Bass Head Help

Budiesel

Senior Member
I recently bought a sonor bop kit (18" kick 12" tom and 14" floor tom) I'm having trouble deciding what type of kick head to buy. I would like to get the most versatile sound I can out of it. Would it be better to look at a muffled head (EMAD, SK, Powerstroke Pro) lightly muffled head (Powerstroke 3) or Emperor/Ambassador? I've never had a kick smaller than a 22" so all help is wanted!!
 
I had the Bop kit too and I went straight to a PS3 for it. I'm not sure I liked it as much. Back in the day when I first tried an 18" bass drum (before the PS3 was invented), I put a clear Pinstripe on it and I felt that sounded better, with a regular Ambassador on the front with no hole. The drum is so small any ring you get is gone by the time it reaches the front row of the audience. If I did it again, I'd probably experiment with an Emperor.
 
I am a big fan of the PS3 coated and/or clear as a batter on my 18 and 16 inch bass drums.
I like to use a thin Diplomat weight Remo Fiberskyn in front.
Sounds like heaven with that head combination. I have had several bass players mention to me how much they liked the sound of my BD.
 
I had an Aquarina Perfomance II batter, fiberskyn reso on mine. Was pretty good all around.
I would avoid dampened heads (EMAD) with a small kick, but depends on the sound you want. Overall versatility would be a with an Emp or amb on reso, but that may be to boomy for some. A pinstripe can also make for a decent 18 bass drum batter for a fatter, rounder sound.

But as always in these matters, best for you to do your own experiments with your own ears, thats part of the journey.
 
EMAD all the way! An 18" kit can rock with the right heads and tuning. Peace and goodwill.
 
I had Emads on both my 18" Yamaha kicks, and like them. I picked up an Aquarian Superkick just because it was on sale and put it on one of them.

Not sure if it's just because I'm not used to the sound yet, but it seems to have 'woken up' the drum quite a bit. It's telling me "I prefer this head" - LOL
It's giving me lower, cleaner tones at about the same tension. I can't say how it would work with a Sonor 18" though.
 
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