heads for deepest sounding drums?

If it were me I'd roll with a single ply batter and reso, tuned low-ish (above JAW though....personally I hear nothing pleasing about JAW tuning) and to the same pitch.

"Deep" really is determined by the drum too though. There's just no way to get a 12x8 tom to sound like a 14x10......regardless of the heads and tuning.
 
tbdd said:
What heads would everyone recommend to get the deepest fatest sounding drums, kick/toms?
I have a maple kit and would like to do all I can to give it more of a bubinga mahogany sound, i get that this is impossible but anything helps
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For toms, I'd suggest clear Remo Pinstripes tuned low on the batter. And for the resonant's, clear ambassadors tuned to the same pitch as the batter. For snare and kick idk. That's all very personal, but I'll suggest some of my favorites. For snare: Remo Emperor Coated X, Remo Coated Powerstroke 3, Evans ST Dry Coated, Evans Genera Dry Coated. For kick: Remo Clear Pinstripe, Remo Powersonic (the bomb) Remo Powerstroke, Evans EMAD, Evans Emad 2, Aquarian Superkick 2.

All of these are great heads and I hope this helps you get closer to the sound you want!
 
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The Scorpio said:
For toms, I'd suggest clear Remo Pinstripes tuned low on the batter. And clear ambassadors tuned to the same pitch as the batter. For snare and kick idk. That's all very personal, but I'll suggest some of my favorites. For snare: Remo Emperor Coated X, Remo Coated Powerstroke 3, Evans ST Dry Coated, Evans Genera Dry Coated. For kick: Remo Clear Pinstripe, Remo Powersonic (the bomb) Remo Powerstroke, Evans EMAD, Evans Emad 2, Aquarian Superkick 2.
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I'd definitely agree with this. I have Ebony Pinstripes on my toms and they sound great. I tune my floor tom low and it sounds much deeper than a 16".
Also, the Aquarian SuperKick II is amazing. Best bass head I've ever used.
 
Remo fiberskyns can give you a really full tone, and deep if tuned right. They are generally for jazz, but can be pretty rocky if tuned right.
 
There are different flavors of deep. For instance, hydraulic heads sound deep, but at the expense of other frequencies. Low tuned heads sound deep, but only from behind the kit. Out front it's all attack and no tone afterwards. Tuned low is OK for micing, but unmiced...your drums will actually sound deeper (in the audience) tuned higher.

Why you ask? Out front, if your drum is tuned on the low side, those low frequencies don't carry that far. If you tighten the head, it won't sound as good from behind the kit, but out front your drums will sound better and deeper trust me. The overtones you hear behind the set aren't nearly as prominent 15 feet away, you get more of the fundamental.

So it depends on what flavor of deep you want. And if you are micing. And how big the room is that you are playing in. The bigger the room (unmiced) the higher tunings sound better in the audience. Unless you muffle your toms, then (unmiced) your sound will die 5 feet in front of your set. (don't muffle!)

So the question is who are you tuning for, you or the audience? Deep sounds come from deep drums generally speaking.
 
Aquarian performance 2's w/ Power Dots are very deep sounding because they are made for low tunings, but you will sacrifice sustain. I wouldn't say they are dead, but they won't have the sustain of Ambassadors or Emporers. The Superkick 3 is what I am using now on the kick and it's really low and full of controlled boom. ( If that makes any sense.) Hope this helps.
 
larryace said:
Out front, if your drum is tuned on the low side, those low frequencies don't carry that far.
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I agree with your post on the most part, but this statement is untrue. Low frequencies carry the farthest as their sound wave is longer and hence passes through object rather than being stopped by object like high frequency sound waves. It is more the fact that a low tuning equals a loose tuning which therefore hinders the resonance of the head and hence the ability of the head to project out to the crowd. :)
Jackson
 
larryace said:
Unless you muffle your toms, then (unmiced) your sound will die 5 feet in front of your set. (don't muffle!)

So the question is who are you tuning for, you or the audience? Deep sounds come from deep drums generally speaking.
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i cant stand muffling !! it ruins the sound of the drum and those amazing tones

i would love to play around in those senarios to hear the diferences infront and behind
cheers heaps for that, i had no idea
 
AQUARIAN SUPER 2's

Coated. Best for deep sounding drums.
 
JesusMySavior said:
AQUARIAN SUPER 2's

Coated. Best for deep sounding drums.
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I agree with using aquarian but I find all 2 ply to be too dead, a singly ply will give much better sustain. If needed a moon jell or an O ring on the outside edge will remove the higher pitched overtones where as power dots and texture coatings being across the middle of the head remove more of the lower tones.
 
REMO CLEAR EMPERORS OVER CLEAR AMBASSADORS!

Seemed like a good idea at the time. :/
 
tard said:
I agree with using aquarian but I find all 2 ply to be too dead, a singly ply will give much better sustain. If needed a moon jell or an O ring on the outside edge will remove the higher pitched overtones where as power dots and texture coatings being across the middle of the head remove more of the lower tones.
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The guy asked for heads for the deepest sounding toms. He didn't say anything about sustain.

Besides, the Super 2's have plenty of sustain. Not as much as a 1-ply of course, but they are far from the deadness that pinstripes will give you. They really are an excellent head.

And to the poster above me, Remo Emps over clear Ambs? Surely you can do better than that...
 
JesusMySavior said:
The guy asked for heads for the deepest sounding toms. He didn't say anything about sustain.

Besides, the Super 2's have plenty of sustain. Not as much as a 1-ply of course, but they are far from the deadness that pinstripes will give you. They really are an excellent head.

And to the poster above me, Remo Emps over clear Ambs? Surely you can do better than that...
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There is no better baby! Why not start at the top instead of working your way there :)
 
"Deep" and "fat" are really subjective terms when talking about sound, and it's important to note and comment on a few truths on drum sound:
- what the drummer hears is NOT what the audience hears. If you tune low and deep, you might be robbing the drums of the sustain they need to carry to the audience, and you might be burying the drums in the mix. I actually tune a bit higher than just-above-wrinkling, to get a good, full tone out of the drum. You know where this is because you get all those great overtones, and the drum rings out with a "boooom" instead of going "boink" or "bump". Tuning too low sounds good behind the kit, but out front your toms sound like someone's beating a paper bag with a stick.
- tuning has as much to do with the sound as the head choice itself. A well-tuned Ambassador can get a deep, full tone, while a badly-tuned Pinstripe can sound horrible.
- technique has some impact (no pun intended) on the sound as well. Are you striking the drum cleanly and fully in the sweet spot on the head, consistently?
- if the drums are miked, everything changes. A good sound guy can tweak extra bass and presence in the house, and make a 10" tom sound like a concert bass drum (well, not quite, but you get the point).

The bottom line: Get a good one-ply or two-ply head, depending on whether you want attack (1-ply) or sustain (2-ply); tune it well, and listen to it from 20 feet in front. You'll be quite amazed.

We could argue about Emperors, Super 2's, and G2s all day, but that's like arguing whether a Honda Accord is better than a Nissan Sentra if you're driving to the supermarket. They'll both get you there.
 
Guys I have question, I just recently bought a set of ludwig accent , I am a beginner but the heads on this set are horrible , even though I am a beginner I know they sound like crap. They have a boing sound to them on the toms and floor tom , I was thinking of replacing the heads with Remo emperors coated , do you guys know what I should put on the bottom , I like that warm sound I play mostly rock , just want to make these sound really good any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
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