Stroman
Platinum Member
Recently, on a whim, I put a coated Heavy Ludwig Weathermaster head on my 13" Musashi snare drum. I needed a new head for the drum, and instead of buying one I used one of the heads I took off my Maple Classics when I bought them in 2010.
It sounded absolutely splendid!
That got me wondering about the new Ludwig heads made by Remo. I found some on sale fairly inexpensively, so I tried a 14" on my Pork Pie Big Black.
First, physically comparing the new heads with the old, the coating looks a little bit splotchy on the two heads I got, although it feels like the old Ludwig coating. On the old heads, the coating is extremely smoothly applied. The splotchiness is very minor and purely cosmetic. You can't even see it in the pic I'm attaching. As for the the all-important collar, it looks the same as the old heads, and the hoop is the same, too. I love that shallower collar, and I think it is the biggest difference between the Ludwig heads and others.
As for sound? Like the 13" Musashi, the 14" BOB tuned up really easily, and the head sounds great. I find it really hard to quantify the difference between this and a Remo Ambassador, but there IS a difference. The Ludwigs tune up more easily than any head I've used, they have an open yet pure tone, and they have a kind of soft feel under the stick. Doubles are really comfortable and clean. And my favorite part is, they wonderfully bridge that area between really crisp articulation and full tone. I personally find it hard to achieve both crispness and fullness with one tuning, but these heads allow me to do it easily.
I hope they keep them around for a long time to come.
It sounded absolutely splendid!
That got me wondering about the new Ludwig heads made by Remo. I found some on sale fairly inexpensively, so I tried a 14" on my Pork Pie Big Black.
First, physically comparing the new heads with the old, the coating looks a little bit splotchy on the two heads I got, although it feels like the old Ludwig coating. On the old heads, the coating is extremely smoothly applied. The splotchiness is very minor and purely cosmetic. You can't even see it in the pic I'm attaching. As for the the all-important collar, it looks the same as the old heads, and the hoop is the same, too. I love that shallower collar, and I think it is the biggest difference between the Ludwig heads and others.
As for sound? Like the 13" Musashi, the 14" BOB tuned up really easily, and the head sounds great. I find it really hard to quantify the difference between this and a Remo Ambassador, but there IS a difference. The Ludwigs tune up more easily than any head I've used, they have an open yet pure tone, and they have a kind of soft feel under the stick. Doubles are really comfortable and clean. And my favorite part is, they wonderfully bridge that area between really crisp articulation and full tone. I personally find it hard to achieve both crispness and fullness with one tuning, but these heads allow me to do it easily.
I hope they keep them around for a long time to come.
