When do YOU replace your drum heads/what do you recommend?

[Rollinfever15]

I've been playing drums for over 4 years and have only replaced my stock heads on my mapex a year after I got it, and I'm wondering if its time to replace all of my drum heads? The batter Remo Ambassadors are worn down but i dont think all of the coating is all the way off.

Also, what drum heads do you guys recommend for the rack/floor toms, for getting a low tuning sound of the drums and that also have a good attack to them. Should I replace the resonate heads as well? They are also stock.

[larryace]

I am a new Aquarian convert. 4 reasons.
They are more durable IMO, they don't dent as easily, as far as I can tell.
They sound if not exactly the same, then slightly better than Evans.
They are less expensive than the other 2 big guys.
I like Roy Burns, he's a stand up guy and deserves my business.

I am referring to the single ply 10 mil, classic clear heads only.
I have no experience with any other Aquarian head.

[tard]

I agree with Larry 100%, I use the classic clear resos and studio x for batters and coated studio x on snares and cannot find anything else thats sounds as good on my maple kit. For me and my playing style they last twice as long as evans and 4 times as long as remo before going dead and the coating on the texture coated heads is almost bullet proof. The best bass drum sound I ever had is with the super kick 1 with a ported regulator front head with no extra muffling inside the drum and tuned just above JAW to the point it just starts to resonate. The fact that they cost less is just and added bonus. As for replacement, as soon as they start to go dead but it depends on the heads and the amount I am playing. When im practicing twice a week with 2 rehearsals plus a gig I need to change remos by 2 months, evans at about 4 months and aquarians at around 8 months or so.

[Winston_Wolf]

I replace when I start to notice the tone becoming harsh and less resonant; more BANG! and less booooom...

I first got into Aquarian a couple years ago with the Modern Vintage heads. I also use the Impact head on my bass drum and love that one too, and I just put a coated Studio-X on my snare that sounds amazing.

The one constant is the tone quality and ease of tuning Aquarian has. I'm sold!

[harryconway]

If you play you kit a lot, you probably should replace all your heads "at least" once a year. And the snare batter, every six months.

As far as what heads to use, I play Remo and Evans. Experiment. But first, read info on all the manufacture web sites. They rate their heads, which ones are dark, which ones are bright, etc. Also, search this forum. There are more threads on drum heads than you'll probably ever want to read.

[BabyBob]

I replace my reso heads once a year...batter heads it depends usually bi annually.

Hey OP I'm sorry for hijacking your thread but....

Originally Posted by harryconway

If you play you kit a lot, you probably should replace all your heads "at least" once a year. And the snare batter, every six months.

As far as what heads to use, I play Remo and Evans. Experiment. But first, read info on all the manufacture web sites. They rate their heads, which ones are dark, which ones are bright, etc. Also, search this forum. There are more threads on drum heads than you'll probably ever want to read.

May I know what is the difference between dark and bright heads can you please explain to me?(I thought dark/bright are only for cymbals...) Any examples?

Thanks.

[GrooveBlaster]

When they break or I get sick of the sound of them. Usually they last a little over a year.

[harryconway]

Originally Posted by BabyBob

May I know what is the difference between dark and bright heads can you please explain to me?(I thought dark/bright are only for cymbals...)
Any examples?

An example of Remo calling their Diplomat head "bright warm" http://www.remo.com/portal/products/...ds_coated.html ..... scroll down to the Powerstroke 4, they refer to it as "darkest sounding" ......

[dmacc]

Some stock heads are fine and some are not so fine. The stocks that came with my latest set are wonderful Evan's heads with no need to replace. Some of the stock heads I've seen on other kits would be replaced immediately if they were mine. Depends on your ideal sound.

I play the same heads for years before they are replaced. At about 15 - 20 hours per week over the course of a year - I get 2 - 3 years from them. I love a well worn in head much more than a new one. Reso's last me even longer.

I gravitate to Evans and Aquarian though I still use an occasional Remo here and there. I'm fairly simple though (mostly single ply coated) so not much fancy stuff needed for me in the way of heads.

[BabyBob]

Originally Posted by harryconway

An example of Remo calling their Diplomat head "bright warm" http://www.remo.com/portal/products/...ds_coated.html ..... scroll down to the Powerstroke 4, they refer to it as "darkest sounding" ......

I see so its also something like bright/dark cymbals? Or just a name...hmm can one actually hear the difference...hehe

Originally Posted by Winston_Wolf

I replace when I start to notice the tone becoming harsh and less resonant; more BANG! and less booooom...

That's about it in a nut shell or if you can afford to do it AND whether you can do batter and reso. After about 6 months of using these Emperors I started noticing that with an overwhelming amount of stick marks (not dents, marks from the tips) it starts to sound dull or lifeless and has too much attack and less boom as Winston puts it lol.

Now are they totally useless..... no of course not and still "tune up" BUT it's up to you whether you want that true and lovely sound of new heads or if you want to continue with the degrading sound of them either because you don't feel quite ready to reskin or if because you can't quite afford to do it. Hell if we had enough moola, I'm sure we'd reskin every month or less lol, trying different combos and just in general keeping that new drum head sound to our drums. :)

[JesusMySavior]

Originally Posted by Rollinfever15

but i dont think all of the coating is all the way off.
.

wait until all of the coating is off, then you know it's time to replace them.

if there's an inch left of coating, you can still hit it in that spot.


haha, jk. I replace mine long before that happens. If the coating chips, I usually replace it within a week or two!

[LeftoverPenguin]

I'm in a rock band where I'm playing pretty heavily (not scary hard or anything; I think I've put maybe two dents into my heads ever). I play for a good three hours at a gig, a couple of hours at practice, and then my practice time in-between which probably an hour a day on average. When we're playing a lot I'll change my batter heads about once every four months. Right now I'm sitting on a new set of heads because we've got a month off after a pretty hectic April and May, but they'll be going on soon.

It should be noted that I'm probably more eager to change out my heads because I'm still experimenting with different ones.

So this begs the question: do you think playing style affects how often you need to change the heads? If you're hitting a floor tom 4x as much as another guy does that mean you need to change it out sooner? Or is the durability more associated with the tension of the head over a certain period of time?

[alex-likes-drums]

I'd say you should replace them when you become aware that the tone is being lost. Often you can see you should replace them when they are badly beaten and dirty. From what i have heard and read you should replace reso heads every third time you replace your batter heads. i dont know if this is correct though. i would recommend remo or evans heads every time

[audiotech]

I change the heads on my kits pretty regularly and the intervals in time has much to do with the amount of use of any particular kit. Some kits may have a month or two between changes and others that don't get played very regularly will get changed about every five or six months.

One hint, if your heads seem to be sounding a bit dull with lack of tone or resonance, just take all the heads down to zero tension and just re-tune everything just as you would when completely replacing the heads. This way the heads will again be seated evenly and properly with even tension throughout the entire diameter of the hoop. You'll be surprised just how this simple process brings back new sonic life to the heads. I may do this two or three times within the life of the heads. Badly worn or dented heads should find their way to the garbage can ASAP.

Dennis