THE last time I ever buy Aquarian Drum Heads

Cymbalrider

Pioneer Member
About two years ago, I tried Aquarian Texture Coated batter heads on my Mapex kit. Within days the coating was flying off the head (I'd seen Remo coating wear out fast, but never fly off), so I began using Evans heads ever since. My Mapex kit last had EC2 over g1 clear (heard lots of good reviews) but the had too much plastic attack and too little sustain for my liking, but were plenty durable. Now, I thought I would give Aquarian another chance, so I ordered all Texture Coated heads. The logo had changed and now they featured Z100 coating, which is not flying off. The problem is that these heads are VERY dead sounding and often resemble they sound of paper. This is curious considering they are wide open heads and very much in tune. The toms are usuable, as is the snare though, but the real problem is the bass heads. I had an EMAD2 over EQ1 coated--that is 2 ply muffled head over a single ply coated head with vents and a ring. The drum had a nice boom, but again had too much plastic attack for my interests. So...I put the Aquarian Texture Coated heads (22") on there. These are wide open heads with no muffling whatsoever and they sound like paper no matter how high I tune them. The pitch resemble an 18" marching bass but there is still no sustain from wide open heads and drum!!!! After this second round of terrible products, I will never buy Aquarian heads again. Sorry Roy Burns....
 
Don't judge the whole company because of one kind of head you used...

It's like if I bought some clear Remo Diplomats for my drums and I was beating them like a gorilla and they just happen to break, I'm not gonna say all Remos suck because of one head I tried broke.
 
Don't judge the whole company because of one kind of head you used...

It's like if I bought some clear Remo Diplomats for my drums and I was beating them like a gorilla and they just happen to break, I'm not gonna say all Remos suck because of one head I tried broke.

What he says and... my son has one of these heads on his snare and it's not dead at all. It actually has a moongel on it to tame it down a little. This is also the "newer head" you are talking about. I was a little concerned about the coating issue but after 2 weekes, the head looks the same as it did the day it was put on. Maybe it's the way you are tuning them.
 
First of all, the heads are defective. I can't even use them, they have no sound and yet they are wide open heads. This is the second order from them and they even changed factories in the process. If you broke heads yourself, that is not the companies fault, but yours. The heads I had years ago sounded fine, they just shed their coating after only a few days. I am a jazz and classical percussionist, so I dont "play like a gorilla" either.
 
Have you taken them back to where you go them? Better yet... do that if you haven't and go one step further an email Aquarian and tell them what happened. You may get something for your troubles. In fact, I'd almost bet you will because that isn't right and Aquarian always makes good on their mistakes. I once had a bad head and just for the hell of it, I emailed Aquarian. In an hour after I sent the email, I got a reply asking me to call a number that they gave me. I did and Roy Burns answered the phone. I told him about the head and the problem. He asked where I got it and a few questions about my drums. After that, he asked me for a mailing address and said he would send me a new head. A few days later I had the new head and a video about the Aquarian company.. This was for one head. He didn't ask for proof of purchase and he didn't give me a hard time. So if you got a whole set of heads that you think are defective, I'm sure they will do something to make you happy.
 
About two years ago, I tried Aquarian Texture Coated batter heads on my Mapex kit. Within days the coating was flying off the head (I'd seen Remo coating wear out fast, but never fly off), so I began using Evans heads ever since. My Mapex kit last had EC2 over g1 clear (heard lots of good reviews) but the had too much plastic attack and too little sustain for my liking, but were plenty durable. Now, I thought I would give Aquarian another chance, so I ordered all Texture Coated heads. The logo had changed and now they featured Z100 coating, which is not flying off. The problem is that these heads are VERY dead sounding and often resemble they sound of paper. This is curious considering they are wide open heads and very much in tune. The toms are usuable, as is the snare though, but the real problem is the bass heads. I had an EMAD2 over EQ1 coated--that is 2 ply muffled head over a single ply coated head with vents and a ring. The drum had a nice boom, but again had too much plastic attack for my interests. So...I put the Aquarian Texture Coated heads (22") on there. These are wide open heads with no muffling whatsoever and they sound like paper no matter how high I tune them. The pitch resemble an 18" marching bass but there is still no sustain from wide open heads and drum!!!! After this second round of terrible products, I will never buy Aquarian heads again. Sorry Roy Burns....
The issue seems to be more about your selection and expectations. Are you sure you are buying the right heads for the sound you're trying to achieve? If all the heads are sounding bad, could it be youe edges? your drums?

ALL companies can have bad batches from time to time, I have had it with all the 3 majors. I think you'll find that Aquaraians service standards are second-to-none and contrary to what you may think, Im certain they WANT to know when they have customers with quality concerns over their products.

