Help with buying new heads

[_brian_]

Hello guys, I just bought some evans g2 coated heads for my small mapex kit's toms but they just seem too dark & lifeless, they just don't seem to respond unless I really whack them!! I searched the forum & bought them due to the good reviews & also longevity of them.

I don't want to waste another wad of cash so decided to start a thread so that I can ask the experts directly .

I'm really looking for bright sounding batter heads with wide tuning capabilities. I prefer the feel of a clear head. I don't whack the drums, I play pretty lightly (perhaps out of consideration for my neighbours!) so would like very sensative heads.

I saw the remo clear diplomats which are 7.5mil & evan's well, I'm unsure about evans now!! But the evans G1 clear. It would be great if I could buy a new set of heads and have them on for a year without them losing their life but I've heard remo heads sound great when first installed and decline quite rapidly.

my toms are 8", 10", 12"

What do you think

 

[drossfile]

i have evans g2 clear battters, g1 clear resos. they ring out pretty good on my birch kit, and i even use moon gels on most of the toms. i absolutely hate coated heads on toms--as you've found out, they're lifeless.

as far as longevity, i bought my kit last october, and am still using the stock heads with no plans to replace them anytime soon. if you wanna see/hear...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDBEY-TKTOY

made the video 10 days ago, so you're listening to 8-month-old heads, and i play my drums a few hours a week. they've also been through quite a tuning journey, as i've been trying to dial in the best sound. i'm reasonably happy with the current tuning.

 

[Greg_L]

G2/G1 is a popular combo. You'll get a pretty open sound with those two.

 

[_brian_]

"G2/G1 is a popular combo. You'll get a pretty open sound with those two."

I guess you're talking about the clear G2s? Is there really that much of a difference in sound between coated & clear?

I couldn't believe it when I replaced the stock heads with the coated G2s . The original heads were 10mil single ply clear, bright & relatively sensative. The G2s are like hitting heads made out of plywood

What do you think about the clear remo diplomats? (home studio use, not gigging) they're 7.5 ply (which I've never tried before) I'm wondering if they'll be really sensative?

 

[drossfile]

"G2/G1 is a popular combo. You'll get a pretty open sound with those two."

I guess you're talking about the clear G2s? Is there really that much of a difference in sound between coated & clear?

I couldn't believe it when I replaced the stock heads with the coated G2s . The original heads were 10mil single ply clear, bright & relatively sensative. The G2s are like hitting heads made out of plywood

What do you think about the clear remo diplomats? (home studio use, not gigging) they're 7.5 ply (which I've never tried before) I'm wondering if they'll be really sensative?

i'm pretty biased towards evans myself. on my old pearl kit, i'd tried emperors, hydraulics, and finally pinstripes (the best of the bunch) and was gradually changing over to evans, and then i got my new kit. i was impressed with the positive difference it made going from remo to evans on my kick and snare, and i'm really happy with having all evans on my tamas.

but really it's a preference thing. i think the general consensus around here is evans, but there's still no shortage of remo loyalists.

you gotta do whatever you think is your best bet. good luck!

 

[drossfile]

I guess you're talking about the clear G2s? Is there really that much of a difference in sound between coated & clear?

the difference is enormous.

 

[_brian_]

you gotta do whatever you think is your best bet. good luck!

Hah I did that & now I have three useless heads

I could only watch a little of your clip on youtube cause of my "broadband" connection, which I'm kinda glad of because the jealousy was starting to build up that kit makes mine look laughable

You're quite a hard hitter in comparison to me, do you think you need to batter the medium to thick heads to get a good sound?

 

[FunkDaddy]

I guess you're talking about the clear G2s? Is there really that much of a difference in sound between coated & clear?

The difference is huuuuge. I like both clear and coated heads, very different sounds.

 

[drossfile]

Hah I did that & now I have three useless heads

I could only watch a little of your clip on youtube cause of my "broadband" connection, which I'm kinda glad of because the jealousy was starting to build up that kit makes mine look laughable

don't feel bad--i just got that kit last year, and before that i had an 80s-era pearl export 5-pc that i bought used for $500. before that i played what may as well have been garbage cans, also bought used for $250. and i've been playing the drums for over half my life now! you gotta start somewhere, no?

You're quite a hard hitter in comparison to me, do you think you need to batter the medium to thick heads to get a good sound?

i'm really not a hard hitter at all. i've seen guys that beat the hell out of their drums and cymbals--i ain't one of those guys.

as for "needing to batter" thicker heads, it's not really an issue of being a harder or softer player to get a good sound out of a particular head; it's more about what sound you're going for:

coated heads (thickest) on toms are traditionally for a more muted, jazzy feel and clear heads will give you more high-end attack.

a medium-thickness head would be like a remo pinstripe and will sound fairly fat but still a little wooly.

thinner heads, like my evans g2 clears, gives you lots of attack and a fair amount of body, which is good for recording purposes.

but again, this is all a matter of personal preference. if you find the coated heads to be the exact opposite of what you're looking for, go for the clears. if you just want a bit more attack, go for the pinstripes or emperors.

my $.02, fwiw. i'm not really an expert at all.

 

[disgruntled-inc]

Evans can take a bit longer to break in, but they last longer then any Remo I ever had. I usually use EC2 Clear Batter and Genera Glass Reso's, but I am thinking of going back to the old G2/G1 for my next recording project.

Last time I experimented with Hydraulics on top and G2's on bottom, figuring I'd go to the extreme dead end for recording...ya that was a bit to dead even for my taste.

If you go to the Evans website, they have a little chart that gives you a general idea of what to expect from each of their head types, that's where I start when I am considering trying something new.

-Wes

 

[_brian_]

"but again, this is all a matter of personal preference. if you find the coated heads to be the exact opposite of what you're looking for, go for the clears."

I think I'll try the G1 clear then, I just found it difficult to grasp how different a g2 clear head Vs a g2 coated. I'm going to keep the coated heads as it's another sound to add to the armoury. If the G1's are too ringy, I'll persivere with moongels etc. I like having the option to change the ring rather than have none.

"If you go to the Evans website, they have a little chart that gives you a general idea of what to expect from each of their head types, that's where I start when I am considering trying something new."

Yeah that's what I did!! But going by my ear the G2 coated should be somewhere in the bottom left corner overlapping the hydrollics!! Remo also do they same thing, that's how I found the 7.5mil clear diplomats.

Thanks Again Lads & hopefully I'll be lucky second time round with the G1s !!

 

[nattyj]

The difference is huuuuge. I like both clear and coated heads, very different sounds.

The difference is VERY big. The reason of course is one has a painted surface.

G1s (Evans ) and the Dipolmats (Remo) are both single ply heads that are most commonly used as for the resonant side. Some drummers will use the single plys on top when recording, but then opt for the double ply (ie Evans G2s, or Remo Emporers) when touring etc. The single plys have a much shorter life. This may not be of consequence to pros with endorsments but for us regular folks this can affect skin buying decisions.

I have found I like a G1/G2 combo or Diplomat/Emporer combo. I also have phases where I like the Pinstripes on top as well. The emporers have a clearer / brighter sound but i do like the extra durability provided by the Pinstripes! I wouldn't record with these though. many rock guys go for Emporers/G2s for recording then Pinstripes etc for touring.

Hope that made sense?

Soem drummers use coated and get great tones (e.g. Matt cameron Ex- Sound Garden, pearl jam )