Remo Amabassador vs. Diplomat Snare Side

dc2

Member
I've mostly used Remo Ambassador clear resonants for my snare drums. I was hoping to get some opinions concerning the thinner Diplomats in comparison with the Ambassadors. Does it really make that much of a difference in sensativity?....volume?....sound?....etc.
 
Ambassadors do not make good snare-side heads in my opinion. They are much too thick and don't resonate well.

On that note, I'd look into the Hazy Diplomat snare-side head instead of a straight Diplomat. The Hazy is about 1/4 the thickness of a normal Diplomat - perfect for the snare side.
 
Thanks for the input Bart....

Does anyone else have any opinions on these snare side heads?
 
It's great to go thinner on your snare side, but don't go too thin. The thinner you go, the easier it is for the snare side to vibrate due to other drums, this will cause unwanted buzzing from the snare wires.
 
It's great to go thinner on your snare side, but don't go too thin. The thinner you go, the easier it is for the snare side to vibrate due to other drums, this will cause unwanted buzzing from the snare wires.

Oh thanks for mentioning that! I wasn't even considering snare buzz, but its a good point now that you brought it up. I guess the only way to find out is to experiment. Thanks for the tip!
 
I've player ambassador resos my whole life but recently I played a drum with a diplomat reso and was surprised at the quality of the articulation. Impressive.
 
I don't experience this phenomenon. Try out the Hazy Diplomat. You'll find that it performs well out the loudest volumes and then you'll be amazed at the snare sound you get at pp or ppp.

It's great to go thinner on your snare side, but don't go too thin. The thinner you go, the easier it is for the snare side to vibrate due to other drums, this will cause unwanted buzzing from the snare wires.
 
Yes I also use a diplomat hazy on the snare side I've never really used a ambassor on the snare side it didn't. make since to me since I like my snare too be as sensitive as possible. but i've always used a coated ambassador on the batter side along with a lot of other drummers probably the most used batter snare head of all time.don't. quote me I said probably LOL

Keep Swattin,
Bonzolead
 
Re: Remo Ambassador vs. Diplomat Snare Side

I wanted to point out something that I was confused about for awhile. I also want to make sure we are all on the same page when giving recommendations.

Remo makes a thin batter called an Ambassador that comes in a few different finishes (Coated white, Clear, Black Suede). They also make a medium weight batter called a Diplomat that comes in several finishes (Hazy, coated, etc).

Here's the tricky part and IMHO, a marketing mistake as it is confusing:

Remo makes a clear snare side Ambassador and a clear snare side Diplomat. These heads are made for only being used for the underside of a snare. These should not be confused with using a clear Ambassador batter head or a clear Diplomat batter head - as a reso (resonant) head on toms or even bass drums.

The Amb and Dip snare side heads are significantly thinner than their batter brothers but different in thickness relative to each other. This is different from using heads on toms because a tom reso is always just a batter head, usually thinner or of the same thickness as the batter head.

From the current thread, I believe some might be thinking that a reference to using an Ambassador or Diplomat as a snare side head, means using a batter version of these 'models'. I would agree that an Ambassador batter or really - any batter head - would be too thick.

Now I must say that I have heard of people using a clear Ambassador batter as a snare side head but I never thought of that as a truly musical solution.

I think Evans has the right way of keeping things straight by branding their snare side heads by totally different means. A G1 is batter (or tom reso). Period. A Hazy 200 or 300 is a snare side head. Period. No confusion over batter or snare side.

My fav heads are Aquarian and they are a bit guilty of snare side confusion. There is a Classic Clear batter/reso for toms and a Classic Clear Snare Side head for underneath a snare drum. They only have two snare side head models, the other being the Hi Performance model. So it's a bit less confusing than the Remo issue but still can cause some head scratching especially amongst newer players.

This whole schmiel used to confuse me until I started seeing catalogs listing the different models along with the company's model # (ex. BA114). Then it became clearer. I'd suggest doing the same online. Go to Musicians Friend and enter 'diplomat' as a search word and you can see what I am talking (errr...typing) about.

