New Snare/New Heads looking for a fat wet sound

N

Nastynate16

Junior Member
Hey, I just bought a Tama Warlord Masai snare drum off ebay about a week or two ago for a great price and it just came in the other day, so im pretty excited about it. It is beautiful. So anyways the stock heads are still on it, still in relatively good condition with a coated G1 on top and a hazy 300 on the bottom. The hazy has a small dent in it when i loosen it all the way so i figure ill swap that out for a new reso head and while im trying to get the sound im looking for swap the top head out as well. The stock strand snares are on it also which i think is a 20 strand but im not positive. With that said i no theres a ton of different possibilities so i want to try and narrow it down a bit. Im looking for a fat wet sound. I play alot of rock and funk. What heads would you recommend? Prefably remo but im open to other suggestions as well. My old snare had an Evans Dry which sounded fine on my pearl export but its not the sound im lookin for. And should i also think about getting a different strand snare wire? I was thinking of maybe a controlled sound reverse dot batter or powerstroke with an ambassador or diplomat snare reso side. I also have a drumdial if anyone has tension settings that they prefer. Thanks in advance.
 
Pavlos said:
Try using a hair dryer on the dent. It might come out and you can save the head if it's in otherwise new shape.
Click to expand...

Well i saved around 200$ getting it used on ebay so i figure i have some cash to experiment with head choices and such so i dont have a problem buying a new reso head. I just want to narrow down my choices a bit before i go to guitar center and buy a few different heads to try out.
 
You can't really go wrong with an Ambassador on both the batter and a snare side really...

I think after having an Ambassador, a Reverse CS Dot and then another Ambassador I'm going to switch back to and stick with the CS Dot. Just a little bit more pop and thwack to it when you hit the dot due to the added thickness. Can't say I've used many other heads that weren't beaten to death on someone else's snare though, so I can't really help other than add my two cents on the CS Dot.
 
I like The Remo Powerstroke 3 coated with the power dot. You get a Fat wet sound when you hit it near center. If you go outside of the power dot the sound changes drastically. You then get a nice ring. The head provides a lot of diversity. I can crank the batter up tight for a lot of action and still get a fat sound. I use an Evans 300 Hazy underneath.
 
Honestly I absolutely love the Coated Vintage Emperors on my John Tempesta sig snare. It is a 7" brass shell, so its already pretty fat and wet, but the Vintage Emperor really brings out the fatness. I have tried a Coated CS on it and it was okay, but it was no where near as fat and loud as the Vintage Emp. There is still plenty of sensitivity as well.
 
I thought about trying a Vintage Emperor as well, isn't it a tyo-ply head that, at least according to Remo's website is really bright still?

Because that sounds like an interesting buy...
 
Yes, Chaos, the Vintage Emperor is a two ply head. The regular Emperor is two 7-mil plies, the Vintage Emperor is two 7.5-mil plies, so slightly thicker. I was looking for something that was loud, full, sensitive and durable and the Vintage Emperor is perfect. I have them on my toms too...amazing.

If you do get one, be sure to tune it up, then press down hard on the head surface to seat the head. Do this two or three times before playing it. I put my full weight on the head to seat it, so sometimes I will put an old head upside down on the new one before pressing just to make sure I don't dent the new head. I don't know if the excessive force is quite necessary, but it has produced great results so far.
 
Although I've been primarily an Aquarian and Evans guy, I've recently started digging the Remo Coated Reverse CS dot head. IMHO, these work especially well on metal drums. Have one on my Yamaha Paul Leim and one on my Ludwig Acrolite. On the Acro I get a very nice wet smack when tuned lower.

I also like the Aquarian Satin Texture Coated and the Evans Coated G2 for snare batters. I have a 5 x 13 maple Pork Pie that just seems to love the G2. Any one of those would be nice choices for a batter.

I'm not as picky with the snare side resos although a new fresh head will certainly make a difference. Aquarian Classic Clear snare side or Evans 200/300's are what I've used mostly.

FWIW: I used to agree with JoeyHWaters method of breaking in heads but read recently on a couple of forums that this could distort the head and make it harder to tune. The recommendation was to tune the head up and play it for a couple of days, adjusting as you go.

HTH

Jim
 
You know I always break in Remo heads that way, but I never break in Aquarian heads at all, I just tune them and let them break in over time. I read somewhere years ago that this was the norm for Remo (stand on the damn things) and Aquarian (leave them alone). This has worked for 10 years or better.

Although, I will say that once I hear the glue on the Remo heads crack a little, I generally back off. There is no reason to stand on a drum head just on principle.
 
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