Head reviews for Mapex Saturns

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PeteN

Silver Member
I'm interested to hear from other Saturn owners experiences trying heads other than stock clear emperors. Heads that have me curious are coated emperors, coated super 2's, coated response 2's, coated g2's, and all their equivalent clear versions as well as ec2's.

I wonder, does Mapex outfit the Saturns with clear emperors because they believe that's the best sounding head for those shells or is it because they believe it's simply a good "all purpose" head?

Thanks
 
PeteN said:
I'm interested to hear from other Saturn owners experiences trying heads other than stock clear emperors. Heads that have me curious are coated emperors, coated super 2's, coated response 2's, coated g2's, and all their equivalent clear versions as well as ec2's.

I wonder, does Mapex outfit the Saturns with clear emperors because they believe that's the best sounding head for those shells or is it because they believe it's simply a good "all purpose" head?

Thanks
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The latter I think. I've used the stocks, coated G2s, clear ambassadors and next I think I'll go back to a clear 2 ply. They all sounded good, but I guess it depends what music you're going to be playing? The clear ambs were great for tom heavy stuff as I got a big gain in volume with them. I'd like to try single ply with a center dot and a pinstripe or similar just for fun. Also interested in what a coated resonant would sound like.
 
Thanks kettles for the reply,

For now I'm using this kit just for my own practice and don't need them to blast tone to outer space so ambassadors or any single ply head is probably not going to happen unless i start using this kit at band practice.

I like how the coated Super 2's sound and feel on my pearl mcx's so I might consider those in a couple months since the stock heads on my saturns are still good.

Coated emperors have me curious as well but not sure how they would blend with the saturn shell composition, so would be nice to hear from more saturn owners that have tried different heads.
 
I've had the stocks, then EC2's over G1 and now black suede emperors over G1. The stocks were great, just not the sound I was looking for at the time. The EC2's sounded good but they seemed to kill all the sustain and all that was left was attack. Imo this is more prevelant with the thinner shell saturns in comparison to my Ludwigs. The black suede emperors are warm and dark, slightly muffled but still have just enough sustain for me for the moment. The more the black suedes have broken in the better they sound. Admittedly, my tuning skills were a little lacking when I bought the saturns so others may have a different view of the EC2's. My next heads will probably be a 2 ply clear now that i can tune better.
 
Mine had clear G2 over clear G1, and they sounded great. Peace and goodwill.
 
Well I think I'm going to stick with clear 2 ply batters but this time around I'll try the Aquarian equivalent (response 2) heads.

The clear emporers sound great but I really like how the Aquarian heads feel and sound my tama superstar hyperdrive kit.
 
Stock heads are great on the Saturns. Emperors over Ambassadors. If you can't make them sound good, you are doing something wrong. :)
 
sticks4drums said:
Stock heads are great on the Saturns. Emperors over Ambassadors. If you can't make them sound good, you are doing something wrong. :)
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Hehe, was that a copy and paste from another thread? Did you not read through all the posts in this topic, lol ?
 
To be honest I never gave the stock heads much of a chance. I think I changed em out within 2 weeks of getting the kit. I put G2's on and was never really satisfied with them either.

I currently have Clear Pinstripes over the stock reso's and that is a big improvement over the G2's IMO but still not blown away by them. The BD batter is an EMAD with the aquarian regulator on the front and still not blown away by that either, no matter what size muffle ring I put in the emad it still seems like it has alot of room for improvement.

I want to try a clear or coated single ply head next on the tom batters. I have a controlled sound Bass drum head I am throwing on tomorrow and will see how that sounds compared to the emad. I am leaning towards controlled sound for the tom batters as well but still researching.
 
nhzoso said:
To be honest I never gave the stock heads much of a chance. I think I changed em out within 2 weeks of getting the kit. I put G2's on and was never really satisfied with them either.

I currently have Clear Pinstripes over the stock reso's and that is a big improvement over the G2's IMO but still not blown away by them. The BD batter is an EMAD with the aquarian regulator on the front and still not blown away by that either, no matter what size muffle ring I put in the emad it still seems like it has alot of room for improvement.

I want to try a clear or coated single ply head next on the tom batters. I have a controlled sound Bass drum head I am throwing on tomorrow and will see how that sounds compared to the emad. I am leaning towards controlled sound for the tom batters as well but still researching.
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I used clear ambs over clear ambs for sometime and loved it. I was playing loud music so I was going for a loud clear tom sound in the context of the music. They sounded good on their own too, but try it out for yourself.
 
I have owned two Saturn sets. Both came with clear Ambassadors on both sides. They sounded very good with those heads. But I tend to dent up single-ply tom batters too quickly. So I almost always use two-ply heads on the top of toms. I have also used Remo Control Sound (black dot) heads, and they sound good too. One of those sets is at church, and EC2 and EC Resonant heads have been bought, but I have not had a chance put them on yet.

Mapex Saturns seem to sound good with any good quality head. Peace and goodwill.
 
The stock heads rule on the Saturns. There have been many that stray away, and usually end up back at square one. The PS3 is perfect on my 22 x 20's.
 
G2 over G1 is pretty much the same thing as the stockers. I'm about to try the SKII for the kick, I already have the Regulator ported reso. Have the Emad on there currently, sounds great mic'd up but I'm not real happy with it unmic'd.
 
scarlit said:
I'm about to try the SKII for the kick, I already have the Regulator ported reso. Have the Emad on there currently, sounds great mic'd up but I'm not real happy with it unmic'd.
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I have never mic'd mine, I agree though and am not happy with this set up. I will try the sound control tonight.. Maybe I will make a quick before and after video on my q3.
 
nhzoso said:
I have never mic'd mine, I agree though and am not happy with this set up. I will try the sound control tonight.. Maybe I will make a quick before and after video on my q3.
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I am curious. Why are you trying so hard to not use the stock configuration? Is it a brand thing?
 
Went with G2 Coated over G1 Clear. Left the kick alone. It sounds fine. Found that this combo gave me the sound I liked especially when mic'd up.
 
Mine had G2's over G1's when I bought it, so I've been sticking with the G2's. I suppose I can try the Ambassadors next time I change batters. I'm not really brand concious. I use Remo's on my snares.
 
sticks4drums said:
I am curious. Why are you trying so hard to not use the stock configuration? Is it a brand thing?
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I do not have the batters anymore for any of the drums. Honestly I do not remember them all that much. It was like 4years ago and I had only been drumming a year or so when I got it and was under the impression that all stock heads sucked. I admittedly did not know as much about tuning as I do now (which still is not much) but I doubt I really tried to make them sound good.

Lesson learned but I still want to try a single ply batter on the Toms, Hoping the kick sounds great when I throw the single ply on it tonight. Nothing to do with brand all though lately I have a thing for remo but if it sounded good I would not care what brand it was.
 
Today, I put the new heads on the Saturns at church. The EC2 over EC resonant heads on the toms sound is best they have ever sounded, and yes, those drums are miced. I put a black EQ1 Resonant on the bass drum front and a clear EQ3 on the batter. Man! That bass drum sounds scary good. Peace and goodwill.
 
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