Looking for Good Drum Heads

[thesilentdrummer]

Hey everyone, I finally have a chance to get out to guitar center again, and I need to pick up some new heads. I play kinda rock-type music, and I am looking at remo pinstripes, mostly because my current heads have way more resonance than I want. Has anyone ever used these, and if so, to what results? And would anyone recommend other head? Any help is appreciated.

[DRUMMER]

for me pinstrips have too much resonance and i have to muffle them like crazy i have a pearl export series and the best heads i have found is the evans g2s i dont have to muffle them at all

[lumpy]

I like the Evans G2's also, but they are probably not what you are looking for.

If you really wanna kill your resonance, why you would want to do this is topic for another discussion, try Evans Hydraulic heads.

A nice balance between the G2's and Hydraulic series is offered from Aquarian: the Performer II series. If you are a heavy hitter buy the ones with the Power Dots. They last forever and can take some abuse.

Another method for killing resonance (geeze I hate typing that) is a tuning method used back in the 80's where you tune the batter head as low as possible without any wrinkles, tighten all the lugs a 1/4 to 1/2 turn, and then back one lug off a 1/4 turn.

Another trick used back in the 70's was to remove the bottom head, or as I refer to it as the RESONANT head. There that feels better. Ludwig even made a drum series without resonant heads back then called "Concert" toms.

Why do you wanna kill precious resonance? Remember that resonance is the only thing seperating our beautiful accousic instruments of precision from the muddying effects of overzealous guitarists and their clumsy Marshall half stacks! What you hear behind the kit is not what Big Gay Jim is hearing from 20' in the audience. Without resonance drums are just empty cardboard boxes.

For example, compare Mitch Mitchell's drum sound on Are You Experienced? which was recorded in the late 60's when drummers were still striving for that bright jazz sound, and compare it to Bill Gibson's (of Huey Lewis and The News) sound on Sports. Both drummers are very profecient musicians but Gibson's dull sound which is totally void of resonance sounds mechanical.

Lump

[thesilentdrummer]

Thanks for the informative post. I am not trying to kill resonance, I am just getting way too much. The resonance is ringing 2-4 seconds after the initial hit, and I just wanna tone it down a bit. I don't want to muffle the drums, I just to try new heads to see if I can shorten the resonating time. My favorite drum recordings (granted this probably has a little more to do with the recording and mixing methods, right?) have a resonating time of 1-2 seconds, and that is what I am aiming for.

[D2dadub]

Hey,

Aquarian has these newer heads called studio x. They come in single and double ply. I tried the single ply but destroyed them pretty fast. I play sort of hard. I haven't tried the super 2 studio x. If your a hard hitter this could be the ticket. Note however pinstipes have mega response. you will lose some of this and it becomes more of a wrist work out. These heads have a deadening ring on the inside and they are pretty heavy. No I don't work for Aquarian, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Expess last night...

[lumpy]

I've used Aquarian for years now, Studio X coated single plys on my toms, Classic coated with reverse power dot on snare, and Superkick 2 on bass. I think they are the best heads on the market by far and I used to swear by Remo Ambassadors. Evans makes some superior products also.

Something happened to Remo around 1999. I remember they had an ad campaign claiming that their products were improved. Kinda like New Coke.

I bought a set of coated Ambassadors for my vintage Luddies and the "new" Remos didn't even fit, too tight. Coarse when I did get them forced on they sounded like shit and the coating came off two bars in.

Took me a couple of years of experimenting with every head on the market, but I finally decided on Aquarian.

Visit the Aquarian website and pick yourself some heads out. Their prices are in line with Remo and Evans and the products are described very clearly at the site. The best prices and selection I've found on Aquarinan heads on the net is midwestpercussion.com. Don't even be afraid to order coated heads, their coating is the toughest on the market.

I'm still waiting on my Aquarian check.
Lump

[thesilentdrummer]

hmmm, well, I haven't made it out to guitar center yet, and it seems like people like aquarian. I might have to get some. Another question: what is the general consensus on coated heads?

[D2dadub]

Coated Heads -

Great on snare. My favorite has been the Evens HD dry. I'm getting board with that sound, but it does well in the studio.

Coated heads on toms can sound good, but not my favorite. In general I find them to ring less, and have a bit sharper attack. On the right drum they sound good. Most jazz guy's use them in single ply. The usually tune them high for a lot of response.

Personally I like clear heads on toms. Tuned pretty low. I have used both clear and coated, but keep coming back to clear on toms. In general they have a better overall sound to me.

Bass Drum - I have never used a coated head on the bass drum. I either use an evans EQ3, or an Aquarian Superkick.

I loves me some drumheads...

[lumpy]

I have an extra snare with an HD Dry on the batter that I use for brush work and small accoustic combo sessions. That head is Very dry indeed!

I use coated heads on my snare and toms: tight and ringy on the snare, and loose and low on the toms. Wide open on all (no dampening). Single ply on all. Coated heads sound more mellow.

The biggest problem I've had is the coating popping off, especially on my floor tom. That's why I like Aquarian so much, the coating is really tough and lasts longer than any other brand I've used.

I am not a fan of coated heads on bass drums on the batter side. I use a 24" bd and that thing booms, which is a good thing. When I bought it, it had an old (ie good) Remo coated Ambassador. It sounded kinda like an old orchestra pit bass drum. Hit it and it resonated forever which is not the kind of bass drum sound for rock music. It muddies things up too much because the beats are so close together. Anyhow I've always used double ply clear bass drum specific heads on the bass drum batter and a heavy single ply on the resonant side with no holes.

Depends on your style, but for most applications I wouldn't recommend a coated single ply on your bass drum batter.

Lump

Lump

[thesilentdrummer]

hmm, I think I need to do some more research. Thanks for all your inputs.