zambizzi
Platinum Member
I did a little checking and found the owner was wrong. The Tama was a wrap. Why I liked the wrap was that to my ear, the wrap focused the sound nicely. My bass drum has a nice round , bright, focused sound. I think it's the wrap. I am sure some sonic expert will disagree but that's why I bought it.
When all is said and done, if I am using a coated head on a lacquer, or a clear head on a wrap, it may not really make a difference. One of the things I've noticed is that I can't use a coated head on my wrap. It just loses too much resonance.
I'm using coated Ambassadors over clears on my 12" and 14" toms on the small kit and Vintage Emperors (very thick, coated heads) on the 13" and 16" toms on my "big" kit. Tuned up well, the sustain is almost too much to bear. There isn't any difference to my ears between the natural lacquer finish 13" and 16" I've been playing for months, prior to getting these wrapped drums.
I've heard that Tama uses a very thick wrap, however. This comes from a friend who owned some B/B drums w/ one of the glitter wrap finishes...have never owned or inspected them myself. Tama's shells are quite thin too, aren't they?
Anyhow - I accept that there's no audible difference. I'm sure if you examined them thoroughly and scientifically, you might be able to measure a difference in frequency on a scale not audible to human ears, in most cases with most drums. If you're *hearing* a difference...well...I'd say your imagination is the biggest factor.