MrLeadFoot
Silver Member
Church setup with Gretsch Catalina 5 piece. I don't remember if it's birch or maple. I was pretty sure it was birch, but I don't think Gretsch made a 5-piece Catalina in birch. It's metallic silver, if that helps identify it.
In either case, each drum is close-mic'd, and has coated Evans heads on it now. It sounds terrible, IMHO. The coated heads make it too warm, with virtually no attack to speak of.
I was originally thinking of Evans heads, then considered Remo Emperors, but my experience with Emperors is that they sound good with simple 3-mic setups, but they resonate so much when each tom is mic'd, you end up having to use dampening rings and gels to tame the resonation. So, now I'm thinking Remo Pinstripes over Ambassador resos will be best. In my experience, the Pinstripes' 2-ply with glued edge ring gives a nice low, fat, thick sound without a ton of resonance/sustain, which we don't want because of the church environment, and since they are mic'd anyway.
I like the EMAD on kick batters, but I'd like to try a GMAD batter. Does the GMAD also have the foam rings like the EMADs? I hope so, because on my personal kick an EMAD with large ring makes for a wonderful attack, and if the GMAD really does add a lower tone, but still has the rings so I can get a good attack, I'd go with GMAD. Because of the church environment, I want to help tame the booming off the drum shield, so I'm leading toward an EMAD reso for the kick, because of the 4" port with ringed muffler.
My questions are whether or not the black (ebony) lines are actually a coating, like the white coateds, and to thus, do they affect the sound over clear heads. If the ebony affects the Pinstripes, I was thinking clear Pinstripes over ebony Ambassadors... or will the ebony on reso heads also significantly affect the sound, too?
I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience in these regards. Thanks!
In either case, each drum is close-mic'd, and has coated Evans heads on it now. It sounds terrible, IMHO. The coated heads make it too warm, with virtually no attack to speak of.
I was originally thinking of Evans heads, then considered Remo Emperors, but my experience with Emperors is that they sound good with simple 3-mic setups, but they resonate so much when each tom is mic'd, you end up having to use dampening rings and gels to tame the resonation. So, now I'm thinking Remo Pinstripes over Ambassador resos will be best. In my experience, the Pinstripes' 2-ply with glued edge ring gives a nice low, fat, thick sound without a ton of resonance/sustain, which we don't want because of the church environment, and since they are mic'd anyway.
I like the EMAD on kick batters, but I'd like to try a GMAD batter. Does the GMAD also have the foam rings like the EMADs? I hope so, because on my personal kick an EMAD with large ring makes for a wonderful attack, and if the GMAD really does add a lower tone, but still has the rings so I can get a good attack, I'd go with GMAD. Because of the church environment, I want to help tame the booming off the drum shield, so I'm leading toward an EMAD reso for the kick, because of the 4" port with ringed muffler.
My questions are whether or not the black (ebony) lines are actually a coating, like the white coateds, and to thus, do they affect the sound over clear heads. If the ebony affects the Pinstripes, I was thinking clear Pinstripes over ebony Ambassadors... or will the ebony on reso heads also significantly affect the sound, too?
I would appreciate hearing from anyone that has experience in these regards. Thanks!