Can't decide

Hey,
I'm looking for a punchy, full tom sound with very little sustain, and I can't decide between the Remo Ebony Pinstripe, the Evans Hydraulic Glass, and the Evans EC2 SST for the batter side; and the Remo Ambassador, Evans G1 Clear, and the Evans EC Resonant for the Resonant side.

All thoughts appreciated.

Of the three batters, the EC2 is the most open, Pinstripe is a bit thuddier and shorter, and the Hydraulic will be the shortest sustain of the bunch (it also has the least attack.)

I recall that the Aquarian Performance II is extremely dead, not sure if they still offer it. I made the mistake once of putting them on my toms, and remember thinking they were the deadest heads I'd ever played.

For the reso, the EC Resonant will be the deadest, Ambassador more lively, and a clear G1 the brightest of the bunch.

Bermuda

Why do you want a short sustain? I am tuning my toms to try and get more sustain.
More sustain may sound weird to you, but that is most likely because you don't have it tuned correctly. When you hit that tuning sweet spot, you get a beautiful, even, warm sustain.
Playing live, more sustain just comes off as more volume. Short sustain will come off sounding dead.

Some of the best toms sounds I ever heard came from Andy Newmark. All the man ever used was frosty white ambassadors tom and bottom on his toms. Sometimes I wonder if tuning technique might be the thing you're looking for.

Come to think of it, because of Andy, I've used frosty white ambassadors for years, and only now have I decided to go with emperors top and bottom to change it up a bit. I'll probably go back to the frosty white ambassadors on the next go 'round. If you play live with a band alot, unless you're mic'd up all the time, I would think you want sustain, because you certainly won't hear alot of it when you get 15 feet away from the bandstand.

bermuda said:

Of the three batters, the EC2 is the most open, Pinstripe is a bit thuddier and shorter, and the Hydraulic will be the shortest sustain of the bunch (it also has the least attack.)

I recall that the Aquarian Performance II is extremely dead, not sure if they still offer it. I made the mistake once of putting them on my toms, and remember thinking they were the deadest heads I'd ever played.

For the reso, the EC Resonant will be the deadest, Ambassador more lively, and a clear G1 the brightest of the bunch.

Bermuda

Click to expand...

The Performance 2's are still available. They are meant to be dead. Best used on larger drums if you like that sound. They are incredibly tough heads.