Evans heads- Advise pls!!!

Man I love Evans heads ( though I do still mess around with different Remo heads).

I love that they have a huge line of different options just for your Tom Reso's. And the Snare options are all great.


I really think Evans is the innovator in Drum heads whereas Remo is much slower trying to push the industry forward. That said, Remo has its place. But I just personally think a G2 sounds better than an Emperor and an EC2S sounds much more versatile than its Pinstripe competitor.


I'm slowly become a bit of a D'addario fanboy in that I really like the products that pure sound, Evans and ProMark are offering
 
I'm slowly become a bit of a D'addario fanboy in that I really like the products that pure sound, Evans and ProMark are offering

Back in high school (late 1980s), I worked for Promark as an assembler/tuner on a line of anniversary-edition snare drums they were releasing. Back then, Promark was a one-man operation, owned by Herb Brochstein. He started Promark in 1957. Promark has changed a lot since D'addario acquired it. That's inevitable with corporate takeovers, of course.

I use Remo heads and AHEAD sticks. I haven't played Promark in quite a while, and I've never bought an Evans head. My Promark commitment died out once the organization changed hands.
 
Back in high school (late 1980s), I worked for Promark as an assembler/tuner on a line of anniversary-edition snare drums they were releasing. Back then, Promark was a one-man operation, owned by Herb Brochstein. He started Promark in 1957. Promark has changed a lot since D'addario acquired it. That's inevitable with corporate takeovers, of course.

I use Remo heads and AHEAD sticks. I haven't played Promark in quite a while, and I've never bought an Evans head. My Promark commitment died out once the organization changed hands.
Yea I get that.

just feels like promark and Evans are actively trying new things and trying to push the industry forward.

I think remo and Vic Firth are the leaders in their market in terms of sales. But innovation rarely comes from the company with the most market share and it’s cool too see Evans and promark try to make their move on the market leader.
 
Yea I get that.

just feels like promark and Evans are actively trying new things and trying to push the industry forward.

I think remo and Vic Firth are the leaders in their market in terms of sales. But innovation rarely comes from the company with the most market share and it’s cool too see Evans and promark try to make their move on the market leader.

If I intended to use hickory sticks again, I'd definitely return to Promark. I think they're the best wood-stick maker in the business. But I've been with AHEAD for a few years now and really like their feel and shock absorption. They took some getting used to, but I'm hooked at this point.
 
If I intended to use hickory sticks again, I'd definitely return to Promark. I think they're the best wood-stick maker in the business. But I've been with AHEAD for a few years now and really like their feel and shock absorption. They took some getting used to, but I'm hooked at this point.

I’ve played ahead sticks, especially when I used to eat through sticks. I even managed to break both my ahead sticks In less then a month.
But the feel was weird for me.
That said, I’ve been playing a lot of pro marks oak and maple sticks.

but yea ahead just didnt feel nature to me
 
Yea I get that.

just feels like promark and Evans are actively trying new things and trying to push the industry forward.

I think remo and Vic Firth are the leaders in their market in terms of sales. But innovation rarely comes from the company with the most market share and it’s cool too see Evans and promark try to make their move on the market leader.

I think that's a two-edged sword though. Evans is cranking out a lot of new products, but I feel like it's a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Pro Mark too, feels like they've been overcome with the "solution looking for a problem" mentality Evans also has.

Putting out a lot of new products only helps if they're meeting an actual need and keeping their overall quality high in the process. I went through a fairly long spell of shoddy QC that turned me off of Evans after using their heads exclusively for nearly 15 years. Same with Pro Mark. I picked up a few different Pro Mark sticks a while back when I was looking for something new to try and I couldn't believe how much the sticks had changed.

Personally I'm sad that two brands I used to use and enjoy aren't meeting my needs the way they did before D'Addario took over. I like innovation too, but not at the expense of consistency and reliability.
 
I think that's a two-edged sword though. Evans is cranking out a lot of new products, but I feel like it's a lot of throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Pro Mark too, feels like they've been overcome with the "solution looking for a problem" mentality Evans also has.

Putting out a lot of new products only helps if they're meeting an actual need and keeping their overall quality high in the process. I went through a fairly long spell of shoddy QC that turned me off of Evans after using their heads exclusively for nearly 15 years. Same with Pro Mark. I picked up a few different Pro Mark sticks a while back when I was looking for something new to try and I couldn't believe how much the sticks had changed.

Personally I'm sad that two brands I used to use and enjoy aren't meeting my needs the way they did before D'Addario took over. I like innovation too, but not at the expense of consistency and reliability.

Promark did run a nice tight ship when Mr. Brochstein owned it. He was a great guy with very high standards. I learned a lot about sticks, drums, tuning, and the music business in general when I worked there. It was quite a privilege.
 
I don't know much about Evans but i got an HD snare batter on a used drum and i like it alot. it has a very narrow light weight P3 style ring underneath that still works for brushes but gives the head a soft feel and (to me,) a nice thump. When time comes i will replace it with the same for sure.
I play rock & roll but aspire to blues and jazz, and try for those sounds on my kit.
 
