Remo Ambassadors for drums, except bass drum

ageadm

ageadm

Senior Member
Hello guys,

I'm on a serious drum shopping mode ATM, and this mode brought me to here: Suggestions from you about Remo Ambassadors. I'm gonna get these for my drums, except the bass drum which will be Remo Emperor, because I can't find any Ambassador at 22".

Is this a good choice for drum heads? If not, what is better?

Forgot to mention that all drum heads are coated!
 
These are the standard. Remo Ambassadors and Emperors were the first non calf skin heads so every other non calf skin head can trace it's lineage directly back to them. I prefer coated Emperors or Vintage Emperors myself but I wouldnt hesitate to put a coated ambassador on my drums. Of course depending on your desired sound you may find that they dont work for you and you'll go for something a bit more specialized.
 
I've been doing Ambassadors over Ambassador (coated over clear) for about 6 months now I love it. Before I was running coated Emps over coated Ambs as an experiment (previously used clear Ambs for resos), but didn't care for the slight extra bit of muting that coated resos provide.

Either way, you can't go wrong with Ambassadors top and bottom - unless you don't like it for some reason.

I can't say much about kick drum heads. I've never used Emperors there, but Bonham did, so can't be bad, right? Bass drum heads are too expensive for me to do much experimentation, though I have tried Evans EQ4s and EMADs but didn't care for them. At least, I didn't like them as much as I like an good ole Remo PS3 (single ply) batter with a clear Ambassador reso.
 
Love the Ambassador sound. I also love the Emperor sound too, but I think the Ambassador sound is a little more 'pure' (totally subjective here ).

A you sure you can't find a Powerstroke 3 for your bass drum? That's basically an Ambassador head with the edge ring, those sound great.
 
Bo Eder said:
Love the Ambassador sound. I also love the Emperor sound too, but I think the Ambassador sound is a little more 'pure' (totally subjective here ).

A you sure you can't find a Powerstroke 3 for your bass drum? That's basically an Ambassador head with the edge ring, those sound great.
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I would second the suggestion of a PS3 for the kick, great head for bass drums!
 
What everybody said, man. It's a classic combo.

I used Emperors over Ambassadors forever and now I got a new kit with coated Ambassadors as batters and I'm lovin' it !! So open and resonant, a joy to play.

Cheers!
 
I'm using coated Ambassadors over coated Ambassadors for the toms of my DW Classic series kit and they sound phenomenal. I'm also using a Remo PS3 coated batter head on the bass drum. If you try these, I hope you have better success with their coatings than many of us had. Personally I still like the sound of Remo heads better than what some of Evans equivalent heads can produce..

Dennis
 
Thanks for the answers everyone, totally helpful. Yes, I can get REMO Powerstroke 3, but I didn't know it's better than the Emperor - thanks for telling :).

Just one beginner question, sorry if it's a stupid one: What do you mean when you say "I'm using coated Ambassador over coated Emperor" (or similar statements) ?
 
Ambassadors are an industry standard, however; recently Remo's quality on their coated Ambassador has declined. The coating wears off very quickly (there's threads about this).

I would personally go for the Vintage Ambassador myself (called Vintage A) - they are open and warmer sounding, they work great for snare and I'm sure they'll work great for toms. The coating seems to be different on those because they don't wear off quickly.


Check out the Vintage A's.
 
JesusMySavior said:
Ambassadors are an industry standard, however; recently Remo's quality on their coated Ambassador has declined. The coating wears off very quickly (there's threads about this).

I would personally go for the Vintage Ambassador myself (called Vintage A) - they are open and warmer sounding, they work great for snare and I'm sure they'll work great for toms. The coating seems to be different on those because they don't wear off quickly.


Check out the Vintage A's.
Click to expand...
Like these ones?
http://www.amazon.de/Remo-Vintage-A-coated-12/dp/B001BY0T7I/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1345565533&sr=8-9
http://www.amazon.de/Remo-Vintage-A...UU/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1345565533&sr=8-12
http://www.amazon.de/Remo-Vintage-A...TK/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1345565533&sr=8-10

I need confirmation on the quality of these ones. Are they really better than the current standard Ambassadors? I need to make sure before making a final decision.

Thanks again, everyone.

EDIT:

I also have no problem going for Evans G1 (saw it was highly recommend in other threads) if they are better. Just tell me what's the best and I'll go for it. It's the first time I'm getting new drum heads and I have no prior experience with different drum head sounds.
 
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Try the Aquarian texture coated. Its there ambassador-g1 head. Coating lasts longer than the other two. Wonderful heads.
 
Putting ambassadors on your drums can't go wrong. It has been the most common head for like 50 years.

Emperors produce a fatter sound, while the Ambassadors sound a little brighter and have longer sustain. It all boils down to what sound you're after, but you can't go wrong with the Ambassadors, no matter how you tune them (high or low).

Good luck!

