Evans G Plus

zzdrummer

Senior Member
So I have searched on here with the search function and for a couple minutes browsing and shockingly nothing on these heads.

I'm changing heads and I was thinking of trying them out, because I like the openness of 1 ply and the deep of 2. And with the coated fusion pack an extra snare head is included free.

So my question is, has anyone tried them for toms or a snare? Any other 1 1/2 ply suggestions? I havent heard any reviews or recordings of these so I'm hoping for some advice. I'm going to put them over clear G1's probably. Thanks.
 
I'm changing heads and I was thinking of trying them out
I was wondering the same thing.
They seem like good heads, I'm thinking about just getting one or two and trying them out to see if I like them.
 
I have the coateds they're great i got them because i wanted the extra durability, i haven't tried the snare but on my 12 and 16 they've become my favorite batter head
 
Ringgggggg.

I guess they would be a great live head if you like a very open sound. I just couldn't get into all those overtones. I played them at GC on a Gretsch Renown maple kit, way too open for me. But, if you like that ring, go for it.
 
Maybe the Gretch was out of tune.

You'll find less or minimal ringggggg with G1 type coated heads on a higher quality set. So, it depends on what kind of kit you are playing. That's why you'll see most cheap drum or lower level drums have pinstripe type heads or >. So, when someone recommends a drum head you should automatically ask yourself if the advice you are getting is comparable to what you are asking. ie. If someone owns a CB kit and is telling you not to use emperors or ambassadors because they ring too much and you own a high quality drum set and you take this advice without knowing he owns a cb kit then you will be receiving the wrong information and possibly denying yourself of the best overall sound.
As a side note it is imp't to provide at least the quality/type of wood if not the brand/model of your kit when asking or answering any type of head question. If this information is not provided it will always lead to scrutiny and debate due to lack of information. then all you have is one guy swearing that pinstripes are the best drum heads on the market and another guy saying that G1/ambassadors are the best overall drum head, a never ending debate. But we don't know is the first guy owns a bottom kit and the second guy owns a high end kit.

are the Gplus's 12mm single ply? do they have a similar tuning range as the G1's or is it more narrow.
 
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Maybe the Gretch was out of tune.

You'll find less or minimal ringggggg with G1 type coated heads on a higher quality set. So, it depends on what kind of kit you are playing. That's why you'll see most cheap drum or lower level drums have pinstripe type heads or >. So, when someone recommends a drum head you should automatically ask yourself if the advice you are getting is comparable to what you are asking. ie. If someone owns a CB kit and is telling you not to use emperors or ambassadors because they ring too much and you own a high quality drum set and you take this advice without knowing he owns a cb kit then you will be receiving the wrong information and possibly denying yourself of the best overall sound.
As a side note it is imp't to provide at least the quality/type of wood if not the brand/model of your kit when asking or answering any type of head question. If this information is not provided it will always lead to scrutiny and debate due to lack of information. then all you have is one guy swearing that pinstripes are the best drum heads on the market and another guy saying that G1/ambassadors are the best overall drum head, a never ending debate. But we don't know is the first guy owns a bottom kit and the second guy owns a high end kit.

are the Gplus's 12mm single ply? do they have a similar tuning range as the G1's or is it more narrow.

I second this. Ring (resonance) is relative to taste as well as contextual to drum composition and quality. Also, as has been discussed, there is good ring and bad ring. For example, I love the ring of my Mapex phosphor bronze snare when tuned well with good heads. I really don't like the ring on a very low end, student level, steel snare poorly tuned.

FWIW: I believe the G-Pluses are singly ply 10mm thick. Although I haven't tuned to the choking point, I believe medium to medium low is best for G-Pluses.

I also have them on my 12 and 16 toms. These drums are '80's blond maple Gretsch toms (traditional gum/maple) suspended on original RIMS mounts.. If anything, I'm concerned about them not ringing enough. Especially in the un-miked, medium-high volume situations I'm using them in. These are the 'coated' (i.e. frosted) G-Pluses. I'm enjoying using them and feel they are a good match for pop/rock/funk - but not for straight ahead jazz.