HTH

Jim
 
Re: Remo Ambassador vs. Diplomat Snare Side

I wanted to point out something that I was confused about for awhile. I also want to make sure we are all on the same page when giving recommendations.

Remo makes a thin batter called an Ambassador that comes in a few different finishes (Coated white, Clear, Black Suede). They also make a medium weight batter called a Diplomat that comes in several finishes (Hazy, coated, etc).

Here's the tricky part and IMHO, a marketing mistake as it is confusing:

Remo makes a clear snare side Ambassador and a clear snare side Diplomat. These heads are made for only being used for the underside of a snare. These should not be confused with using a clear Ambassador batter head or a clear Diplomat batter head - as a reso (resonant) head on toms or even bass drums.

The Amb and Dip snare side heads are significantly thinner than their batter brothers but different in thickness relative to each other. This is different from using heads on toms because a tom reso is always just a batter head, usually thinner or of the same thickness as the batter head.

From the current thread, I believe some might be thinking that a reference to using an Ambassador or Diplomat as a snare side head, means using a batter version of these 'models'. I would agree that an Ambassador batter or really - any batter head - would be too thick.

Now I must say that I have heard of people using a clear Ambassador batter as a snare side head but I never thought of that as a truly musical solution.

I think Evans has the right way of keeping things straight by branding their snare side heads by totally different means. A G1 is batter (or tom reso). Period. A Hazy 200 or 300 is a snare side head. Period. No confusion over batter or snare side.

My fav heads are Aquarian and they are a bit guilty of snare side confusion. There is a Classic Clear batter/reso for toms and a Classic Clear Snare Side head for underneath a snare drum. They only have two snare side head models, the other being the Hi Performance model. So it's a bit less confusing than the Remo issue but still can cause some head scratching especially amongst newer players.

This whole schmiel used to confuse me until I started seeing catalogs listing the different models along with the company's model # (ex. BA114). Then it became clearer. I'd suggest doing the same online. Go to Musicians Friend and enter 'diplomat' as a search word and you can see what I am talking (errr...typing) about.

HTH

Jim
Sorry but diplomats are always thinner and ambassador are a medium weight with emperors being a heaver weight thats the way it's been forever at REMO.

Bonzolead
 
For Remo, the clear heads are batter heads and the hazy heads are snare-side heads.

Clear Ambassador - 10 mil thickness.
Clear Diplomat - 7.5 mil thickness.

Hazy Ambassador - 3 mil thickness.
Hazy Diplomat - 2 mil thickness.
 
Hey Shedboyxx,
Thanks for the detailed post concerning the heads. I know exactly what you are talking about, and I was referring to the "snare-side" versions of the Diplomats and Ambassadors in my initial post. I do think quite a few people get confused by Remo's poor identification for these heads. They should definately come up with somthing like Evans did concerning their snare side heads.

Thanks again Jim.
 
Last edited:
For Remo, the clear heads are batter heads and the hazy heads are snare-side heads.

Clear Ambassador - 10 mil thickness.
Clear Diplomat - 7.5 mil thickness.

Hazy Ambassador - 3 mil thickness.
Hazy Diplomat - 2 mil thickness.

Although you are exactly right in your description, I think Remo offers clear versions of their snare-side heads also. They call it "transparent" in the descriptions I've seen.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you can get the 3mil Ambassadors and the 2mil Diplomats in Hazy or Transparent.

I don't guess its a big deal, but I figured I would mention it anyway. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks for the info man.
 
Re: Remo Ambassador vs. Diplomat Snare Side

Sorry but diplomats are always thinner and ambassador are a medium weight with emperors being a heaver weight thats the way it's been forever at REMO.

Bonzolead

You're right about the weights, but he was saying the confusion can come in with the Ambasador (or Diplomat or Emp) having a batter, AND a snare side with the same name.

The Emp snare side is .5 mm and Bart gave the other weights.

There's also a Low Collar Ambassador snare side that has Clear, not hazy film.

Same weight as the standard Amb SS, just a real low collar.

It's similar to Ludwigs SS head.

Pretty dry sound from it too.

