Aquarian Performance 2s

Powerpito

Junior Member
Does anyone have experience with these heads? Someone suggested to me that they are good for live unmiced gigs, and they are pretty versatile. Any confirmation on that?
 
Absolutely a great live head and yes versatile. I use them quite a bit especially for rock, R&B, funk, country ... maybe a little heavy for say, a 10in tom on a jazz gig, but they tune up like a dream and sound great.
 
Absolutely a great live head and yes versatile. I use them quite a bit especially for rock, R&B, funk, country ... maybe a little heavy for say, a 10in tom on a jazz gig, but they tune up like a dream and sound great.
Thank you for the qucik reply! But at the moment, I have a somewhat low end kit so until I can purchase a new one, I need something that will make these drums sing! I really do need heads that will play well during Country, Pop, Jazz, Latin, and Rock. And my kit has a 10 and 12 rack with a 16 floor. Do you think that would still suffice?
 
Re:

Yeah totally fine .. I say the 10 may be a little heavy on a Jazz gig as these are 2 plies of 7mil .. a little thick for my taste but I am sure you can make it work. I have used Aquarian for about 12 years, not one of their lines has let me down yet.
 
Re:

Yeah totally fine .. I say the 10 may be a little heavy on a Jazz gig as these are 2 plies of 7mil .. a little thick for my taste but I am sure you can make it work. I have used Aquarian for about 12 years, not one of their lines has let me down yet.

Thanks so much! I'm really thankful for your input. Do you have any recommendations for reso heads paired with the Performance 2s?
 
I'm a big fan of Aquarian heads.

The Super 2 is my preferred tom head, as it's a 7mil with a 5mil ply, instead of two 7 mil plays. This gives the Super 2 a little more attack and lets the drum sing a bit more
 
I'm a big fan of Aquarian heads.

The Super 2 is my preferred tom head, as it's a 7mil with a 5mil ply, instead of two 7 mil plays. This gives the Super 2 a little more attack and lets the drum sing a bit more

Hm. I just listened to some sound clips of both the Performance 2 and the Super 2 and I'm torn :( They both sound great when tuned right from what I'm hearing.
 
I'm a big fan of Aquarian heads.

The Super 2 is my preferred tom head, as it's a 7mil with a 5mil ply, instead of two 7 mil plays. This gives the Super 2 a little more attack and lets the drum sing a bit more

Ditto. Response 2 for the toms and a Super Kick 10 for the base, Hi Velocity on the snare. Very responsive as well. (no pun intended)
 
Well, I guess the real question is if the Super 2s work well for live unmiced venues?

Absolutely.

In fact, they will probably have a little more ring--and therefore presence--to them than the Performance 2's since they are slightly thinner and not sealed around the edge. I would think, comparatively speaking, the Performance 2s would sound a little more muffled. The standard 2 ply Response2 is a great head too, which would sit in between these two heads.

I use Aquarian's single ply heads (Texture Coated and Modern Vintage) in a live unmiced situation all the time. They all sound good. You can't go wrong with any of their heads.
 
Absolutely.

In fact, they will probably have a little more ring--and therefore presence--to them than the Performance 2's since they are slightly thinner and not sealed around the edge. I would think, comparatively speaking, the Performance 2s would sound a little more muffled. The standard 2 ply Response2 is a great head too, which would sit in between these two heads.

I use Aquarian's single ply heads (Texture Coated and Modern Vintage) in a live unmiced situation all the time. They all sound good. You can't go wrong with any of their heads.

Hm. Well considering that. I'm torn between the Performance 2 and the Response 2..
 
Hm. Well considering that. I'm torn between the Performance 2 and the Response 2..

Perhaps try the Response 2 for the rack tom and Performance 2 on the floor tom.

I believe the Performance 2 would be a bit to much muffling for a 10" tom. It would sound about like the box that it came in.
 
I believe the Performance 2 would be a bit to much muffling for a 10" tom. It would sound about like the box that it came in.

THIS ^

I have had a similar experience with the Performance 2. I have a 10" with a G1 and a 12" with a Performance 2 side by side for an informal test. The 10" really "sings" with the single ply G1 but the 12" sounds choked at ANY tuning except "just above wrinkle". At the loose tuning it doesn't sound "bad" I just don't care for it.

NOW to be fair-Aquarian describes the Performance 2 head for EXACTLY that low and loose type of tuning so it sounds like it's supposed to apparently.

I really wanted to try a Response 2 but they were out of them that day and I went with the Performance 2 just to try it.
 
My experience has been that the response-2 lets the drum sing more than the performance-2, just as Aquarian states in their literature.
I also tried super-2's and they sounded good on my birch set, but they dented more easily than the response-2's.
I went with the coated response-2's and am very happy with the warm sound with just the right amount of overtone to cut through the band without micing. Have been gigging with them for a couple of months now and no dents.
 
I'm a big fan of Aquarian heads.

The Super 2 is my preferred tom head, as it's a 7mil with a 5mil ply, instead of two 7 mil plays. This gives the Super 2 a little more attack and lets the drum sing a bit more

I constantly get compliments on my 12" and 16" Gretsch Gum Maple toms with coated Super-2's. Not only that, they have lasted me (gasp) over 1 1/2 years. The last compliment I received (on the 1 1/2 year old heads) was 2 weeks ago.

I play them out so this is not under the recording microscope but they just keep on working. I have some replacement heads at home but I'm just too chicken to change them. You know...if it ain't broke...etc.

FYI: I do tend to keep them tuned medium high but not even close to jazz or bop tuning. They sound warm and project well and I haven't seen any dents.

Jim
 
Back
Top