EDIT: There are some guys here on Drummerworld who've had problems with the white coating on the Ambassadors. However I've never experienced any coating chipping or any unusual wear, so it's definately not a universal problem. Though you might wanna read this thread: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93165&highlight=remo+coated+ambassador
 
Swexx said:
EDIT: There are some guys here on Drummerworld who've had problems with the white coating on the Ambassadors. However I've never experienced any coating chipping or any unusual wear, so it's definately not a universal problem. Though you might wanna read this thread: http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93165&highlight=remo+coated+ambassador
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Based on this topic, it looks like I'm gonna get Evans instead of Remo. I wouldn't like the coating to wear of after such short periods. I want some long lasting drum heads so I don't have to worry about them every month

Are Evans G1 any good? Or the G2s are better? I'd like to go for Ambassador as they seem to be the most common drum heads though, they earned that reputation somehow, I guess :\
 
The Edge said:
Try the Aquarian texture coated. Its there ambassador-g1 head. Coating lasts longer than the other two. Wonderful heads.
Click to expand...

I agree, plus not just the coating lasts longer, the heads lasts much longer as well and they cost less which is a bonus.
 
I've tried a lot of combo's, and brands, but, I love the sound and feel (along with the action) of CA's over all else I have tried (it's been a lot). They sound different that Evans, Aquarian and Attack's offerings.

I use Coated Ambassadors Top and Bottom of toms, along with front and Batter on the bass drum. This has been the exclusive combo for about 5 years now. I more or less just stopped using different heads because the CA's give me exactly what I want, and they last a good long time for me too.

I mainly use a Coated Emperor with a Top Dot on the snare.

The "coating issue" threads have popped up a few times, and I've found it strange, and more than a little interesting TBH.

I've never had any coating issues on any Remo heads ever.
Not in 35+ years.

The shop gets their heads from a couple distributors that tons of other shops get heads from, so it's not like they get "better" heads or anything. Maybe the coating coming off has to do with how people strike the heads (regardless of skill level)??

It's just seemed really odd that the (maybe) 8-10 players here (who have had coating coming off), had it happen within minutes to half an hour of playing a new head. It does happen, we've seen the pics, but it's never happened to me, thankfully, no matter how long the heads are used (some have been up to years old).

There have been a couple issues with other brands too, so my point is, I wouldn't be "afraid" to get Remo heads because (out of thousands or millions of users) a few people posting on this (or other) forum have had issues.

If you have questions or doubts in deciding after more people chime in, try a couple different heads on one drum first, that way it's not a huge investment.
 
KarlCrafton said:
I've tried a lot of combo's, and brands, but, I love the sound and feel (along with the action) of CA's over all else I have tried (it's been a lot). They sound different that Evans, Aquarian and Attack's offerings.

I use Coated Ambassadors Top and Bottom of toms, along with front and Batter on the bass drum. This has been the exclusive combo for about 5 years now. I more or less just stopped using different heads because the CA's give me exactly what I want, and they last a good long time for me too.

I mainly use a Coated Emperor with a Top Dot on the snare.

The "coating issue" threads have popped up a few times, and I've found it strange, and more than a little interesting TBH.

I've never had any coating issues on any Remo heads ever.
Not in 35+ years.

The shop gets their heads from a couple distributors that tons of other shops get heads from, so it's not like they get "better" heads or anything. Maybe the coating coming off has to do with how people strike the heads (regardless of skill level)??

It's just seemed really odd that the (maybe) 8-10 players here (who have had coating coming off), had it happen within minutes to half an hour of playing a new head. It does happen, we've seen the pics, but it's never happened to me, thankfully, no matter how long the heads are used (some have been up to years old).

There have been a couple issues with other brands too, so my point is, I wouldn't be "afraid" to get Remo heads because (out of thousands or millions of users) a few people posting on this (or other) forum have had issues.

If you have questions or doubts in deciding after more people chime in, try a couple different heads on one drum first, that way it's not a huge investment.
Click to expand...

Hey Karl,

So what is your muffling technique for using CA's front and back on the bass drum? I'v ebeen using PS3's and EQ4's for years now and maybe it's time to go back to where I started. But when I started, I simply put a pillow in it back then. Felt strips? Muff'l ring (if they even still make those)?
 
tard said:
I agree, plus not just the coating lasts longer, the heads lasts much longer as well and they cost less which is a bonus.
Click to expand...

Tard greed with The Edge, but I've had the opposite with Aquarian.

I used them for quite a while about 15 years ago, then they changed to their current film, and that film dented to crap for me in minutes.
No change in my tuning, or drum angles, or sticks, the film they went to just did not work for me at all--which was a HUGE bummer for me. I really dug their single ply Texture Coated heads, but I had to go back to Remo.
I liked Roy Burns a lot when I met him (we had a nice 2 hr conversation), and I wanted to support his company, so I was bummed big time when the new film just didn't work for me.

Before the film change, Aquarian's Tex coated sounded pretty much just like a Coated Ambassador (it might have even been the same film). So did Evans' UNO58's before they discontinued them.

Attack's Terry Bozzio heads use the traditional Dupont Mylar.

They didn't work for me, but the Aquarian's work great for these guy's (and others), so maybe try one or two heads for yourself and see.
 
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