Love em and Leave em or old Faithfull ?

baz

Silver Member
...hola dot comrades.

For the last few weeks, I have been going through this drum lethargy where no matter what I do, I can not get excited about playing. I call this malaise the doldrums,(pun intended). This is one of those "danger zone" periods where in years past I would run out and buy something, thinking that a new head combo, cymbal, snare, or other piece of gear would reignite something, and kick start my enthusiasm.

When I do my daily half hour of pounding, the one thing that does give me some sense of joy is how (to my ears) good my drums sound. No matter what head, cymbal, or drum configuration I expiriment with, I always gravitate back to the standard four by four, with coated G-2 over coated G-1 on my toms, Reverse dot power center over ambo snare on my snares, and SK-1 with ported coated stock res on my bass. These are my old fathfulls, and I find it very difficult to hear my drums any other way. I was not consciously looking for the "perfect" sound, but it somehow found me.

My question to you is how many of you have found the sound that you always go back to ? How did you find it ? was it something that you had envisioned and were able to capture, or did you stumble on it by accident ?

Or are you a love em and leave em type where you get bored with a particular sound/style, and feel the need to constantly change.

Once again, thank you for your time, and I look forward to your insights.

Barry
 
...hola dot comrades.

For the last few weeks, I have been going through this drum lethargy where no matter what I do, I can not get excited about playing. I call this malaise the doldrums,(pun intended). This is one of those "danger zone" periods where in years past I would run out and buy something, thinking that a new head combo, cymbal, snare, or other piece of gear would reignite something, and kick start my enthusiasm.

When I do my daily half hour of pounding, the one thing that does give me some sense of joy is how (to my ears) good my drums sound. No matter what head, cymbal, or drum configuration I expiriment with, I always gravitate back to the standard four by four, with coated G-2 over coated G-1 on my toms, Reverse dot power center over ambo snare on my snares, and SK-1 with ported coated stock res on my bass. These are my old fathfulls, and I find it very difficult to hear my drums any other way. I was not consciously looking for the "perfect" sound, but it somehow found me.

My question to you is how many of you have found the sound that you always go back to ? How did you find it ? was it something that you had envisioned and were able to capture, or did you stumble on it by accident ?

Or are you a love em and leave em type where you get bored with a particular sound/style, and feel the need to constantly change.

Once again, thank you for your time, and I look forward to your insights.

Barry

Over the years I have tried MANY head combos to get the tone that I now use almost all the time.

I have found, for ME, on my toms I like Ludwig HEAVY coated (1000 mil single ply) over Ludwig medium white smooth (or any quality non-coated single ply medium -750 mil- reso) really does it for me. I was always looking for a sound that doesn't get as bright as a jazz type of sound, but also doesn't get in to the really deep tones of a rock setup.

This head combo (when others have played my kit so I could give a listen) reminds me of Calfskin's tone, but a lively brighter version of it. It's got a nowadays twist on a vintage tone. It's also VERY loud and boisterous and doesn't get lost behind the sound of an amplified band.

A plus is that the Ludwig HEAVY heads are SUPER durable as they are 1000 mil single ply heads.

For my snares (usually a 14x6.5 supra) I'll use a coated black dot, I like a few different brands like Evans and Remo. I'll put that over an ambassador weight snare side and 12, 16, or 20 strand snares are interchangeable depending on my mood.

For the kick drum, I'll use an Evans EQ3 clear double ply (or equivalent) for the added slap of impact and a bit of control and MAYBE I'll trim down the control ring if I figure it's a bit too much muffling. I'll usually use another Ludwig HEAVY coated 1000 mil on the reso side. I don't use ANY additional muffling.

All of this combined with a bit of tuning and tweaking and it sounds so good it makes me smile! :)
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Most respect the badge, but all fear the drum.
 
Hola Barry! G2 over G1 clears, emp/amb snare, EMAD/stock Yammie reso is my comfort food.

I'd like to romance EXACTLY what you have.....howboutdat! Thats next for me.
 
I too gravitate back to my old faithful/standby heads, (toms) clear ambassadors over clear ambassadors. Every few months I get itchy, and try something different, and it only serves to remind me that I really go for the old faithful/standby combination. Kind of like being married, but you want to try something different, only to be reminded what really trips my trap, all without the nasty knife fight that happens with the wife, ha ha.
I like coated emps over remo hazy on the snare and regular emad on kick batter with my ported DW logo head.
 
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