Just got a Remo SMT Clear Emp bass head

JimmyM

JimmyM

Diamond Member
Before:

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After:

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It was like switching your mic from an Re20 to a D112.

I had no reason to buy another head. I love the coated Emp on it, still has plenty of life, but lately I wanted to try a muffled clear head on the ole 22 x 16 6 ply just to get some more smack. And smack it has, no doubt about it. Takes the midrange down, though. On the other hand, most sound techs mix you that way, and it does sound good and deep. I don’t think it’s as deep as that darn Aquarian Super Kick 10 I had on another set, but it’s got a boost.

Tried it at low and medium high tunings both with and without extra muffling, also with felt and plastic, and it seems to want to be tuned lower than higher, but does warm up with felt, so maybe I just need to work with it. Not really made for the trad jazz, I wouldn’t think, but I see drummers who play jazz using EMADs, so I could eventually find a way to make it work. Won’t be tonight, but I got a good 45 minutes in.

Speaking of the EMAD, I have played other people’s kits with EMADs and they sound like fine heads in that style, but I never bought one. Almost got one, but decided that I would give the new kid a shot and be on the cutting edge for once in my life. Look at me go. But that means I can’t directly compare them.

But I do know what stuff generally sounds like, and that’s the impression that I get. Anyone else try them yet?
 
I went to YouTube and listened..its gonna have to grow on me. On my 22 I want as little muffeling as possible. Basically I'm a 24 guy who went down to a smaller BD for a few reasons.
 
Bozozoid said:
I went to YouTube and listened..its gonna have to grow on me. On my 22 I want as little muffeling as possible. Basically I'm a 24 guy who went down to a smaller BD for a few reasons.
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Respect. I can’t deal with toms up too high, otherwise I’d consider a 24 since they’re way cool. I like what I’m hearing in the room in this 22 but I really haven’t come to any conclusions except that it’s got that rock and dance vibe most of all.
 
Let me know if you end up with the plastic rim encasing the foam breaking just from playing. Mine broke in multiple places in 2 weeks of light use

That said Remo did send me a replacement. I haven’t tried the replacement but did love the way it sounded
 
So I'm very undecided about this head. It does have that sound, but maybe it's the lack of mids causing it but it seems quieter than the coated Emp. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm just not feeling it yet.
 
JimmyM said:
So I'm very undecided about this head. It does have that sound, but maybe it's the lack of mids causing it but it seems quieter than the coated Emp. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm just not feeling it yet.
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I think the pre-muffled heads ARE quieter. The worst I've experienced has been the Aquarian SKII, but others do the same.
 
Stroman said:
I think the pre-muffled heads ARE quieter. The worst I've experienced has been the Aquarian SKII, but others do the same.
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Ya, the SK2 on my Export bass seems quieter than it should be for sure. Probably will go back to the Emp.
 
Justinhub2003 said:
Let me know if you end up with the plastic rim encasing the foam breaking just from playing. Mine broke in multiple places in 2 weeks of light use
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I'm kind of shocked that they didn't learn from the design mistake with the EMAD. It's like they..."took inspiration" from the wrong version.
 
BenOBrienSmith said:
I'm kind of shocked that they didn't learn from the design mistake with the EMAD. It's like they..."took inspiration" from the wrong version.
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Well it didn’t break after two days, but that’s all I’m giving it. When I installed the Inde drill free rail mount this morning I took it off. Still have to do the BR2’s on the toms, though.

At any rate, I don’t mind Remo stealing the idea as there’s been a lot of stealing over the years back and forth and nobody has clean hands 🙌 But I think Remo didn’t do nearly as good. Honestly, I think the Super Kick 10 is better. Ugly ass head, though. But it didn’t seem to cut volume like the SMT did. I don’t mind the instant D112 it gives you, but not at the expense of volume.
 
that's an Emperor an already pretty tight semi-dry head;

you may consider tearing the insulation off and using it somewhere in the house or car
maybe wrap some A/C lines..

the way to get a dry punchy bass drum sound is to hit the head with all the freaking force one can muster; it's beyond the head
is more in your leg knee and foot toe and ankle

Just a theory
"play thru the ball you know... just like golf"
 
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MaskingApathy said:
What's the design mistake on the EMAD? And the solution?
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The first ones had a tendency to develop cracks in the plastic ring that holds the foam in place. Evans did some redesign work and eliminated the problem. I can't really say exactly what they changed to fix the cracking, but they fixed it. Ben used to work for D'Addario so he may have more detail.
 
The plastic they used on the Remo is so much thinner than that of the EMAD. First few days I thought my mic was broken as I was getting this awful sound on recordings but it turned out it was the plastic ring.

I think the Remo Sonic heads are pretty decent.


But for me… the best bass drum head on the market is a super kick 2 from Aquarian. The felt ring just sounds so much better then anything else
 
Stroman said:
The first ones had a tendency to develop cracks in the plastic ring that holds the foam in place. Evans did some redesign work and eliminated the problem. I can't really say exactly what they changed to fix the cracking, but they fixed it. Ben used to work for D'Addario so he may have more detail.
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Oh yeah, I remember seeing some of those with cracked rings back in the day. I used to exclusively use the EMAD2 but they must've fixed the problem by then. I'm not really into EMAD and similar heads anymore.
 
Well that’s great, nearly $60 I might as well have given to the meth head on the corner. Or is it? Can this head be rescued? If I took the plastic off, would it be ruined? It’s not far off from a real Emp otherwise. One ply is thinner but it’ll probably work.

Edit: Brilliant idea I just had. That ring is stuck on pretty good, but I am going to trim the foam down and see how that works. That’s probably why I don’t like it…overfoamed.
 
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JimmyM said:
Well that’s great, nearly $60 I might as well have given to the meth head on the corner. Or is it? Can this head be rescued? If I took the plastic off, would it be ruined? It’s not far off from a real Emp otherwise. One ply is thinner but it’ll probably work.

Edit: Brilliant idea I just had. That ring is stuck on pretty good, but I am going to trim the foam down and see how that works. That’s probably why I don’t like it…overfoamed.
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You may find that this works. EMAD’s come with 2 rings, a thick and a thin one. Most people I see using EMAD’s are using the thin ring, so I can’t for the life of me think why Remo only supply a thick ring with the SMT heads.
 
markiet1966 said:
You may find that this works. EMAD’s come with 2 rings, a thick and a thin one. Most people I see using EMAD’s are using the thin ring, so I can’t for the life of me think why Remo only supply a thick ring with the SMT heads.
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Wow, you were 100 correct! I cut the ring to 1/2” thick, tucked it back into the plastic, and whammo! A lot more volume and just the right amount of muffling. I can live with this.

Edit: I originally said 1/4” thick but it’s closer to 1/2” probably. I didn’t measure.
 
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