Replacing Stock Heads

Helloooo Guys :D I just bought a Mapex Mars Drumkit and I'm loving it. I just notice that I don't like the stock heads so I'm saving up for new one's but I don't know what to buy. The store that bought it only sells evans :unsure: don;t know why . Well anyways what head should I buy coz their are a lot of em in the shelves. I'm in a cover band that plays some pop songs mostly like dua lipa, rita ora, ava max, lady gaga etc songs and yeah we play some chainsmokers, clean bandit, david guetta etc songs and maybe some sam smith, maroon 5 etc songs. I'm not a heavy hitter unless we play metallica songs :D well that;s about it. hope to get some good advise from all you guys :LOL: thank you all
 
You want to buy at your local store? Maybe the Evans G14 Coated? It's a slightly thicker single ply which might suit your music and playing.
If you also consider buying online, try Google Shopping and ebay and search for "Tom Head Packs" or similar- there are often good heads on clearance sale because Remo, Evans and Aquarian routinely change what they offer.
 
A quick google suggests the Mapex Mars are birch shells, in which case I would suggest clear Remo Emperors or Pinstripes on top and clear Remo Ambassadors on the bottom for toms. The emperors will have a balanced round sound with a little more sustain, the pinstripes will sound 'thicker' with a shorter note.
For the snare: coated Ambassador on top
Kick will vary according to your personal taste, but for a nice thump I would suggest either Aquarian SuperKick II batter, or Evans EMAD2.
 
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The "standard" drum head these days is a 10mil thick, single-ply. Either coated or uncoated. They resonate well and reveal the full character of the drum. However, they don't last as long as a thicker head or a double-ply head. I spent a few years trying out different heads 'cuz I was curious about all the styles.

Also, coated tends to mute the higher harmonic overtones slightly. Uncoated heads don't.

Congrats on the new kit, too! Post some pics when you can.
 
Honestly in your situation I'm going to go outside of what most will suggest:

Bass drum- emad batter (if somehow that is too resonant even with the large foam ring, go emad2), stock reso can work but I suggest at least porting it to dry your sound out and make micing easier (if you change it, the Evans coated eq3 ported reso is fantastic).

Toms- Hydraulic batter, stock reso's are fine but you can consider something like a g1 if you want to swap them. If you find the hydraulic too dead, try a g2 or uv2.

Snare- if this snare has a tendency to ring I would suggest a 2 ply head like the G2, if it is naturally dry then go 1 ply like g1 or uv1 (or split the difference and go g12 or g14, very thick 1 ply heads), definitely change the stock reso and for this I suggest the Evans 300 snare side.

Basically what the above suggestions give you is that "pre-eq'ed" sound while being very easy to tune. You will have a very minor (almost negligible) reduction in your overall volume but what you will gain is a dramatic reduction in overtones (won't bleed over your bands mates), extreme ease of mic'ing for live and recording, and a solid fat punchy sound that will fit in perfectly with a predominantly pop based set. These are also great "when in doubt" selections that will work for pretty much all settings (besides say jazz or very hear specific settings).
 
In case you are not picking up on the trend in these recommendations, or finding them a bit confusing, here's the general direction everybody has (quite logically) recommended. All of these are Evans heads, since that is what your dealer stocks. I've also slightly changed the specific models to those that your dealer likely stocks, but the sound will be the same.

- Bass Drum: Evans Emad 2 on the batter (back) side; Use your stock resonant (front) head, and cut a 4" vent near the bottom of the head. There are numerous "how-to" videos on YouTube that will show you how to cut the hole and where to place it. If you decide to change the resonant (front) head, as well, the Evans EQ3 Coated head (as RonCadillac says) is a good place to start, as it comes with muffling and a vent hole already installed by the factory.

- Toms: Evans G2 clear heads on the batter (top); Evans G1 clear heads on the resonant (bottom) side.

- Snare drum: Evans G1 Coated head for the batter (top); Evans 300 Clear resonant (bottom) side. (Note: the G1 Coated batter head is a good first - and maybe permanent - head suggestion. As your tastes develop, you will probably want to experiment with Evans G2 Coated, G12/G14 Coated, and others. There are a large number of YouTube videos that allow you to hear the differences between the various head models.)

Keep in mind that these good, solid recommendations are the same ones that pop up on thread after thread on head choices, and for good reason: they are the most common choices because they deliver consistently good sound almost regardless of the drums on which they are used. It's possible that over time you will develop tastes for other sounds, but these will be an excellent starting place for you.

If you are not particularly experienced with tuning drums, take advantage of the numerous YouTube videos on the subject. The Rob Brown videos are particularly good, as are the suggestions of Rick Beato and a few others.

Good luck, have fun, and keep us updated with your progress.

GeeDeeEmm
 
If you haven't already then DEFINITELY subscribe to the "sounds like a drum" YouTube channel... Sounds like we will all have plenty of time indoors over the next week to take in all their content.
 
Evans G2 coated over Evans G1 clear for the toms. Evans Genera dry for the snare. Emad or Gmad for the bass.
 
Helloooo Guys :D I just bought a Mapex Mars Drumkit and I'm loving it. I just notice that I don't like the stock heads so I'm saving up for new one's but I don't know what to buy.

My general recommendation is:

Begin with whatever stock single ply is avainable to you. G1 over G1, Ambassador over Ambassador, etc.
Buy some moon gel.
If you find you almost never use the moon gel, you're all set.
If you find that you always use the moon gel on the outer edge of your toms, consider a control ring head for your next set of batters.
If you find that you always use moon gel towards the middle, consider a control center/dot for your next set of batters.

I tend to recommend against multi-ply heads for everything but the most extreme corner cases. If you need to fix unmitigated resonance on a poorly designed drum set and need heavy handed dampening. If you going to put a drum set in a classroom and let teens wail on it while unattended and need the additional durability and dent resistance. If you begin with G2 over G1 without qualified reasoning, you're almost guaranteeing that the set won't meet it's full potential (and will sound bad).

Or restated: If you're not going to use stock single/single, you should at least know why.
 
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If you're going with Evans...
This should help you find the snarehead and sound you desire:


And this should help you find the basshead you desire:


They don't have a video on tom heads, but this should give you a direction:


It all depends on personal preference. And besides that also on the drumset that you use. Heads that work on a birch kit can sound terrible on a mahogany kit (for example the Evans coated G2's sounded nice on my Pearl VBA, but disliked them on my Pearl Masters BCX).

You want lots of resonance; go with a 1 ply head top and bottom
For a more lower sound; go with a 2 ply head top and 1 ply bottom
For a more thuddier sound (and lower tuning); a 2 ply 'sound control' head (like the Evans EC2 of Hydraulics and Remo Pinstripe) and 1 ply bottom
For a warmer sound; use a coated top head and clear bottom
For a projecting and cutting sound; use clear heads

And then there are a million combinations of everything: coated heads on both sides, I've seen people with Remo clear Ambassadors tops with Pinstripes as reso heads etc. Whatever is your sound!
 
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