Switched to Evans about 2 years ago since I started to get pissed with Remos quality and longevity with their coated heads, Id have X14s go bald after 4hrs playing. Now Ive got Evans G14 on the snare and G2s over G1s on toms (Renown and Starclassic maple kits) and Emad heavyweight on my Starclassic kick and standard EMAD on the Gretsch. Evans are a dream to tune-up too, get a great sound in minutes. Never going back.
 
It's all subjective of course but the Evans heads I've tried sounded plastic-y compared to their Remo counterparts. I tried G1 and G2 heads, both clear and coated, spread out across three different kits and the results were always the same. I detected a hardness to the sound of the Evans that wasn't present in any of the Remo heads that I tried. It wasn't a waste per se but I spent hundreds trying to achieve the sound I was looking for.

At the end of the day, Remo Pinstripes (clear) proved to be universally compatible with all of my drums. They're warm, powerful and focused - everything I'm looking for in a drum head.
 
It's all subjective of course but the Evans heads I've tried sounded plastic-y compared to their Remo counterparts. I tried G1 and G2 heads, both clear and coated, spread out across three different kits and the results were always the same. I detected a hardness to the sound of the Evans that wasn't present in any of the Remo heads that I tried. It wasn't a waste per se but I spent hundreds trying to achieve the sound I was looking for.

At the end of the day, Remo Pinstripes (clear) proved to be universally compatible with all of my drums. They're warm, powerful and focused - everything I'm looking for in a drum head.

Have you tried Evans EC2S?

very similar to pinstripe. Generally my go to head. But they sound fantastic to my ears
 
Switched to Evans about 2 years ago since I started to get pissed with Remos quality and longevity with their coated heads, Id have X14s go bald after 4hrs playing. Now Ive got Evans G14 on the snare and G2s over G1s on toms (Renown and Starclassic maple kits) and Emad heavyweight on my Starclassic kick and standard EMAD on the Gretsch. Evans are a dream to tune-up too, get a great sound in minutes. Never going back.
Thank you!
 
It's all subjective of course but the Evans heads I've tried sounded plastic-y compared to their Remo counterparts. I tried G1 and G2 heads, both clear and coated, spread out across three different kits and the results were always the same. I detected a hardness to the sound of the Evans that wasn't present in any of the Remo heads that I tried. It wasn't a waste per se but I spent hundreds trying to achieve the sound I was looking for.

At the end of the day, Remo Pinstripes (clear) proved to be universally compatible with all of my drums. They're warm, powerful and focused - everything I'm looking for in a drum head.
I think Evens sounds plastic too, but maybe it's good to try new sounds. As I said I'm gonna buy evans just to see how i feel and how they sound!
 
I think it's worth at least considering Aquarian. I've tried a lot of different brands and models and I've really fallen in love with their heads. All of the heads I've tried have warmth to the tone I don't hear in Evans and their coating lasts darn near forever, something I wish Remo had a better track record with.
 
Funny you say that W W ,I just tried an Aquarian for the first time,i put a TC- 14 single ply ,coated on my gretsch usa 14x6.5 maple snare, and i think this is the best its felt and sounded to date . do you use aouarian on your toms ? thks
 
Funny you say that W W ,I just tried an Aquarian for the first time,i put a TC- 14 single ply ,coated on my gretsch usa 14x6.5 maple snare, and i think this is the best its felt and sounded to date . do you use aouarian on your toms ? thks

I use Aquarian on pretty much everything except the snare side, which is always a Remo no collar clear Ambassador. But if Aquarian made a no collar snare side head I'd use that too.

On toms I've used Modern Vintage medium, Modern Vintage II, and Deep Vintage II. I've also used Performance II.
On snares I've used Modern Vintage medium, Modern Vintage medium with a reverse power dot, and Deep Vintage II. I've also used the plain Texture Coated, Texture Coated with reverse dot, a Texture Coated Studio-X, and the New Orleans Special.
On bass drums I use a Super Kick 2 (either clear or Modern Vintage) and often pair it with a Regulator front head.

I literally just unpacked my newest experiment; I'm finally going to try a graduated-thickness assortment on my toms. Super 2 on my 10" and 12" toms, Response 2 on my 13" and first 16" toms, and a Force Ten on my second 16" floor tom.
 
I use Aquarian on pretty much everything except the snare side, which is always a Remo no collar clear Ambassador. But if Aquarian made a no collar snare side head I'd use that too.

On toms I've used Modern Vintage medium, Modern Vintage II, and Deep Vintage II. I've also used Performance II.
On snares I've used Modern Vintage medium, Modern Vintage medium with a reverse power dot, and Deep Vintage II. I've also used the plain Texture Coated, Texture Coated with reverse dot, a Texture Coated Studio-X, and the New Orleans Special.
On bass drums I use a Super Kick 2 (either clear or Modern Vintage) and often pair it with a Regulator front head.

I literally just unpacked my newest experiment; I'm finally going to try a graduated-thickness assortment on my toms. Super 2 on my 10" and 12" toms, Response 2 on my 13" and first 16" toms, and a Force Ten on my second 16" floor tom.
Thanks for the info,good luck with your experiment. I think i will be investigating a little more into using Aquarian heads, i am getting a different vibe from my snare,wondering if its just in my head? but the way you are describing them, i think there is somthing different about them.Gonna find out, thanks Winston!
 
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