Dont tar them all with the same brush. Ive had the odd bad skin aswell, but long-term, Im getting better use out of my Aquarians than I have had from any of the others.
 
I'm going to send them a mail I suppose, even though I'm not convinced I actually want another Aquarian head as a replacement. If it turns out that all 22" Texture Coated heads sound like paper and don't actually resonate then I'll be looking at Remo Coated Ambassadors or G1s again.
 
Man, how long your new heads are on the drums ? What I want to point out is that Aquarian heads are stiff and focused at first because of two things, the mylar is firmly crimped and glued to the Safe-T lock system and second the coating is little bit thicker and dense compared to Evans or Remo hence their toughnest. Aquarian heads need some good pounding to begin to sound at its fuellest, talking about days and even weeks, but the best part is when they begin to sound best they will keep that beautiful tone for months or even years. Believe me ;-)
 
Apart from bass drum heads--no solution there--the next time you want to try some heads of unknown sound, why not buy one of each of the candidates for just one drum, say, a 12" tom? Try them out one after the other, you'll get a pretty good idea of what a set of them sounds like without blowing a bunch of money.

Maybe mind_drummer has a point; all heads need some break-in, perhaps Aquarians need more. Their film seems to be quite different than Evans' or Remo's. To my ear it's softer and duller-sounding, but hey.
 
Apart from bass drum heads--no solution there--the next time you want to try some heads of unknown sound, why not buy one of each of the candidates for just one drum, say, a 12" tom? Try them out one after the other, you'll get a pretty good idea of what a set of them sounds like without blowing a bunch of money.

Maybe mind_drummer has a point; all heads need some break-in, perhaps Aquarians need more. Their film seems to be quite different than Evans' or Remo's. To my ear it's softer and duller-sounding, but hey.

This is a fair example of the sounds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot31HbyOlWE

I agree: softer, duller.
 
Can I ask this ?!?

What do you have underneath ?! What are your resonant tom heads?

I recently went from Super 2 clears to Super 2 coated on my toms and LOVE THEM even more than the clears!

I run classic clears on the bottom as recommended by Roy ...
 
Trkdrmr's right, they offer softer, duller, and more focused tones. Especially thicker models like the performance II's, Superkicks, and Hi-energy snare heads. To me those qualities make them more applicable to the studio over live sound. I doubt that i will ever buy acquarian again either after i tried Evans. Their reverse dot snare head has sooo much more tone than the high-energy, and the tuning range is significantly better to my ears.
 
I had the coating problem a couple of years back, & Aquarian made good on them immediately. Very good service from them.
 
I still the Aquarian make the bestbass drum heads.

Super Kick IIs are just amazing.

But I'm still into Remo for toms and snares.
 
I'm going to send them a mail I suppose, even though I'm not convinced I actually want another Aquarian head as a replacement. If it turns out that all 22" Texture Coated heads sound like paper and don't actually resonate then I'll be looking at Remo Coated Ambassadors or G1s again.


Give Roy a call. You'll find him to be one of the nicest guys around. Tell him what's going on.
 
Trkdrmr's right, they offer softer, duller, and more focused tones. Especially thicker models like the performance II's, Superkicks, and Hi-energy snare heads. To me those qualities make them more applicable to the studio over live sound. I doubt that i will ever buy acquarian again either after i tried Evans. Their reverse dot snare head has sooo much more tone than the high-energy, and the tuning range is significantly better to my ears.

When I read something like that I'm telling myself did not tried Modern Vintage head thin or medium weight because those head open up the drum to it's max.

I run texture coated on some of my toms and those has a very tasteful tone & resonance and if it wasn't that I'm into coated head, I'd run classic clear as batter all over the kit (maybe I'd go with super-2 on floor toms).
 
I think some people haven't been reading along. The problem was that I bought an entire batch of Aquarian Texture Coated heads (10,12,14,16,22,14) for tops and bottoms of toms and bass. The toms are fine, but the 22" heads do not tune up at all. No matter how tight they get, they simply do not sound like drumheads at all. I've heard of similar issues with Remo heads, but I suppose it's possible for everyone. I put the EMAD2 and EQ1 back on, as the Aquarians are unusable, and hopefully this weekend I'll be able to contact Aquarian and get some more.
 
I think some people haven't been reading along. The problem was that I bought an entire batch of Aquarian Texture Coated heads (10,12,14,16,22,14) for tops and bottoms of toms and bass. The toms are fine, but the 22" heads do not tune up at all. No matter how tight they get, they simply do not sound like drumheads at all. I've heard of similar issues with Remo heads, but I suppose it's possible for everyone. I put the EMAD2 and EQ1 back on, as the Aquarians are unusable, and hopefully this weekend I'll be able to contact Aquarian and get some more.


Send it to me then, I'd like to try it...
 
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