Aquarian Super 2 coated on toms

Hi,

I've been playing around with different heads on my kit for the last year and a half. I've tried stuff from Remo, Evans and Aquarian. I've bought more Aquarian. I like their coating and durability. So I put my texture coated heads back on the kit...these are a year and a half old...somehow they are sounding better this time than any other time I tried them.

But the sound was just a little too open for my liking. I've been watching Mike Johnston doing his thing and his Super 2 heads sound great. Now, I played the clear Super 2s on my kit...I don't really like clear heads...these are the only clear heads I would play...and as much as I like them I was missing the warm coated sound that I like.

So I thought I'd give coated Super 2s a try. Like the new Aquarian label by the way!

Right now I'm just using my 10x8 and 16x16 toms. I've been digging this lately. On the 16' the Super 2 sounds great. It sounds like a monster roaring in a cave! Really fat and powerful. Very happy about that.

But the 10' seems to be the problem. I just can't get it to sound right. I know their coating takes a little playing in to get the full sound. Is it this? I'm also open to the fact that I just might not be used to tuning these Super 2s. These heads I know are meant to be sensitive to tuning. I'm tuning it just above the wrinkle. That's usually where I tune all my toms to.

So what do I need to do? Wait for the head to open up by itself? Tune it higher or tune it lower? As I said, I haven't had any problems with the 16' just the 10'.

Does anyone have enough experience with the coated Super 2s to know where I might be going wrong? Any help you can offer would be good. But I am hoping to hear from people who have played the super 2 coated...in other words, people who know what they're talking about.

Thanks,

SonorPlayer
 
I love the super2 's as well....I would try a higher tuning for now and see how that goes for you. The head will get some more character after a few hours of playing and then you can try a lower tuning eventually.
 
I have Super 2 Coated on my 80's Gretsch 80s maple kit's toms. However they are 12 and 16. Haven't tried it on a 10.

Couple thoughts.

The first is that what I've experienced more with Aquarians in general is a break in period for sound. They're playable right out of the box but finding the sweet spot might take a few days of playing and tweaking. I'd try tuning it higher and laying into it a bit. Then after a few days or a week, bring both reso and batter down and tune up both slowly. This has worked in the past for me.

I've been experimenting with different heads recently and for the first time in a while, I've started to try a few Remo heads.

Currently I have Remo Vintage Ambassadors on my Yamaha MCAN toms. In general they sound very good. The only drum I want to hear speak a bit more is the 10" tom. It's a great drum. I went from Evans Coated G2's to the Remos just recently and the Vintage sounds a bit too thick on the 10. If I were to do it over, I might try a regular Ambassador on the 10 with the rest of the drums using Vintages.

When I've used straight Aquarian Satin Texture Coated heads on the toms, they all seemed to speak well although I think maybe Super-2's on the 14 and 16 would serve well. The 14 is usually just a bit fussier in my practice room. Outside of the practice room it seems to play nice as long as it's not an outdoors gig with no back wall or miking/monitors. Then all the drums get cranky. :)

If after a week or so the Super 2 on the 10 isn't doing what you want, you may need a different type of head. That's a pretty big spread between 10 and 16 so getting the timbre matched (if that's your goal) might take some finagling with head choice and tuning.

Jim
 
I agree with the below comments (or if your not signed in, the above comments) and just want to add that I use the clear super2's too on 10,12,14 floor. It does take a while for the epoxy to do what it is supposed to do, in fact the process slower with Aquarian than evans/remo. So patience and you will eventually dial in your 10. IF your impatient sit there and keep hitting your 10 and you will get there faster.
 
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