have yet to try Aquarians, but I say Remo wins easily over Evans. Any Evans head I have ever tried sounds cheap with no tonal warmth at all. I use the Remo Black Suede for my kick, clear pinstripes for the toms and a smooth white for the snare although I have wanted to try putting the fiberskyn 3's on my toms to see if I like those better.
 
MPrint said:
I have yet to try Aquarians, but I say Remo wins easily over Evans. Any Evans head I have ever tried sounds cheap with no tonal warmth at all. I use the Remo Black Suede for my kick, clear pinstripes for the toms and a smooth white for the snare although I have wanted to try putting the fiberskyn 3's on my toms to see if I like those better.
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Wow, I've actually never heard this argument. Did you tune these heads up on your own drums? I'd be curious to see what you'd think with a blind test back to back.
 
I'll say it here again and risk getting flamed for it.

When I use the Evans equivalents of Remos - I can't tell the difference. They both feel the same to me and they sound the same.

For instance, right now I'm using Remo Emperors (top and bottom), PowerStroke 3 on bass and Emperor/hazy snare on snare. When I put Evans G2's top and bottom, with an EQ3 on the bass, and a G2 with hazy bottom on the snare, my drums sound exactly the same. I do like how the white coating lasts longer on the white heads, and the Evans seem to be more durable over time, but sound-wise, I could go with either one and sound the same.

I know, it's weird. But that's how it is for me.
 
but I say Remo wins easily over Evans. Any Evans head I have ever tried sounds cheap with no tonal warmth at all.


EvansSpecialist said:
Wow, I've actually never heard this argument. Did you tune these heads up on your own drums? I'd be curious to see what you'd think with a blind test back to back.
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I too find EVANS to be rather dull sounding (especially the G's) and the G1 coated is crap IMO compared to REMO coated AMBASSADOR on the snare. The G1 's coating my last longer, but the head seems to dent easier and stretches out much easier than the AMBASSADOR from my experience.

Sorry I'm not hearing EVANS, I want to like them for a lot of reasons, but they just don't sound musical to me. Coated AMBASSADOR especially gets the nod when using brushes, sonically superior.

I've heard more top pros play REMO, is there a reason for this?
 
Les Ismore said:
but I say Remo wins easily over Evans. Any Evans head I have ever tried sounds cheap with no tonal warmth at all.


I too find EVANS to be rather dull sounding (especially the G's) and the G1 coated is crap IMO compared to REMO coated AMBASSADOR on the snare. The G1 's coating my last longer, but the head seems to dent easier and stretches out much easier than the AMBASSADOR from my experience.

Sorry I'm not hearing EVANS, I want to like them for a lot of reasons, but they just don't sound musical to me. Coated AMBASSADOR especially gets the nod when using brushes, sonically superior.

I've heard more top pros play REMO, is there a reason for this?
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Ive heard the same for Evans too though...more top pros. But it could be he say/she says. It sure seems like more top metal drummers use Evans, thats about my only observation on that.

I cant speak for the heads for toms yet cuz i havent used them yet, going to try soon though, but as far as the snare goes, once i got an Evans ec reverse dot snare head, that alone could convert me from remo to Evans! I loved it more than any other snare head. Yet I havent had the chance to check differences in tom heads are yet. I know I like the Evans kick drum heads, so well see how I feel about the toms soon!
 
It sure seems like more top metal drummers use Evans, thats about my only observation on that.

Makes sense if its true, that big, dead, thud sound.
 
Les Ismore said:
It sure seems like more top metal drummers use Evans, thats about my only observation on that.

Makes sense if its true, that big, dead, thud sound.
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I don't think that's the sound that any of our artists are looking for in a head. I'm not here to fight any battles but simply offer help wherever possible and provide the facts. As far as artists are concerned, here's a short list that spans a wide range:

Peter Erskine
Dafnis Prieto
Adam Deitch
Jojo Mayer
Dennis Chambers
Horacio Hernandez
Danny Carey

I think you'd be hard pressed to pigeonhole Evans into a single genre.
 
EvansSpecialist said:
I don't think that's the sound that any of our artists are looking for in a head. I'm not here to fight any battles but simply offer help wherever possible and provide the facts. As far as artists are concerned, here's a short list that spans a wide range:

Peter Erskine
Dafnis Prieto
Adam Deitch
Jojo Mayer
Dennis Chambers
Horacio Hernandez
Danny Carey

I think you'd be hard pressed to pigeonhole Evans into a single genre.
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Danny Carey, perfect example. Beautiful drum sound, not so dead ;)
 
When it comes to sound quality, there's not much of a difference. I was an all remo person. On my snare I've used the Emporer-X, Ambassador, and the sound controlled heads. My only complaint about remo is that the coating comes off somewhat quickly. When I switched to evans the coating lasted a lot longer. I have a brass starphonic and the genera dry HD makes it sound like a warm wood drum. The coating is still on and I've been using it for 3 months now.
 
I am aware that, like cymbals, the heads have their equivalents across brands...

...you have coated, clear, muffled, thin, thick etc.

...the quality differences shouldn't be a lot...

...but personally I would go for Remo if I would decide to buy new heads, for me its the marketing and the looks, Evans uses abbreviations and letters for the names of their heads, while Remo uses words (like Ambassador or Emperor) that I can easily identify to certain sound characteristics and Remo just looks awesome with that simple logo, the Evans brand logo takes up too much space on the drum head for my liking.

but I say Remo wins easily over Evans. Any Evans head I have ever tried sounds cheap with no tonal warmth at all.
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It sure seems like more top metal drummers use Evans, thats about my only observation on that.
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...another reason for me to go with Remo, I like warm sounding drums.
 
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