Tama Branded Evans G2 Vs Regular Evans G2

[classikdrummr]

I had to replace a dented 12" Head on my less than 1 year old Tama Starclassic Walnut Birch Kit. The Drums Came with Tama Branded Evans G2 heads.
The heads were only on for about the first month and then i switched them to Coated Remo Emperors. I recently went back to the OEM heads. So the OEM heads are barely used, but the new Evans head i got from Sweetwater is Waaaaay more resonant than all the others. It is clearly superior to the Tama OEM heads IMO.
That made me realize i need to replace all of them now., and creates a question.

Has anybody ever done an A/B comparison of Evans Factory and Tama Branded Evans to see if there is a difference?

 

[cbphoto]

Has anybody ever done an A/B comparison of Evans Factory and Tama Branded Evans to see if there is a difference?

I have not done an A/B comparison, other than playing the Tama/Evans heads for about a year, then switching all of them out (batter & reso) for new G1 clear over Genera reso clear. My kit sounded great, but I remember thinking that the old heads were just old.

Does Evans ship Tama-labeled head to Japan & China? If so, they will spend a lot of time in a shipping container going both ways, and sitting in a warehouse before getting mounted on a kit.

Maybe @BenOBrienSmith knows if Evans makes heads overseas or if they ship to Asia for OEM use.

 

[beatdat]

I suspect name brand heads that ship with drum kits are similar to toner cartridges that come with printers we buy... up to par, but don't last as long.

 

[BenOBrienSmith]

I have not done an A/B comparison, other than playing the Tama/Evans heads for about a year, then switching all of them out (batter & reso) for new G1 clear over Genera reso clear. My kit sounded great, but I remember thinking that the old heads were just old.

Does Evans ship Tama-labeled head to Japan & China? If so, they will spend a lot of time in a shipping container going both ways, and sitting in a warehouse before getting mounted on a kit.

Maybe @BenOBrienSmith knows if Evans makes heads overseas or if they ship to Asia for OEM use.

As long as they're not Evans UNO heads, they're the exact same drumheads made in the same factory in Farmingdale, NY the same as the rest of the Evans heads (assuming they haven't made some wild change...). Of course, if you're not the one installing the OEM heads, you never know how they've been treated. Some companies think they need to WAY over-tension the heads initially to seat them (100% unnecessary with Evans heads due to the collar shape) and this can rob them of resonance and range. Any difference noticed beyond that is likely due to factors that you're not aware of and/or inadvertently affected by the user.

I suspect name brand heads that ship with drum kits are similar to toner cartridges that come with printers we buy... up to par, but don't last as long.

In some cases with other brands this may be the case but not with any Evans USA-made (not Evans UNO) OEM heads. D'Addario treats these OEM opportunities as one of the greatest opportunities to get musicians using their accessories. Remo's early success had a lot less to do with quality and more to do with some smart, strategic relationships established with drum manufacturers to get their drumheads on new drums.

 

[classikdrummr]

As long as they're not Evans UNO heads, they're the exact same drumheads made in the same factory in Farmingdale, NY the same was as the rest of the Evans heads (assuming they haven't made some wild change...). Of course, if you're not the one installing the OEM heads, you never know how they've been treated. Some companies think they need to WAY over-tension the heads initially to seat them (100% unnecessary with Evans heads due to the collar shape) and this can rob them of resonance and range. Any difference noticed beyond that is likely due to factors that you're not aware of and/or inadvertently affected by the user.


In some cases with other brands this may be the case but not with any Evans USA-made (not Evans UNO) OEM heads. D'Addario treats these OEM opportunities as one of the greatest opportunities to get musicians using their accessories. Remo's early success had a lot less to do with quality and more to do with some smart, strategic relationships established with drum manufacturers to get their drumheads on new drums.

Thank you so much Ben! lol i just watched the video where you talked about your days at Evans . It's awesome to hear from an insider! I will chalk it up to the oem heads wearing out.

 

[roncadillac]

As long as they're not Evans UNO heads, they're the exact same drumheads made in the same factory in Farmingdale, NY the same as the rest of the Evans heads (assuming they haven't made some wild change...). Of course, if you're not the one installing the OEM heads, you never know how they've been treated. Some companies think they need to WAY over-tension the heads initially to seat them (100% unnecessary with Evans heads due to the collar shape) and this can rob them of resonance and range. Any difference noticed beyond that is likely due to factors that you're not aware of and/or inadvertently affected by the user.