Unless you look at the box when you pull out a head, or the store counter person just pulls out a head, you could get the wrong thing depending on what you asked for (batter or snare side), and I'm sure it's happened.

There's a color code on the boxes now too....now all they need are pictures and arrows and a paragraph on the back.....sorry....
 
Re: Remo Ambassador vs. Diplomat Snare Side

You're right about the weights, but he was saying the confusion can come in with the Ambasador (or Diplomat or Emp) having a batter, AND a snare side with the same name.

The Emp snare side is .5 mm and Bart gave the other weights.

There's also a Low Collar Ambassador snare side that has Clear, not hazy film.

Same weight as the standard Amb SS, just a real low collar.

It's similar to Ludwigs SS head.

Pretty dry sound from it too.

Unless you look at the box when you pull out a head, or the store counter person just pulls out a head, you could get the wrong thing depending on what you asked for (batter or snare side), and I'm sure it's happened.

There's a color code on the boxes now too....now all they need are pictures and arrows and a paragraph on the back.....sorry....
One way I always can tell is too take the head out of the box snare side heads are always paper like, really thin you almost think you can poke your finger threw it and yes I almost made that mistake you talked about that's why I always take them out of the box before hand.

Bonzolead
 
After reading this thread I figured I should try out a Hazy Diplomat. I'd been playing a DW 5 X 14 solid lately so that seemed a likely choice.

The drum was set up with a Genera dry over a DW factory snare side head. The Evans head was getting pretty worn so I replaced it with a coated Ambassador over the Hazy Diplomat.

My impression is that the thinner snare side head dried out the sound quite a bit. Similar drums that are set up with Ambassadors over Hazy Ambassadors tend to have quite a bit of ring.

This combo tamed that down some. It's not as dry as a Genera Dry head, and not as open as Ambassadors. Kind of in the middle of the two combinations.

This might be a good way to take a little ring out of a snare. Rather than messing with the batter side of the drum, run a thinner head on the snare side and adjust from there.

HTH
 
I had a chance to play the Ambasador over Hazy Diplomat for a few days and I'm liking the sound quite a lot.

It gives the drum more definition than with a Hazy Ambasador. The drum sounds very crisp and grace notes and very defined. The sustain is shorter and the individual strokes seem cleaner.

I'm gonna try one on a deeper drum and see what that's like.
 
I bought a Hazy Diplomat a while back, but it must have been a defective head or somthing. When I put it on the snare, the head stretched out way too much. It stretched to the point that the hoop was almost even with the bearing edge, and the tension rods only had a few threads left before bottoming out. I was tuning it pretty high (around 90 with a drumdial), but this should have never happened. I hope to get another hazy diplomat soon and try again. This has never happened to me before with any other head.

Has anyone ever had this happen before with the hazy diplomats?

And Steady Freddy, keep us posted on how you like the ambassador/hazy diplomat combo on the deeper shelled snare. I think thats exactly what I'm gonna go with on my 6.5x14 snare next.
 
Ambassadors do not make good snare-side heads in my opinion. They are much too thick and don't resonate well.

On that note, I'd look into the Hazy Diplomat snare-side head instead of a straight Diplomat. The Hazy is about 1/4 the thickness of a normal Diplomat - perfect for the snare side.
Hazy Diplomats have always been my favs for the snare side-very sensitive.

Bonzolead
 
I bought a Hazy Diplomat a while back, but it must have been a defective head or somthing. When I put it on the snare, the head stretched out way too much. It stretched to the point that the hoop was almost even with the bearing edge, and the tension rods only had a few threads left before bottoming out. I was tuning it pretty high (around 90 with a drumdial), but this should have never happened. I hope to get another hazy diplomat soon and try again. This has never happened to me before with any other head.

Has anyone ever had this happen before with the hazy diplomats?

And Steady Freddy, keep us posted on how you like the ambassador/hazy diplomat combo on the deeper shelled snare. I think thats exactly what I'm gonna go with on my 6.5x14 snare next.
Whenever I tune a new head I put it on the shell with the rim off and stretch it out first.I seems to tune easier just my 2 cents.

Bonzolead
 
Back
Top