These are good heads for the right drums and as always the ears of the player who enjoys their sound.

Jim
 
I JUST bought a GPLUS for my 13x6.5 heavy birch sq2 snare.

The overtones are fairly controlable, depending on how you like the reso head tuned. I have mine tuned slightly lower in pitch, yielding less overtones, and a pretty nice sound overall.

With that said, I prefer the Evans g1 coated that I had on it before. A little drier and crisper sounding, and it seemed more durable.
 
I think the g1's are 10mm 1 ply if I'm not mistaken just like the remo ambassador's.
The g plus's have to be more than 10mm, again I may be wrong.

That's what I thought medium to med-low. That's what I love about the ambassador thickness, it allows you a wider tuning range. I'm not knocking the g plus's I just like to have a head with a wider tuning range. It can make your kit sound different without actually changing heads.
 
I have a Yamaha Beech custom 14" snare and I tune to A for reso and C or C# for batter, I use a remo coated ambassador and the ring is perfect IMO. By the way got this from the Bob Gatzen videos a while back. He recommends this tuning as a standard tuning for any snare drum.
When I got there I was actually blown away with the sound.
I like the C # better than the C albeit the difference is slight, you get a bit livelier playing surface with the C#.
 
This was down a few posts:

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45742

Then there's

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44499

and

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43616

They weren't too hard to find, especially the one right here on this page.

Couple things:

One, the Evans frosty "coating" just can't suck enough. Dreadful. Avoid. Get the clears. If Evans had put their regular sprayed-on coating on these heads I'd be all over them.

Two, they are 12mil heads as you can easily learn by going to the Evans web site.

Because they are 12mil heads they will sustain more than 10mil single-ply heads. I actually use a couple of them as resos on two toms I wanted more sustain from. Works great.

I tried them as batters, too, and they sound fine; pretty much what you'd expect. If you find them to be too open and ringy you should stick with pinstripes or hydraulics.
 
This was down a few posts:

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45742

Then there's

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44499

and

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43616

They weren't too hard to find, especially the one right here on this page.

Couple things:

One, the Evans frosty "coating" just can't suck enough. Dreadful. Avoid. Get the clears. If Evans had put their regular sprayed-on coating on these heads I'd be all over them.

Two, they are 12mil heads as you can easily learn by going to the Evans web site.

Because they are 12mil heads they will sustain more than 10mil single-ply heads. I actually use a couple of them as resos on two toms I wanted more sustain from. Works great.

I tried them as batters, too, and they sound fine; pretty much what you'd expect. If you find them to be too open and ringy you should stick with pinstripes or hydraulics.


Sorry about that, I don't know why I searched Evans g plus nothing came up, maybe I needed to capitalize the g?

Anyways, thanks all for the help, I think I'm going to try them out, I have a very common Gretsch Catalina Maple mid end kit that I think will be a good match for the G plus. I am looking for that rock/funk/pop sound because I never get the opportunity to play jazz. I have clear G2's now and I want something a littler warmer with a little more sustain.

I saw the video for Bob Gatzen to, now I need find a pitch pipe or a well tuned guitar. As for the G1 on the snare I would think that it would be less dry because it was thinner?

Thanks for the help, I think i'm going to try them.
 
If I may add this about Bob Gatzen:

First of all, huge fan --he such a great contributor to drum information -- maybe the best ever. His drum tuning DVD should be in the collection of most drummers.

But I have found one aspect where I firmly believe he is flat out wrong (and a brief e"chat" w/ him about it). Bob professes on snares to have the batter higher (tighter) in pitch than the reso (snare side).

I have tried over and over to adopt this methodology(after all, BG is the man!), but I must admit, Bob is outweighed by the cyber drum community who (if you search) you'll see, generally speaking, recommends the opposite -- reso tighter than batter on snare... and I totally agree. My snare drums sound so much better following the "norm", NOT Bob's method.