In some cases with other brands this may be the case but not with any Evans USA-made (not Evans UNO) OEM heads. D'Addario treats these OEM opportunities as one of the greatest opportunities to get musicians using their accessories. Remo's early success had a lot less to do with quality and more to do with some smart, strategic relationships established with drum manufacturers to get their drumheads on new drums.

I'm happy you brought this up. When I first switched to Evans I was exclusively using remo for over ten years and I became very used to having to crank new heads, push on them, wait to hear the 'pops', let them sit overnight, retune them three more times, then finally be good to go. With my first few Evans heads I followed the same procedure and they always sounded dead, I could never figure it out and almost gave up on Evans. I did some research and learned that this practice is necessary with remo due to some outdated manufacturing processes and with Evans heads not only do you not have to do all that... It actually ruins them. Next set I just plopped the heads on, tuned them to my desired range, gave them a small tweak after an hour or so of playing, and they were good to go. In my opinion and experience the technological advancements used to design and manufacture Evans heads yields the most consistent, long lasting (tonally), durable, and easy to use heads on the market.

 

[classikdrummr]

I'm happy you brought this up. When I first switched to Evans I was exclusively using remo for over ten years and I became very used to having to crank new heads, push on them, wait to hear the 'pops', let them sit overnight, retune them three more times, then finally be good to go. With my first few Evans heads I followed the same procedure and they always sounded dead, I could never figure it out and almost gave up on Evans. I did some research and learned that this practice is necessary with remo due to some outdated manufacturing processes and with Evans heads not only do you not have to do all that... It actually ruins them. Next set I just plopped the heads on, tuned them to my desired range, gave them a small tweak after an hour or so of playing, and they were good to go. In my opinion and experience the technological advancements used to design and manufacture Evans heads yields the most consistent, long lasting (tonally), durable, and easy to use heads on the market.

Great info! I only use Evans now so moving forward i wont push on them when seating .

 

[classikdrummr]

update.... Replaced all the Toms with new clear G2's and something interesting happened. I ended up tuning everything a full note higher than on the stock heads to get the most resonance. I have no idea why , other than possibly my room acoustics changing by adding some moving blankets on the walls. They are all singing reallly well now. massive resonance, but in a good way. @BenOBrienSmith have you seen this happen?

 

[I-P]

update.... Replaced all the Toms with new clear G2's and something interesting happened. I ended up tuning everything a full note higher than on the stock heads to get the most resonance. I have no idea why , other than possibly my room acoustics changing by adding some moving blankets on the walls. They are all singing reallly well now. massive resonance, but in a good way. @BenOBrienSmith have you seen this happen?

Awesome.
Side note to your experience here...
When I play live I tend pitch shift up the tuning range on my toms. Sounds a little high from behind the kit, but massive out the front.

 

[classikdrummr]

Awesome.
Side note to your experience here...
When I play live I tend pitch shift up the tuning range on my toms. Sounds a little high from behind the kit, but massive out the front.

Wow... acoustics are so fascinating. I tottaly get how that can happen.

 

[BenOBrienSmith]

update.... Replaced all the Toms with new clear G2's and something interesting happened. I ended up tuning everything a full note higher than on the stock heads to get the most resonance. I have no idea why , other than possibly my room acoustics changing by adding some moving blankets on the walls. They are all singing reallly well now. massive resonance, but in a good way. @BenOBrienSmith have you seen this happen?

Blankets on the walls will help prevent quite a bit of the high frequency flutter echo and other acoustic phenomena. I wonder if that was helping to tame some of the overtones that were less pleasing to you and now you feel free to tune higher without those issues being quite so present. It's always fun to hear the change in drum sounds as you move them from room to room or even just a different position within the room. When I installed acoustic treatment in my studio space I was absolutely stunned by the improvements.

 

[cbphoto]

It's always fun to hear the change in drum sounds as you move them from room to room or even just a different position within the room. When I installed acoustic treatment in my studio space I was absolutely stunned by the improvements.

When I moved my kit from a small basement area to a large, high-ceiling room I couldn't believe the difference. After a few months I tried surrounding my kit with hung moving blankets and the room reverb virtually disappeared.