Evans Power Center Rev. Dot: Experience?

mikeyhanson

Silver Member
I just picked up an Evans Power Center Reverse Dot head for my Ludwig Centurian maple 14"x6.5" snare drum. I've tried a mid and upper-mid tuning, but can't get it to settle down when it's hit outside of the dot. It rings like a timbale!

Before I go putting my Ambassador back on, is there a trick to get this thing to be a bit more uniform over the head, or is the design going to make it only sound good when struck on the dot?

I'm looking for a snare head that will not only sound good at light and medium levels, but when really smacked it still has tone. I don't think this Evans head is the answer, neither is the Ambassador head. If I tune it mid, it sounds good loud but doesn't cut through dynamically. If I tune it upper-mid it sounds great at lower volumes but loses its body when really hit.
I'm considering a thicker single-ply head, but would also try a 2-ply. I'd also consider your tuning ideas for this head. Suggestions?
 
Maybe an Evans Genera dry or ST dry. I have power centers on most of my snares but a few just dont seem to work, you can also get the heads I mentioned in a non dry version.
 
Those both seem like possibilities and good suggestions, thanks. I figure it's gotta be something that's thicker than an Ambassador. That ST Dry actually seems in the neighborhood of what I'm thinking of.
 
I have an EC Reverse Dot on a snare and it definitely has some ring when hit off centre. I don't really use it enough to say how it acts at different tunings.

I have a slightly modified Genera Dry on another drum, took out the inner muffling ring, I think it's a terrific balance of crispy snares and a pingy rimshot.
 
I just picked up an Evans Power Center Reverse Dot head for my Ludwig Centurian maple 14"x6.5" snare drum. I've tried a mid and upper-mid tuning, but can't get it to settle down when it's hit outside of the dot. It rings like a timbale!

I'm considering a thicker single-ply head, but would also try a 2-ply. I'd also consider your tuning ideas for this head. Suggestions?

This is why this head does not work, IMO. Off center it sucks.
I suggest a 2 ply head or EVnas Genera, but thats kind of dry too.
You just can't beat an Amb on a snare.
 
I use a PCRD on my steel 5.5"x14" snare and it has a bit of ring, but really nothing more than a single-ply head with no muffling would give me. I tune it medium-tight, with the bottom head tuned about half-a-turn lower, and if I need muffling I throw a studio ring on it.

Most of the snare ring you hear is going to add to cut and projection, and unless you're miking the drum in a studio setting, it shouldn't be noticeable to anyone else. I usually play it unmuffled live. It's a pretty responsive, crisp head, but then again this is a very lively, sensitive drum. Your results may vary.
 
You just can't beat an Amb on a snare.

I agree, and this is the first time that I've come across a snare drum that doesn't sound right with one on it. It's like all the oomph goes away when it's hit hard.
And I'm okay with some ring on my snare, but that head was just out of control when it came to ring. It would do it right outside of the dot, and not in a pretty way, either. I should record it.
My problem with the PCRD, Al, is that it forces me to be more exact on where I'm hitting the snare drum. It seems to focus the sweet spot so much that anything directly off-center is just buried in "shraaaaang".
I'll mess around with it a little more, but unless I can make it work I'm probably going to try something else [2ply likely].
Thanks for the tips, guys. Much appreciated.
 
I had the same problem with the controlled sound head by Remo that came with my Gretsch Brooklyn snare. Went back to my old reliable Evans HD dry, and the sound is perfect.
 
Even with my recent problems with some Evans heads, the Power Center Reverse Dot head remains a staple, at least for the time being, on most of my snares. I've been using it for about five years, so far without issues. I do tend to concentrate my hits to its center and tune it from medium to high tension.

Dennis
 
One of my 13s came with that reverse Evans dot thingy and I just couldn't get into it. Not on a snare drum. When I was a kid I had black dots on toms and bass drums and those worked great there. Not so much on a snare. I need that drum to be as ringy and responsive as possible. A regular G1 or G2 coated (or coated Ambassador or Emperor) works fine for me.
 
Sorry, but that is my go-to snare batter. I have used it on three snares, one maple, one steel, and one aluminum. I love how it rings for a brief moment, and I have not noticed any problem hitting it outside of the dot. I have tuned them from medium high to very high, and those heads have sounded great on my snares. I like very slight muffling on my snares, and the EC Reverse Dot batter fits my sound almost perfectly.

