Remo coating issue.

I randomly try Remo heads to see how their efforts on the new coating are going. Still no luck! I remember when their coating would last months but those days are long gone. I personally feel the coated head is the best head for the snare drum which is why I use them. I have recently tested the Evans G2 coated and it lasted 9 months of hard playing before I broke through a very small spot in the coating. The other head was an Attack medium coated which I love with a price tag of $9.99 and sounds incredible. Not sure where Remo has gone wrong but my quest for a quality coated head is going to be in another company.

Wow what a difference! Have you contacted Remo and asked about it?

I have been using Aquarian and been having great luck with them.

The Black Page Dude said:

I have been using Aquarian and been having great luck with them.

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Its not luck. Aquarian is clearly doing something different than Remo in their process.

I ma trying all 3 competitors at the moment and am slowly switching over to Aquarian (as much a s I love Remo, Aq are also cheaper). They should be reading this website with all the bad press.

Remo has replaced many of my heads numerous times. I even questioned them "what are they going to do keep replacing my heads?" They claim to be working on the process but I see nothing different. They are currently sending me 4 snare heads to try but when I emailed the pictures of this head I took every 10 minutes for an hour, I got no reply.

I did try aquarian heads but they are not for me. I normally try to stay with one brand but I've been playing so long that I'm more about what works and sounds the best that means if mixing brands.

Kg_lee said:

Remo ... claim to be working on the process but I see nothing different. They are currently sending me 4 snare heads to try but when I emailed the pictures of this head I took every 10 minutes for an hour, I got no reply.
.

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This will likely take time. Rome wasn't built in a day. I read they had to change their coating to be more environmentally friendly, and lead to the new coating problems.

Like you I prefer old tried and true Remo - even a better logo! But I'm not a pro and the difference in $5 per head makes a difference to me.

I switched to Aquarian quite a few years ago and never looked back, it was before Remo started having a coating problem but it didnt matter, they just sounded better, lasted 3 to 4 times longer before going dead and the cheaper price was just a bonus.

You said you used a g2 coated and lasted for 9 months right? Why not try a coated g1.

I don't know what I do differently than you, but I NEVER have this happen on any Remo head.
Even after months.
It's very odd, because many people have this happen.
NOT that I want it to happen, but it's just weird.

Attack's regular heads are not for me, but I was looking into the Bozzio heads, and they are made with the traditional Dupont Mylar, have the crimped head and low collar.
Price is very nice too.

I used Aquarian heads for a bit, and really liked them. Then they changed their film (way back when). I put a fresh set of the new film heads on for a gig, and they dented to crap on me in 20 minutes!! That sucked. Before the film change they were very sturdy--jut like an Ambassador is for me.

KarlCrafton said:

I don't know what I do differently than you, but I NEVER have this happen on any Remo head.
Even after months.
It's very odd, because many people have this happen.
NOT that I want it to happen, but it's just weird.

.

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I don't play every day, but also have not had this happen with Remo heads either. I've neer had a head liek that after 10 minutes playing. My Remos wear pretty much like other's I've had.

But I am wondering if this has to do with weather/climate somewhat. People in more arid versus humid parts of the continent experiencing the Remo flaking. Or how they are stored in music stores in different climates.
This certainly has an effect on wood properties/aging.

Out of the 3 Coated Amb. snare heads I've owned, 2 have had this problem and have been purchased recently (within the last year). The third was purchased over a year ago (came with a Chad Smith snare), and is still going strong.

There's a lot more like this in this thread:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91663

KarlCrafton said:

I used Aquarian heads for a bit, and really liked them. Then they changed their film (way back when). I put a fresh set of the new film heads on for a gig, and they dented to crap on me in 20 minutes!! That sucked. Before the film change they were very sturdy--jut like an Ambassador is for me.

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Strange, I have never had that happen to an Aquarian head ( I only use single plys to) and I can actually get a lot more life than I do from either Remo or Evans. I find Remo can start to go dead after just a few weeks of playing and Evans after 3 or 4 months but I can get 8 months to a year out of the Aquarians.

KarlCrafton said:

I don't know what I do differently than you, but I NEVER have this happen on any Remo head.
Even after months.
It's very odd, because many people have this happen.
NOT that I want it to happen, but it's just weird.

Attack's regular heads are not for me, but I was looking into the Bozzio heads, and they are made with the traditional Dupont Mylar, have the crimped head and low collar.
Price is very nice too.

I used Aquarian heads for a bit, and really liked them. Then they changed their film (way back when). I put a fresh set of the new film heads on for a gig, and they dented to crap on me in 20 minutes!! That sucked. Before the film change they were very sturdy--jut like an Ambassador is for me.

