Just bought a used 99 Export...please recommend heads?

I just bought a 6 piece used Pearl Export Select kit. It is a 1999 model. I believe the wood is Mahogany with poplar or just plane poplar but I'm not sure. What heads to do you recommend for this kit. I have a 10, 12, 14, 16 and 22 setup. The 16 is a floor tom.

I don't like the drums to ring excessively but I don't like them to sound too muffled either.


Any help is appreciated,

Thanks

If you like two-ply heads get Remo Emperor (coated or clear depending on your preference for attack) and if not Remo Ambassador (again either coated or clear). For the bottoms Remo Clear Ambassador always works great and tunes easily. For the bass, the best place to start is Remo Powerstroke 3 (clear or coated again) on both sides. Other options are smooth white or ebony depending on if you want the look of black or white with the sound of clear. I'd recommend these heads to start with on the kit, so that you can further decide in the future where you want to go from there. If you decide you want a warmer more natural sound then you could try Renaissance or Fiberskyns. If you want a more punchier/dampened sound then try Vintage Emperors or Vintage Ambassdors. If you like focused sound try Remo Controlled Sound or the extreme Remo Pinstripes. Tuning plays a large part as well, so especially make sure to change those bottom heads. The most versatile heads at tuning though, are still Remo Ambassadors, but on a Pearl Export you aren't exactly dealing with world class tuning ranges.

I have this kit and I use the following heads: Remo

Bass Drums:
Batter - Powerstroke 3
Resonant - Powerstroke 3
Muffling - A medium sized pillow barely touching the reso and batter
Beater Type - Eliminator sharp plastic side

Rack Toms:
Batter - Ambassador
Resonant - Ambassador
Muffling - None

Floor Toms:
Batter - Ambassador
Resonant - Ambassador
Muffling - None

Snare:
Batter - Controlled sound reverse dot coated
Resonant - Diplomat
Muffling - None
Snare Wires - Pure Sound Blasters Series 20-Strand (I am not completely sure on this)

This is personally my favorite combination of heads so far, after experimenting with muffling and pre muffled heads I found my middle ground and decided the more ring the better. I have listened to a few players who have the same kit (poplar would as well) and use pre muffled heads and body pillows in the bass drums and with the poplar wood, it is dangerous to muffle it I found out because it is already such a quiet material. I have a friend with a Mapex birch bass drum and it certainly projects a lot more sound than my export does. It doesn't necessarily sound as fine tuned and clean as mine though, thats because I have spent way more time experimenting and tuning my kit, but back to the subject. I have tested out almost all of the drum set heads on this kit made by remo Remo including the powerstroke 3 and 4, emperor, encore, pinstripe, ambassador, emperor x and I have spent a ton of time tuning this kit as well. I found that tuning everything just past wrinkle does not get you a warm sound on this kit and tuning the drums extremely high make them sound like kegs from slipknot of some sort. So the key is to find the note that each drum sounds best at and check your tuning about once a week cause I guarantee your tuning will be out by then on this kit. I am still experimenting with the floor tom heads, but so far ambassadors have ruled the toms for this thing. I definitely recommend replacing your snare wires if you have the export snare with stock wires, it made a huge difference on the snare. Also the diplomat is very good for the snare side because it gives it a lot more cracking sound than the stock snare heads. I use the pointed plastic beater side because I need it for metal applications, but I have played with each side of the beater and the flat felt side gives it a nice warm sound. The pointed plastic side just give it more volume and attack, so it just depends on what sound you want to accomplish, but for a good sound on this kit I recommend that you just follow what I have listed and you will save much time and money experimenting unless you want a more specific sound.

Well good luck and let me know if you have any other questions, I would be more than happy to inform you on anything I know.

Also, just to let you know how much time I have spent on tuning this kit, I have a 9 piece kit all export poplar and I am a tuning whore when I am tuning. When I am trying to get the drums to sound perfect I take apart everything and spend around 30 mins to an hour on each drum alone, unfortunately when I don't have time I just do a quick tune almost daily, but I have had the kit for almost 2 years and it is very good for what the price is. So this was just a little background on how accurate you can judge my opinion and knowledge on what I know about the kit, I am not saying I know everything about it I just know that this will probably be one of the best responses that you will get. Cymbalrider has the right idea as well so just take our advise and you will get that kit to sing almost like a pro level kit, but if you want that kind of quality get the ambassadors and spend time tuning those things.

Evans Hydraulics used to sound great on my '02 Export Toms. Or G2s. Pinstripes are similar but a little more ringy. Clear ambassadors on bottom for all.