Non drummer here picking out heads for my kit

botchedsuplex

Junior Member
So first off I'm not a drummer. I play bass and own a mix matched drum kit that I kind of ended up with awhile back. I'm starting a rock cover band and our drummer doesn't own a kit and isn't really a drummer yet, just a bass player who knows how to play drums and wants to get more into it. I'm setting up our jam room and kind of acting as band leader. He will be using my kit but I will be getting the kit ready for him since I know he knows nothing about drum hardware yet. I need to pick out heads for it and need some help. Here are the shells I have.

Pearl Forum 22 inch bass drum, 13 inch tom and 16 inch floor tom
Pearl Export 10 inch tom
Tama Rockstar Snare drum

I want something that will work well with most any rock music and last awhile. A friend who is a drummer will be helping me tune it up and give some pointers to our drummer but he suggested coated heads and I just don't like the sound of coated heads in rock music.

I already bought Remo Emperor clears for the tom batter heads. From the sound of them I feel like they will be higher quality than ambassadors and more versatile than pinstripes. All the toms have ambassador resonant heads which I won't be replacing.

On the bass drum I have a remo fiberskin reso unported head and a worn out aquarian superkick II on the batter side. I would like to replace both so we can have a ported head for micing. I have no idea what to choose for the kick drum I only know that I can't afford much so the high price of bass drum heads makes me anxious.

On the snare I was thinking just a coated ambassador.

We will be playing a mixture of alternative songs from Alice in Chains to Nirvana and some early Tool stuff.

Can a real drummer please advise me if my head is in the right place on all this. I just want the most versatile rock kit possible for the best price.
 
Clear Emperors over Clear Ambassadors is a rock standard. For the kick batter, you could try a Superkick 1, or another standard is the Remo PS3 - it's premuffled so one on the front and one for the batter should be good to go without anything in it. You can read up on this forum on how to port the front head easily, or Aquarian makes a couple pre-ported front heads. Of course Evans makes great stuff too, all totally your call. Any simple coated head should work for your snare, and if you want to replace the snare side head, make sure you get one specifically made for that, they're much thinner than normal batter heads. You sound like you're on the right track already. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
You could use an Ambassador-X head on the snare batter. It is a thick single ply head that is in between the Emperor and the standard Ambassador.
Very durable but also sensitive.
 
The toms are fine. However the Fiberskyn, ehhh... not so much. There's a Kickport per installed Powerstroke 3 head combo or just get a Powerstroke 3 head. Get a Superkick.
 
Quick Google search and I found this on Sean Kinney from Alice in Chains:

He modifies his set-up quite a bit but here's what i've put together...

Coated Emperors, sometimes Coated Pinstripes on tom batters
Vintage Emp Coated, P3 coated or P4 coated for 18" floor tom batter
Clear Ambassadors, sometimes Clear Emps on tom resos. Clear Emp on floor tom reso 18".

Controlled Sound Coated w/ white dot, sometimes black or clear dot for snare batter
Hazy Ambassador for snare-side

P3 Clear or Coated for bass batter,
P3 Ebony, sometimes std. graphic or Fiberskyn for bass reso.
 
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