Head advice - Mapex M Birch

20legend

Junior Member
I have a Mapex M Birch Fusion kit still with factory heads fitted and the time has now come to change. I'm going to stick with the standard Reso's that came with it for now so only will be changing the batters. What I'm looking for is to bring the deepest sound I can out of the 4 toms (8, 10, 12 & 14), I like a moderate amount of sustain, deep but bright sound if that makes sense to anyone. Any advice greatly appreciated as I've only ever played on Pinstripes before this kit (not keen on them) and haven't had much experience with others types/manufacturers. There must be a good head that complements this birch kit.
Thanks for looking!
 
Clear or coated Emperors would be good, or clear or coated Evans G2's.

Aquarian's heads are generally warmer sounding, so one of their heads might be what you are after too.

I'd try a couple different heads for the smallest tom, and see what you like best.

If the smallest tom sounds good, then you can invest in the rest--saving time, money, aggravation etc...

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the advice, especially trying the small tom first. The Ambasador has also been metined to me too my a friend, what's the difference between these and the Emporers?
 
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Hey, I have this exact kit. Running Aquarian Clear Super-IIs at the moment, and I love them. They give almost a perfectly-eq'd studio sound, especially when recording. In fact, I can't think of a single thing that's wrong with these heads. Only that after 8 months of pounding they're about ready to die, so I'll replace them with some coated heads this time, just to see what they're like. Thinking of coated Emperors...
Yeah, hope that helps :p
Cel.
 
Thanks for the advice, especially trying the small tom first. The Ambasador has also been metined to me too my a friend, what's the difference between these and the Emporers?

Emperors are constructed of two 7mil mylar plys and Ambassadors are constructed from one 10 mil ply, so they are more open sounding, brighter and slightly less powerful (they don't project as much). If you want a deep sound, you've done the right thing getting that birch kit. I would definately recommend Remo coated or clear Emperors. I'm running coated on my Mapex maple kit now and I get a super deep tone out of them, and that's with a maple kit. If I were you though, I'd try some clear Emperors because they will give you the deep tone and the bright attack. They're basically Pinstripes but without the 'pinstripe', so they should give you a fair bit of resonance.

Good luck with your choice,
Lloyd.
 
When I first saw the title of your thread, I thought I'd respond and recommend that you try some clear Emperors, however, I have to go beat a dead horse. :)
 
I've got exactly the same kit and the same type of question for the heads. I've tuned them quite well with the original heads and they sound pretty well even with these. Just wondering: would Clear Emperors have less acoustic cut than the originals, which are Ambassador-type of heads? I know Dave Weckl was saying on his "How to Develop Your Own Sound" DVD that a single ply head will usually project better acoustically. On the other hand, I recall the times when I played Clear Pinstripes on other drums, they seemed to have better cut than the current Ambassador-type heads on my M Birch.
 
Thanks for all of yur advice on the multitude of head choices out there. I've going to go and try both coated and clear emperors on the toms so I'll post back and post my views for these on a birch kit. Thanks again everyone!
 
G2 clears over G1 clears....very focused...a controlled sustain with the right small amount of overtones....moderately deep but not dead sounding....if you would like an even deeper sound with less sustain go with EC2's over G1's....im a fan of evans heads as you can tell...and any kit i've played with G2's has sounded great
 
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