quick question

R

risewiththefallen

Senior Member
Hello. I bought a mapex saturn and love everything about it. The only thing i was wondering is if the remo emperors and ambassadors are made the same for mapex as they are regularily. They seem to be wearimg out rather quickly. Thanks in advance
 
If you are speaking of the stock heads that came with the drum set from Mapex - no they are not the same and should be changed ASAP.

Drum manufacturers contract head companies to make stock heads at a certain (cheaper) price point. These are never as good as real, off the shelf heads. As an example, I bought a top of the line Yamaha set in 2006 (YMCAN) that came with Remo 'UT' heads on them. Similar to clear Ambassadors but not the same in sound quality. They never got played. I took them off, ordered a new set of Aquarian heads for all of the toms and the bass drum (batter and resonant) and sold the UT's cheaply on eBay. I never regretted it.

BTW: It's not that the heads were Aquarian. Any new heads from the Big 3 drum head companies will improve a drums sound greatly. If you're worried about durability, get batter heads that can take some more punishment.

Search threads for 'stock heads' and you'll see what kind of comments are made.

HTH

Jim
 
I believe Saturns come with genuine USA-made Remo heads, and not the cheaper Chinese ones. So they're supposed to be the same quality as those you can buy off-the-shelf. There have been a number of threads about the durability of Remo's coating, so if that's the problem you're having, you aren't the first one.
 
Soupy said:
I believe Saturns come with genuine USA-made Remo heads, and not the cheaper Chinese ones. So they're supposed to be the same quality as those you can buy off-the-shelf. There have been a number of threads about the durability of Remo's coating, so if that's the problem you're having, you aren't the first one.
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My Saturns still have the factory heads on them and I can confirm they are Remo USA full fat non decaf proper emperors and ambassadors. If you have a snare with a coated ambassador, I find the coating wears very quickly and I use Evans G1's on my snare as the coating seems much more durable.
 
bigiainw said:
My Saturns still have the factory heads on them and I can confirm they are Remo USA full fat non decaf proper emperors and ambassadors. If you have a snare with a coated ambassador, I find the coating wears very quickly and I use Evans G1's on my snare as the coating seems much more durable.
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I (gladly) stand corrected and - that's good to hear. There are few companies going this way so kudos to those that do. I know I've seen Evans G1's come with the Gretsch Catalina Jazz set. I've also seen that Pork Pie puts real Remo Ambassadors on their full line of drums (not the imports).

I guess the issue might be a more durable head choice? If durability is the main issue, look at Aquarians. Their coating lasts the longest and I've had some heads still sounding good at the 1 1/2 year point. They do take some breaking in before they sound their best but after that you're good.

Again, there are more durable choices than Emperors and Ambassadors so I'd start researching those choices with all 3 head Mfrs.

Jim
 
Shedboyxx said:
I (gladly) stand corrected and - that's good to hear. There are few companies going this way so kudos to those that do. I know I've seen Evans G1's come with the Gretsch Catalina Jazz set. I've also seen that Pork Pie puts real Remo Ambassadors on their full line of drums (not the imports).
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I think it mainly depends on the line of drum you buy, not just the mfgr. Typically pro drum lines will come with USA-made heads, and beginner/intermediate will come with UT's... Like Tama Superstar and below come with cheap heads, Starclassics come with USA-Evans.

Also, even if they're good USA-made heads, if you bought them off the floor of a music/drum shop then who knows what they went through before you bought them... Kids wailing on them, being stacked up, etc... If you bought them new-in-box then they should be fine.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I bought the kit off the floor but the heads were ingood shape. Literally 2 hours after purchase the coating on the ambassador was begin to wear away. I have been thinking of aquarion they seem to be very durable. Ill need to wait till i have some money though haha
 
What does the UT stand for anyway? Made in Utah?
 
risewiththefallen said:
Thanks for all the replies. I bought the kit off the floor but the heads were ingood shape. Literally 2 hours after purchase the coating on the ambassador was begin to wear away. I have been thinking of aquarion they seem to be very durable. Ill need to wait till i have some money though haha
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Do a search here for remo coating problems. That's a problem we've been discussing a lot around here recently...
 
Trash just like the Evans heads that read "made by Evans" imprinted on the heads. You'll see these on various less expensive drums such as Gretsch Catalina Jazz kits and many others. Yes the Remo UT series is very cheaply made Chinese junk. Most lower end Mapex and I believe some of the Yamaha kits use them. If you see either one of these, consider their replacement as imminent.

Dennis
 
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