Earthtone

Ransan

Ransan

Senior Member
Just wanted to let you know Earthtone is coming back.

This weekend when my wife and I went to Billings, MT I had to stop at Hansen Music.

I picked up this NoS 13” from them.
Jason put my 16” head on order, and says they are expecting sometime in November, maybe December.
I highly recommend Hansen’s if your ever up that way.

To confirm, I’ve been trying to get ahold of Goldtone, the company owning Earthtone. Finally did and was told the same thing!

Doesn’t look like they are going to be cheap, was upwards of $60 for the 16”, and the 13” was little over $40, so roughly $100 for just these two skins.

I’ve been looking for these for a long ass time, I’m stoked!
I may have to put these on my Pearl’s for a second before they land home on my Rogers.

If anyone has experience in these skins I’d love your feedback as well.


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That's pretty high priced.
 
Not t
Ransan said:
I hear ya.

These aren’t typical synthetic, they are authentic.

These skins will be dawning my Rogers so I didn’t spare the expense!
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Not that pricey if you're using them like that and playing music that is worthy of calfskin.
 
Those guys gave me two 14” when I went to the NAMM show. A thin one for the bottom and a medium one for the top. They sounded great. Like calf though, you end up having to tune them up all the time. Great with brushes.
 
lefty2 said:
Not t

Not that pricey if you're using them like that and playing music that is worthy of calfskin.
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It’s more of a fitting piece for the kit.
I’ve never been into Calftone or Fiberskyn, these I’ve been intrigued by for sometime.

I’m not a jazzer or brusher, I really wish I had some of that in me.
I love Doo-Wop, Motown, and AM Solid Gold Oldies, if that qualifies as music type.

Push pull stroke said:
Earrthtones are a place to start, but Kentville and Stern Tanning and Kalfo are all MUCH better. And legacy kick drum heads on eBay are better too.
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I’ve heard of Kentville but aren’t they Aussie?
I’ll look into the others.
If I like these, I’d consider giving the ‘Roos a try.

Bo Eder said:
Those guys gave me two 14” when I went to the NAMM show. A thin one for the bottom and a medium one for the top. They sounded great. Like calf though, you end up having to tune them up all the time. Great with brushes.
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I didn’t realize, I thought it would settle like any other head, but reading over the instructions again. I think you may be correct.

Multijd said:
Not a fan ever since I started using Kentville, Bovid, Stern Tanning or Litik.
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What do you not like about these in specific if I may ask? (Will also look into others you listed.)
 
Bo Eder said:
Those guys gave me two 14” when I went to the NAMM show. A thin one for the bottom and a medium one for the top. They sounded great. Like calf though, you end up having to tune them up all the time. Great with brushes.
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And when the Santa Ana winds come, they dry up and become very brittle.
 
All's I remember is that the reviewer in Modern Drummer was more than impressed with the earth tones. OK..they are usually impressed with things but there have been a few reviews where the excitement was over the top and this was one of them. The other review that made a mark on my conscience was a GMS kit. I'd like to think I'm good at reading between the lines and these stood the test of time.
 
Ransan said:
What do you not like about these in specific if I may ask? (Will also look into others you listed.)
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The skin itself is not very high quality. I’ve been tucking my own heads and you really get a feel for the actual skin that reveals a level of quality in the choice and production that the better manufacturers produce. More demanding users (classical players) wouldn’t use those heads. Also another part is the flesh hoops. Earthtones are pressed into a thin aluminum hoop. Authentic calf heads are tucked (wrapped around) onto the flesh hoop, this is far superior. I think Earthtones are ok for an introductory try. But there are much better options available. Of course a good quality natural skin is twice the price of the Earthtones. $60-80 per head depending on whether you tuck them yourself. But they last years. I have heads that are 5, 50 even 100 years old. If you take care of them they last a long time. And the care and retuning isn’t any where near as difficult as people make it out to be. There is knowledge that was lost in the switch from calf to Mylar. You have to regain that knowledge through experience. To me it’s worth it. To others maybe not. But I like that they give me a unique sound.
 
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I had a terrible experience with the last one I got from them. A 14” that wouldn’t seat on any of 4 snare drums that I own. By the time it got seated the top of the hoop was below the drum rim. Then it ripped out at the collar (at 80 on my drumdial) There’s $50 down the drain.
 
Great name.
 
Multijd said:
The skin itself is not very high quality. I’ve been tucking my own heads and you really get a feel for the actual skin that reveals a level of quality in the choice and production that the better manufacturers produce. More demanding users (classical players) wouldn’t use those heads. Also another part is the flesh hoops. Earthtones are pressed into a thin aluminum hoop. Authentic calf heads are tucked (wrapped around) onto the flesh hoop, this is far superior. I think Earthtones are ok for an introductory try. But there are much better options available. Of course a good quality natural skin is twice the price of the Earthtones. $60-80 per head depending on whether you tuck them yourself. But they last years. I have heads that are 5, 50 even 100 years old. If you take care of them they last a long time. And the care and retuning isn’t any where near as difficult as people make it out to be. There is knowledge that was lost in the switch from calf to Mylar. You have to regain that knowledge through experience. To me it’s worth it. To others maybe not. But I like that they give me a unique sound.
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For me, I only want calf on my bass drums and some of my snare drums. I like it on some snares because it’s so much more bouncy than Mylar, which makes buzz rolls easier, and the fact that it feels better under the stick.

But NOTHING can replicate the sound of calfskin on a bass drum. Especially a big Jenkins-Martin like I have, those kicks already have tremendous low end, and the calfskin on there (I use some old legacy heads from the 40s) sounds like thunder. Just so satisfying.
 
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