Remo Skyntone

drummerjims

Senior Member
Ok... Just so everyone knows, I have been a huge Evans fan since the first time that I bought a set of drum heads. I have always been a fan of their coating for some reason and the tone of the heads. I have used clear and coated G1 and G2's for the entirety of my playing.

Recently I decided that I needed a new snare drum head for my 14x5 inch CLE custom maple snare. My first instinct was to just buy my standard coated G1 as I already have a brand new EC1 reverse dot that I don't really like and I wanted to get what I knew would sound good. However something was telling me "Jimmy, Try something new!!!" So I thought about it and I decided to sleep on it. Well the next day I decided to work on my brush technique and was watching some videos. I always love the brushwork of Jeff Hamilton and Clayton Cameron so I was watching their videos. Man! did the drums sound great. Jeff Hamilton plays the fiberskyns and Clayton Cameron plays the Skyntone drum head. Soon after I started looking through this forum and looking on the Google. And I decided to get the skyntone even though everything I read said it was only for jazz.

I do play a lot of jazz which is why I decided it wouldn't be a bad choice but I also play in a folk rock band and a rock band along with cover bands that play funk.

So anyways I received the head today. Not only does it look great but the sound is even better. I have never had such a musical drum head that forces you to playing it in a different way. It made me play the whole drum. The sonic options of this head are endless. With the G1 It was almost as the head was playing me. It was such a normal sound. But this head will ring and if hit in the center it is very dry. It has a very pure dark warm tone to it. And the feel of this head is very soft as opposed to a G1 or EC.

I know this is just kind of like a personal review and this head wont work for everyone but if you like to play musically and with slight finesse or a lot of finesse I suggest that you try this drum head.

Also I have to give Remo props. They may have just converted me. I am soon going to buy a set of Fiberskyns for my Gretsch Catalina club (the set I play on jazz gigs and my folk rock band). I am just waiting until I refinish this set.
 
I know I wrote this as a personal review just for people to read not really respond on. But since there is very little known about the Skyntone drum head. As far as all of my searching showed. Does anyone else have any info on them. Also is there someone that can really convince me that the fiberskyn heads on my tom are a terrible Idea. Also on a bass drum what would be good to go with a fiberskyn reso? and what thickness should the reso be? Diplomat? Ambassador? Emperor?
 
I tried the Skyntone recently myself and I agree it's a great head. I haven't used Remo heads in a long time (and still won't touch their regular coated heads) but I immediately fell in love with the tone and the feel of the Skyntone.

I haven't used Fiberskyn heads on my toms in a long time, but on toms for a jazz sound I think they're nice. Aquarian's Modern Vintage heads also do the vintage sound really well, and I like them better than the Fiberskyns personally. They're a bit more mellow and have a little less stick attack. Sometimes the Fiberskyns sound a little click-y to me.

Remo apparently makes the Skyntone heads in tom tom sizes (not just 14") and I'd like to hear how those would sound but I haven't pulled the trigger on a set of them yet. It seems like only Steve Weiss carries them in all sizes.
 
I think I'd like to try the Aquarian Modern Vintage and the Remo Skyntone heads someday.

I use the Fiberskyns (FA's) on tops and bottoms (FD's) of my toms and am happy with them.

Bass drum has a Fiberskyn Powerstroke 3 head on reso side and an Aquarian Super Kick II on the batter. Found it to be a great combo for the 16" bass drum I play.
 
You may also want to check out the Evans J1 etched heads. They have a beautiful warm round resonant tone. I put a set top and bottom on my DW Jazz series toms and they sound unbelievable. I bought these as a stop gap till I could get some Aquarian MV heads, but I am really happy with these heads and they are going to stay on the DW kit.
 
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I also love these heads. And yes, Steve Weiss music seems to be the only place to carry all sizes of these heads. Has anyone tried these on anything other than a snare? Specifically a 16" floor tom?
 
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