Pearl MCX heads

I just bought a new shell pack. 12, 13 and 16 toms and a 22 x 18 bass. I bought a Pearl MCX 924XP/C. They came with what I think of as cheap heads (Remo Ambassador top and bottom). I knew I would not like these heads when I bought the kit. I ordered some Aquarian Modern Vintage. What heads have you used on this kit?

evolving_machine said:

I just bought a new shell pack. 12, 13 and 16 toms and a 22 x 18 bass. I bought a Pearl MCX 924XP/C. They came with what I think of as cheap heads (Remo Ambassador top and bottom). I knew I would not like these heads when I bought the kit. I ordered some Aquarian Modern Vintage. What heads have you used on this kit?

Click to expand...

Shhhh, don't let many people hear you say that Remo Ambassadors are cheap heads, lol. In fact Remo Ambassador heads are very good top of the line drum heads. If you don't care for their sound after tuning your kit, then try something else. I've never used Aquarian heads, just Evans and Remo, so I can't really say how they would sound on MCX maple drums.

Dennis

Dennis,

What heads do you use on this kit?

evolving_machine said:

Dennis,

What heads do you use on this kit?

Click to expand...

A lot really depends on the type of music you play. I wouldn't recommend the same heads if you played jazz compared to a rock or metal player. I play everything, except metal, so my head selection depends very much on the genre of music I'm playing at the time and everything revolves around their tuning.

Dennis

Dennis has a point, Ambassadors are not and should not be considered cheap heads while in sane company.

I'd use coated Emperors over clear Ambassadors up top, with a coated Emperor or Powerstroke 3 batter on my bass drum and a coated Emperor on the front.

evolving_machine,

I think the Modern Vintages are great heads. I use them on one of my snares all the time. They are an older school type of sound with less attack and more warmth (just like Evans J1's, Fiberskyns, etc). Very nice for brush work.

They came with what I think of as cheap heads (Remo Ambassador top and bottom).

Click to expand...

Although I lean a bit more towards Evans and Aquarians, true Remo Ambassadors are good heads, IMO.

However I'm wondering if you meant stock Remo heads? Remo makes stock heads for thousands of drum kits. The difference being that these are second level quality heads. Stock heads never sound as good as fresh, off the shelf heads because they were manufactured for a lower price point. That's to help manufacturers be competitive. These appear on just about every drum that's made by the big boys (Pearl, Tama, Yamaha, Gretsch, etc) with few exceptions.

Case in point: I bought my top of the line Yamaha MCAN drums in 2004 brand new. These were the absolute best drums you could get from Yamaha at that time. They came with maybe some of the better stock heads Remo makes called 'UT' heads. I immediately replaced them with Aquarian Texture coated/Classic Clear/Superkick heads and never looked back. I sold the unplayed heads on eBay.

I knew the heads, even better stock heads wouldn't sound the way I wanted them to. After throwing out that much dough, another $150 to make them sound at the top of their game seemed the right thing to do.

Hope this didn't fall away from topic too far.

Let us know how those Aquarians sound.
BTW: Don't forget to change out the resonant heads as well at one point for the best quality sound.

HTH

Jim

I say Remo’s are cheap heads because of the typical lack of quality that comes from Remo. I took off the heads on the brand new pearl masters MCX drums and found a lot of wrinkles on the top heads of the 12” and 13” drums. The 16” top has a few wrinkles too, but not as many. This makes a lot of sense too, because the radius of the 12” and 13” is much smaller so the plastic that makes up the head has to compress a lot more for a smaller radius then a larger one when it is jammed into the rim of the head. These heads say Ambassador on them and they are on the top and the bottom.

If you go to the Remo web site there are even a few photos of heads that have wrinkles. However, if you go to the Aquarian or Evans web site they take great pains in showing their customers how they combat these wrinkles that give a drummer heart burn when trying to tune a drum.

I tried some of the Fiberskyns on my other kit, and they sounded good until after about a month when the adhesive toping started to bubble and crack off. I wrote emails and snail mails to Remo as well as called. As an end user, they seemed like they would not have anything to do with me. However, when I called Aquarian I was able to get a person on the phone instantly and he made the recommendations of the vintage heads. I tried the vintage heads on my two snare drums and am not disappointed.

I do not like companies that have no regard for their customers and do not show a consistent quality. Remo is a cheap manufacturer that sells cheap products. And when I say cheap, I mean poor inconsistent quality, not the price over the counter.

I put the Aquarian Vintage Modern Medium heads on both the batter and resonant side of my Pearl MCX set. This took out most of the ring, and brought the sound to a nice tone. Before it would ring for a long time with a very low tone that I was unable to get rid of no matter how I tuned the drums.

I'm using Modern Vintage top and bottom on all of my toms and snare batter and I love the sound. Very warm, mellow, and controlled. I love 'em!

evolving_machine said:

I say Remo’s are cheap heads because of the typical lack of quality that comes from Remo. I took off the heads on the brand new pearl masters MCX drums and found a lot of wrinkles on the top heads of the 12” and 13” drums. The 16” top has a few wrinkles too, but not as many. This makes a lot of sense too, because the radius of the 12” and 13” is much smaller so the plastic that makes up the head has to compress a lot more for a smaller radius then a larger one when it is jammed into the rim of the head. These heads say Ambassador on them and they are on the top and the bottom.

If you go to the Remo web site there are even a few photos of heads that have wrinkles. However, if you go to the Aquarian or Evans web site they take great pains in showing their customers how they combat these wrinkles that give a drummer heart burn when trying to tune a drum.

I tried some of the Fiberskyns on my other kit, and they sounded good until after about a month when the adhesive toping started to bubble and crack off. I wrote emails and snail mails to Remo as well as called. As an end user, they seemed like they would not have anything to do with me. However, when I called Aquarian I was able to get a person on the phone instantly and he made the recommendations of the vintage heads. I tried the vintage heads on my two snare drums and am not disappointed.

I do not like companies that have no regard for their customers and do not show a consistent quality. Remo is a cheap manufacturer that sells cheap products. And when I say cheap, I mean poor inconsistent quality, not the price over the counter.

Click to expand...

You probably pissed the boys at remo off. I wouldnt talk to you either.

evolving_machine said:

Before it would ring for a long time with a very low tone that I was unable to get rid of no matter how I tuned the drums.

Click to expand...

To each his/her own and all of that, but that is why one buys expensive drums: so they can have lots of low resonance. If you do not want good tone, maybe you should have gotten cheaper drums. This is just one guy's opinion. Tune 'em how you like and enjoy.