What I have found is that Gatzen's way will give you a shallow "pop"(some like it) but it seems to make the drum sound smaller, but, even at the same over all note, w/ the more common way (what many pros use) w/ the batter looser than the snare side, the drum opens up more and projects it;s actual volume. I can't explain why, but it just does. Try it both ways, you'll see.

follow Billy Ward's advice (he hates table top, overly tight, chocked snare drums like I do), an you'll have a very nice sounding drum.
http://www.dwdrums.com/eddept/drumclinic/sdtuning-ward.htm
3 or 4 notes higher on the reso yields a very pleasing drum
 
Birdman, it depends on the drum. Most of my snares sound better with the tuning you suggest, but I do have two that sound better with the batter tighter than the reso. Experimentation is the key.
 
True regarding what you say I'm not going to argue the fact that some snares may sound better with the reso higher in pitch. However, Have you ever mic'd a snare that has a higher pitched batter? ie: reso A, batter C or C#.

Yes, at first when I tuned the snare to these notes it sounded a bit shallow and poppy as you say, but then I considered my practice room , 12X10 ft 7' ceilings with little or no sound absorption, it was obvious that I was not hearing the true sound of the snare. But when I've played it out on a gig in a big room it sounded killer, Mic'd up it sounded twice as good. BTW it sounds amazing in my practice room mic'd through a small behringer with IEM's. You actually get to here the real sound of the snare that way.
And those that are curious the snares are at a med med loose tension.
 
Exceptions only prove one thing: yes, exceptions, can and do exist. ;)

Bob is giving general advice, and "generally" as you admit, he is wrong. That's why most drummers tune top looser than bottom w/ snares. It without a doubt makes a snare drum sound smaller than it is. The opposite has ...well...the opposite result! Find out for yourself, readers.
 
Bob is giving general advice, and "generally" as you admit, he is wrong. That's why most drummers tune top looser than bottom w/ snares. It without a doubt makes a snare drum sound smaller than it is. The opposite has ...well...the opposite result! Find out for yourself, readers.

What percentage of drummers need to tune the reso higher to make your statement true? 50.1%? I must have missed this year's drum census.
My point is that Bob's not wrong. Like a lot of things it's completely subjective. It depends if you are recording in studio, playing live, how you have the snare mic'd, etc.
 
Veggo makes an important point. We tend to tune for the room we're tuning in. (Duh!) But that room is usually nothing like a venue-sized space where we actually perform. We also listen to that tuning at extremely close range--way closer than the audience, yet not as close as mics are if we're miked up. All three sound different.

As an example, when I tune my kid's bass drum it sounds anemic in his practice space, yet it sounds seismic in a venue. He just has to put up with it when it's back in the smaller space.

Same holds true for snare ringing: it drives some drummers nuts, but walk 15' away from the drum in a venue-sized room and it disappears. Muffle that ring and it sounds better in the practice room but soft and lifeless in a real space.
 
Here is a good question:

I have a set of ec-1 clears for my low-pitched octaban set. I considered g plus, but wasn't sure if they'd be too thuddy.

I like a slightly focused sound (like the cs dots used to offer) so I went with ec-1's for now.

Would the g-plus work for octabans without choking them? (6x24/22/20/18)
 
Here is a good question:

I have a set of ec-1 clears for my low-pitched octaban set. I considered g plus, but wasn't sure if they'd be too thuddy.

I like a slightly focused sound (like the cs dots used to offer) so I went with ec-1's for now.

Would the g-plus work for octabans without choking them? (6x24/22/20/18)

My kid is using EC1s (rock unmiked) so I have some experience with them as well as the G-plus.

I would expect the G-pluses to sound less "thuddy" than the EC1s, if I understand what you mean by "thuddy."

They sound pretty different. The EC1s are thicker (14mil) so they sustain more (may not be an issue since octabans are usually highish) and are quite dark-sounding heads. There are few high overtones due to the rings. The G-pluses are livelier and brighter. More open.

So, if I'm understanding you right, I'd say the G-pluses are less likely to "choke" the octabans.
 
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