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I don't think you do anything differently than most of us Karl, but I can tell you that it's happened to me at least a dozen times. I think I'm alot like you in that we're roughly the same age, have alot of experience, play similar kits and like the same type of sounds. I'm very fussy about my equipment and I purposely try to play "smart", with both my cymbals and drums....sounds like you do too. I have had the coating on a CS reverse dot head and a standard coated emperor that I just bought come right off within minutes of playing my snare. It used to never happen, so I know something is up, it's a very real problem. Why you haven't experienced it yet......I really can't say? I hope you don't, it sucks.

I originally had coating flaking problems with my 12" tom using Remo coated Ambassadors, now with my most recent head change, I have premature wear on my 12, 14 and 16" toms, again using Ambassador heads. I wonder if there is a difference in the way the coatings hold up with other Remo heads?

The funny thing is, I'm using a DW snare drum head made by Remo and there is no signs of the same type of wear.

Dennis

I haven't had the issue with the Vintage Emperors that I use on my toms but I have had it on several snare ,including Coated CS,Powerstroke X, Coated Emperor and Emperor X.

KarlCrafton said:

I don't know what I do differently than you, but I NEVER have this happen on any Remo head.
.

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Could it be the lack of a bead on your sticks?

It was late today that Remo finally got back to me. Chris at Remo delayed the shipment of my heads to experiment for them cause he wanted new heads right off the line as they claim to be working on the problem.

I surprised that some of you never experienced the problem yet because it's every coated I buy from them. The last time I got coated heads from them that lasted was about 4 years ago.

If these new Remo heads don't work I'm sticking with the Attack snare medium coated snare head and trying the Remo white suede heads on the toms. If I don't like the suede heads I'm going back to using clear tom heads.

audiotech said:

I originally had coating flaking problems with my 12" tom using Remo coated Ambassadors, now with my most recent head change, I have premature wear on my 12, 14 and 16" toms, again using Ambassador heads. I wonder if there is a difference in the way the coatings hold up with other Remo heads?

The funny thing is, I'm using a DW snare drum head made by Remo and there is no signs of the same type of wear.

Dennis

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I thought that I would also include this picture in this thread that I shot today of my week old Remo Ambassador 12" batter head. The coating started to visibly fail from the very first day I put them on, but as I said in another thread, they still sound great. Another thing that I would like to mention is, all the sticks I have are in good condition without any tip chipping.



Dennis

Bull said:

Could it be the lack of a bead on your sticks?

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I thought of that too, but, I didn't have any problems before either.
I've used all types of tip shapes as well. Yes, believe me, I'm thankful this hasn't happened to me!!

Dennis' head looks like the finish was pulverized before chips came off, but more likely just scraped off as the tips hit it.

Suede heads are kinda nice. They are open sounding like a clear, but with less slightly high end attack. That's what the couple I tried sounded like to me anyway.

I think what makes a Coated Ambassador more durable is the White film. That stuff is tough. I may not have a denting issue because of the double butt stick being a wider area striking the surface. I don't know, but other guys that used my kit at a show recently (that didn't hit hard) put a couple dents in the 16.

I was gonna try a couple of those Bozzio heads. I like the idea of traditional Mylar, and they are really inexpensive.
Wondering if they would be like Ludwig heads though, and kinda plastic-y sounding. Ludwig may use a different film than Dupont Mylar, because their heads don't sound like other brands at all.
Going to the shop tomorrow, so I may order one of the Bozzio Top Dot snare heads and a 12 just to check out.
I tried regular Attack heads before (regular 10 mil, and something else) and the sound was not for me at all. The Dupot Mylar may be good though.

Well, good luck with the replaced heads KG.

OK, with folks posting pics, I thought I'd join in.

The first picture is a 16" coated Emperor that is over two years old and has been on two different floor toms. Granted, it doesn't take the punishment a snare head does, but this head has still been played hard, a LOT.

Second pic is a new 14" coated Ambassador which I got a few days ago, and put on the snare yesterday. It has about three hours time on it.

Third pic is a 13" coated Ambassador that I purchased almost a year ago, but just got around to using a few weeks ago. It has about twenty hours on it now, including several nights as host drum of an open jam, where it is used by some drummers with highly questionable technique.

I don't mean to say people are NOT having trouble with the coating on Remo heads. I just mean to say that it is certainly not a universal problem...

The picture of the 16" coated emperor is what the heads should look like after playing for a while. The "dirty" spot in the middle of the head is proof it's been hit alot at that spot, but no evidence of wear on the coating at all. In the past, that's what all of my coated Remo heads looked like. Now....well, it's just not the same. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I hope they get a grip on why this is happening, I love the sound and it would be great if the coating lasted like the pics in the post above.