Head advice again....

I'm not going to be swapping out heads for quite a while, but I just want to know this for future reference:

I have a Tama Rockstar kit, and I'm thinking my next set of tom heads will have all Remo Clear Ambassadors as reso heads, and I'm near positive I wanna try coated heads seeing as I haven't played with any in a long time. I kinda agree that Evans' frosty coating on the EC2s still has a bit of attack so I wanna try something with a bit less attack.... For experimentations sake.

I'm debating between coated Ambassadors and Emperors. I'm not sure by definition if I'm looking for a brighter or darker sound, but I've heard that Ambassadors are more open than Emperors although the Emperors are more open than a lot of heads. I have a Coated Ambassador on my snare right now and will be replacing it with a Reverse Dot CS as soon as it arrives...

I guess I'm looking for a kind of jazz fusion sound, a la Marco Minnemann or Dave Weckl and I'm pretty sure Weckl uses coated Ambassadors, although I think Minnemann uses Evans heads and I'm not sure what they are, I'd guess G1's or G2's.

Any advice? After a while of thinking I want Emperors I might be changing my mind...

I am a firm believer that head choice is best when based upon technique and what one wants to say on the kit, as opposed simply to tone. For example, I think ambassador heads suit people who play intricate patterns and who may have well developed finger technique.
Emperors for example are perhaps better suited to wrist players who play many singles and widely spaced notes etc.

So my advice would be to try to base your choice upon how you play.

I'm not that great of a drummer, but I'm curious as to why you say that.... I'm not sure I'm following exactly why.

Chaos_Inferno said:

I'm not that great of a drummer, but I'm curious as to why you say that.... I'm not sure I'm following exactly why.

Click to expand...

For example, I tend to play in a style that makes much use of finger technique as well as larger Moeller type strokes. So I find that heads such as double ply pinstripes or emperors are slow in response. Rather than getting the note definition, the sound can be rather muddy or dense. On the other hand, single ply heads such as diplomats, ambassadors, ambassador fibreskins etc react better to my playing style. Depending upon the stroke and tuning used, it doesn't really matter what head is used provided the head choice is in common with the player's technique.

I lead with my right hand and my right hand most definitely utilizes a stronger finger technique, not nearly as much in my left. I have a very odd grip that I'm trying to work on fixing, it'll probably improve my technique just doing that alone.

I don't play particularly hard either, I've never broken or even really dented a drum head.... single or double ply, so thats not relaly an issue for me. I'm thinking Ambassadors then?

I've got quite a bit pointing to those now lol.

If that is the case, you may perhaps enjoy coated ambassadors or fibreskin A's, which sound lovely and warm but also provide good definition.

I have a coated amb on my 10 and coated emps onmy 12 ,14. I like emps on the larger toms. Albeit 12 is not considered large it does it justice. The 12 remains suprsingly open with the emp it doesn't choke at all, even at higher tunings. Emp on the 14 are just perfect IMO.
I find the emps are a bit too thick for the 10. low to mid tunings are ok. But at higher ranges the emp starts to choke the drum.

remember there are no rules.

I have an 8" tom as well, so maybe I should go with Ambassadors on my mounted toms and Emperors on my floor toms?

Actually I think at some point I'll probably end up trying both and maybe I'll decide to mix and match after I've heard them both on my kit and see how they feel.

Hi
I have a rockstar too. I have struggled to learn how to tune them. I use coated ambs over clear ambs. I tune both heads the same, similar heads make it easier for a novice like me to hear the same tones. I use a little moongel too.
I think I was always tuning my drums low, now I have my 12 inch tom at a C and my 16 inch tom at a lower C. I can now get a minor 3rd between my 12, 13 and 14. The larger interval makes my drums sound better.

This is working for me right now, these drum really sound so much better and very different than when I had powerstroke4's on them.
I just replaced my factory bass batter head with clear powerstroke3, tuned it like drumtechdad suggests, and it's also an improvement.
Next time, I may try Emps, but I don't think I will ever use muffled heads, just put on a little moon gel, if needed.

I have learned so much from the information found here at Drummerworld.
Hope this helps get your rockstar sounding the best it can be.

I've got a really wide range of toms and haven't been tuning them to any specific note, just whatever intervals sounded good to me by ear.

If I can get my hands on a tuner I might try by notes but I have the 8-piece config so I have 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 inch ones....

Hi
If you can tune by ear to intervals you find pleasing that is great. You may not need to use a tuner to find your sound.
I can not hear it naturally, so I use a korg chromatic tuner to help me. It takes patience, you have to be close to make the tuner work without hearing other overtones.

Well I can't hear intervals per music theory, just something that works for me, I haven't gotten to fixing my 16" floor tom yet because something is not quite right with the tuning but I'll fix it some time.

I've still been curious to try and get it to certain notes because I'm sure I'd like it even more.... any ideas what I should tune everything to? Eventually of course.

Sure!
I have a 12,13,14, and 16 size set.
I use my finger to lightly tap (head edges) each lug area to get the note... and then use a stick, striking the center of the drum to get the strike note.
I have coated over clear ambs.
12 inch tom tuned to B flat top and bottom makes a strike note of "C"
13 inch tom tuned to G sharp top and bottom makes a strike note of "A"
14 inch tom tuned to E flat top and bottom makes a strike note of "F#"
16 inch tom tuned to B flat top and bottom makes strike note of "C"
I use a krog ca-30. I don't know if it's good, but I have learned to use it.

"birdman" on this forum helped me with this.

I might mess around even on a keyboard just to find notes I like together, probably look within a certain scale to be sure the intervals sound pleasing to other ears than mine on top of that.

Thanks for the little recommendation though. =]

If you are playing a gig without mics I'd say Ambassador. Let em sing and be heard. For practice room or gig with mics, I'd go Emperor. Good choice on the CS dot...its a great snare head.