Maybe you should tune it a bit higher. Good luck getting the sound you want.
 
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I tried the head sounded good but the dot on the underside started to break away in piece of the head. The top had lots of life in it yet.
 
Thanks for the responses, guys. Good to see I'm not the only one who has tried it with unsatisfactory results. Also good to see that there are people that have gotten it to work, so that gives me hope.
I'm gonna try an emperor-weight head and a 2-ply and see which one works best. I think I need something that has a uniform design across the head, and not with impact enhancements. I thought that's what I might have needed originally, but it's not seeming that way.

I tune my snare for upper-high and like a good pop. I'm missing tone when I really hit it, but it sounds great at lower volumes. I don't mind some ring, as I can usually work with it. I do, however, prefer a more focused tone, so I'd sit sometimes on the muffly side of the tracks.
I'm not a spaz, so I'm not all over the snare drum, but I'm also not a weckl. I'd like to have the whole surface under control.
 
Update:
So, a couple things happened today. First, my eternal wait was finally over...3 years I've been waiting for some of my stuff to come around the world to me....and I got my other snare drum, a Pearl 14"x6.5" Free Floater with an Aluminum shell. I use an Ambassador on it and love it, but I thought I'd give the EPCR a spin on it. It sounded pretty good there, especially cranked high. I tried doing that on the wood snare like you suggested, Drumolator, but I just didn't get the results I was looking for.

But it sounds good on the Pearl. Weird. Maybe it's a wood thing?

Oh, I also went down to band practice tonight and did a couple of things different: I put the Ambassador back on the wood snare and lowered the tuning a little on the resonant head. It seemed to give me almost all the power I was looking for, but I still think an Emperor-thickness head will do better.

I think I've also had to do a little getting used to this wood snare, as it's my first. Maybe I'm trying to make it do something it doesn't like to do.
 
Lots of things affect which heads work - shell materials and construction, snare bed contour and depth, bearing edges, etc. You just have to trust what your ears tell you.

My personal experience with dotted heads in general, on snares, is similar to yours. To me, they have a great backbeat sound, but added overtones outside the dot. I didn't mind it as much on my snares, but the same characteristics were present.
 
Yeah, and I can see the benefit of a dot for a tom head, definitely. This drum must have a point right before choking where it'll do what I'm wanting. Last night was definitely more satisfying than before, although that was from an Ambassador.
What about this theory: since metal has a livelier, more-overtoney sound in general, as opposed to a wood snare being more subdued, warmer and 'woodier' sounding, perhaps the EPCR brings out the overtones more in wood than in metal, or seems like it. Where on metal the head has a more uniform feeling, on wood the overtones sound forced and manufactured. And the wood doesn't have the nice ring overtone, but more of a "sproing".
The sproing is my problem. The EPCR, when hit in the center, makes the snare wires snap, but when hit off-center, it almost sounds like the snare wires are only reacting from the edges. This only happens with the EPCR and not with the Ambassador.

A large part of this whole thing is basically me getting used to the sound of the wood snare. It sounds great tonally, but it just feels like it's got a limiter on it. The EPCR is just testing my sanity.
Thanks. I appreciate the interest, the suggestions and the experienced advice.
 
I've used it before on my Chad Smith snare, but it was a long time ago. From what I remember, it sounded alright, but it wasn't 100% for me. I use the ST Dry as my go-to head on this drum and the 14x6.5 maple I just built.
 
Hello All and Mikeyhanson,
There has been some great information passed around about the "Dot" heads. Here are my thoughts on your situation. With any Dot head, you are putting more mass in the center of the head, creating a Sweet Spot. Unfortunately this will not match the timbre of the other sections of the head due to the control patch changing the construction of the head in one area. The other two factors that may cause those extreme overtones are,
1. The snare side heads being too tight
2. The snares themselves being over tightened.
If you are looking for something else to try that is very durable and that may be more consistent across the head I would suggest-
G14 coated- http://evansdrumheads.com/EvProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3567&productid=546&productname=G14_Coated
Genra-http://evansdrumheads.com/EvProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3567&productid=430
HD-http://evansdrumheads.com/EvProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3567&productid=422
Thanks
 
I had the same problem with the controlled sound head by Remo that came with my Gretsch Brooklyn snare. Went back to my old reliable Evans HD dry, and the sound is perfect.

I agree with Grunter. The HD Dry heads are the best heads i've used on snares.
 
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