How important are resonant heads?

Do you guys just stick with the stock resonant heads that came with the set? If not, do you buy basic resonants like the Evans Genera line or go for their upscale stuff like the EC Resonant heads?
 
Do you guys just stick with the stock resonant heads that came with the set? If not, do you buy basic resonants like the Evans Genera line or go for their upscale stuff like the EC Resonant heads?

No.....I swap 'em out a.s.a.p.

I use clear ambassadors on all my toms. Ambassador snare side on all snares and PS3 reso on the kick.
 
It depends, If the stock resos are working for you and your happy with the sound they are fine. I just bought a used Tama low end kit and the stock resos are in good shape. I put new batters on the toms and I'm happy with the sound. I'm getting great tone and sustain from the drums. It's not broke, so I'm not going to fix it!
I use Ambassadors or Diplomats normally for resos when I do replace them.
 
Resonant heads are very important. More so than batter heads (for tuning) IMO.

Its definitely worth changing your reso heads. With that said, the Genera line (G1) would be a great option.... I personally have clear ambassadors at the moment but may be trying something new just for fun - but I have been pretty happy with them.

When tuning, make sure you spend as much time with the reso's as you do with the batter side.
 
In my experience it depends on the drum.

I have a Yamaha Mushashi snare that had its stock reso on it for over a year after I bought it because it sounded great and I didn't want to mess with it. Producers loved the thing on records and it worked on nearly every live gig I had. Why fix it if it ain't broke?

(I only replaced it because a roadie knocked the thing over one night and it crashed into my stick case, putting a huge dent in the reso head).

On the other side of the coin, when I bought my '62 ludwigs I had a hell of a time tuning them until I replaced the reso's.

So, while replacing the reso's does help, if you can't drop the coin right away don't stress about it if you can get your drums sounding good with the stock reso's.
 
most stock resos are fine for at least the first 6 months to a year. the problem I have seen with some cheaper resos like remo ut (chinese made remos), or random generic heads is that the head will pull out. I especially see this on snare side heads. Pretty much every time i buy a used snare I always take the reso off and the head has pulled out on one side. snare resos also get alot of wear and tear from the snares rubbing against the head and need to be replaced at least once a year.

I don't do anything fancy for resos evans g1 clears on toms, evans hazy 300 on snares. I also like a hazy 200 weight sometimes, and you would be surprised how much a different it makes going with an even thinner head. Never use a g1 or full weight single ply head for your snare side, they sound terrible.

I change batters every month, and resonants every 3rd month. and I change both if I'm recording.
 
Depends on what those heads are!

High end kits typically come with not-bad heads. May not be your brand or flavor, but they usually don't suck.

Pretty much all other kits come with crummy heads to get the price down to compete with other brands. Things are better nowadays, but on my first kit (a cheap Asian brand, 20 years ago) the resonant heads were literally spray painted black!

-Ryan
 
just as important as the batters IMO the only time they're not important is on Concert-Toms LOL

Bonzolead
 
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