Evans hydraulic drum heads

Haven't used the red ones, but did enter a contest to win a whole set. I have used the clear ones on my Renown drums and found them a little too dead. some may like that sound.
 
The Red Hydraulics are my favorite out of the Hydraulic line, primarily because they're much closer to a G2/EC2S but still with a much shorter natural sustain. This has everything to do with the film combination (all of the films used for the various Hydraulic models are different). They respond at a wider tuning range than the other versions as well.
 
I don't like them acoustic, but if they're miced and EQd they can sound pretty cool. And they probably have the biggest tuning range of any head ever
 
I don't like them acoustic, but if they're miced and EQd they can sound pretty cool. And they probably have the biggest tuning range of any head ever

Definitely agree with regards to miking them, though it doesn't necessarily have to be a close mic. I've had great luck with overheads and a healthy dose of compression. One of the things I like about these heads is that they really don't require much frequency attenuation.

Can't say I agree with regards to the "biggest tuning range of any head ever" though. Single-ply heads have them beat pretty easily on that end.
 
I played the clear ones and like them-for a specific purpose. They are great for a small room, lots of attack, short decay, nice warm tubby sound. They really mute things nicely-if that is what you need. I had an issue with a conductor-didn't like any buzz, ring, tone in a snare (I kept telling him a snare it suppose to do that) said the same of a tom, get in then get out of the way. So I had to mute my snare with the Evans HD dry batter head and use hydraulic heads on toms. I guess it did have a nice clean muted sound-I guess...... maybe???? Actually playing that head on my snare batter really forced me to clean up my playing a good bit-any errors are magnified it seems (I never realized how all the snare "white noise" can hide errors). I don't think they had the colored one when I bought them???? My kick batter broke on a 16 kick one time I was playing with a jazz group and I put the hydraulic head on and it sounded great in a pinch.
 
Can't say I agree with regards to the "biggest tuning range of any head ever" though. Single-ply heads have them beat pretty easily on that end.

I don't know, a lot of beginners try hydrolics because they have such forgivable tuning. Tune them low and they sound good, tune them high and they sound good. There's really not a lot of ways you can mess up the tuning. Plus Evans has that level 360 collar so the head sits on the edge without any tension. I bet you barely have to crank the rim onto it to get a decent low note
 
I don't know, a lot of beginners try hydrolics because they have such forgivable tuning. Tune them low and they sound good, tune them high and they sound good. There's really not a lot of ways you can mess up the tuning. Plus Evans has that level 360 collar so the head sits on the edge without any tension. I bet you barely have to crank the rim onto it to get a decent low note

I think a lot of beginners are recommended to go with Hydraulics because they're supposedly more forgiving when it comes to balancing the tension between each of the lugs. The reality is that the Hydraulic heads do a couple of sounds really well and it's tough not to get them sounding like that, which is why teachers tend to recommend them for low-end kits too. The tuning range isn't what makes these great though- as the tuning range is quite limited.

I'm pretty intimately familiar with Level 360: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgY23iRNtgw

;)
 
Because I thought it would help


Help what?

Welcome to DW, Drumlord. A little more information would help us tremendously in recommending heads for your kit.

* How long have you been playing the drums?
* What brand and model of drums do you have?
* Are you experienced (ie, "good") and tuning drums?
* What kind of problems are you having that you think using Hydraulics will help?
* What kind of batter (top) and resonant (bottom) heads are you using now?
* What kind of music do you play?
* Do you play in a band?
* Is your kit used primarily for practice or for performance?
* What color is your drumset? (just kidding.)

GeeDeeEmm
 
Well, since you asked...

Back when I had no money and was playing all the time, I bought a set for my Tama Rockstars because I heard they where the thickest, most durable heads. I was worried more about durability than sound at the time. I give them that, they are durable.

IMO, my Rockstars sound like garbage.
It may be the heads.
It may be the drums.
It may be my playing.
It may be all three.
 
I've used them since the 80's on toms I have a hard time with overtones.
Many will say, "They make your drums sound like cardboard boxes" or "Just use Moongels".

Thing is, not only do they control the overtones, but they tune really easy. They're really durable and can take a wide variety of tunings.

I love them.

I will say, they're not for all types of drum shells, so keep that in mind. My Gretsch is mahogany so the brightness of them combined with these heads work really well.
 
I now own 12" and 16" red hydraulic heads that I got for free from that Evans / Pro Mark points thing. I have not used them for many years. I plan to put them on my white Mapex Saturn kit that I mostly use for band practice. I may install them Saturday if I have time. Peace and goodwill.
 
sound really good with mics.. sound pretty dead not mic'd.. if you tune em a bit higher that might help.

very minimal overtones. thuddy..
 
Does tuning the bottom head a bit higher help the resonance any? Peace and goodwill.
 
Well, I did put them on my white Saturn Pro drums and used that set today at practice. We were trying to keep the volume down, and those heads really helped. I like them, and the red heads look cool on the white drums. Peace and goodwill.
 
I had Hydraulic Glass heads on my old Tama StageStar kit. They seemed to have a boomier initial attack than the G2s I used before that, but they had a short sustain, which would be good on a birch kit, but on my cheap Tama, it was overkill.
 
I have Hydraulic glass heads on my kit and I love 'em! Very versatile, complex and easy to tune. With other skins like Remo, I find that if you want a low tone with your skins, you don't need to have them all "wrinkly". Also very good for churches as they are much more dampened than other skins such as G2/G1. They are always very nice. I'm a huge Evans guy and strongly recommend the hydraulic line!
 
Well, I did put them on my white Saturn Pro drums and used that set today at practice. We were trying to keep the volume down, and those heads really helped. I like them, and the red heads look cool on the white drums. Peace and goodwill.

I took these drums to church where the toms are miced. The worship leader and pastor both said they like how they sound. So all is well in my hydraulic land. Peace and goodwill.
 
Back
Top