Drum Heads

Crotia · #1 (**permalink**) 04-11-2007, 09:05 PM

Hey, I just needed everyone's personal recommendation for drum heads, I'm going to buy some tomorrow and am LOST!!! (Metal/Rock/Punk - Rise Against, Billy Talent, Thrice, Avenged Sevenfold, Pantera, Bullet for my Valentine, Atreyu)

SNARE:
Currently I have a powerstroke 3 coated, was thinking of and Evans SD Dry

BASS:
I was thinking EMAD, not sure what the diff between EMAD 1 and 2 is.
Superkick 2 maybe?

TOMS:
Pinstripe
G2
EC2
Powerstroke 4
(no clue really :S:S)

RESONANT:
No clue on any of them

Any help would be sweeeeet, thanks!!!

AJChxc · #2 (**permalink**) 04-11-2007, 10:25 PM

i don't play that style music currently but i have in the past, and basically listen to all of it. my set (if i had some different cymbals and a double pedal) would be fine in that situation, so this is my setup: i have a remo coated embassador on my snare, with an evans snare side, not sure which one though (i'm not completely happy with it, it may just need some tuning, i dunno), and evans coated g2's on the batter side, clear g2's on the resonant side (i love these heads on the toms, awesome tone, perfect resonance, probably what your looking for) and i have an evans on bass but i forget which one, its a good head, but its due for replacement.

Crotia · #3 (**permalink**) 04-11-2007, 10:33 PM

Hmm, yeh, i'm not sure whether to get coated or clear...i don't want to have to get new heads when the coating gets worn down...and i play pretty hard, so it'll happen fairly fast.

shazaam · #4 (**permalink**) 04-11-2007, 11:07 PM

I'm thinkin of getting remo ebony's for my toms, maybe the bass too. Guess they have a nice tuning range so I can get a lil' deeper sound from my high tom cause currently it sounds like a timbale :P I like it, but not always the best sound for the type of music I plan on.

mouse · #5 (**permalink**) 04-12-2007, 07:20 AM

What do metal punk drummers use? Perhaps do a web search of your favourite drummers and see what is in the ball park of heads to use and tunings to help.

I have no idea but would likely use any un- muffled clear batters, double ply on toms and bass with single ply resonants like G1.
Powerstroke snare head or any other coated head with a power dot underneath.
Probally tune drums high, with minimal muffling in kick apart from ported front head and maybe a light towel.
With loud music and heavy drumming you don't want too much muffling (unless you are miked up) so you cut through the wall of guitar noise.

STNDRUMS · #6 (**permalink**) 04-12-2007, 01:43 PM

I've found out that most rock/metal drummers use 2 ply clear batter heads and clear 1ply resonant heads. For the snare the Powerstroke is a good idea.

Toms (ex.)

Res: Remo Ambassador Batter: Remo Pinstripe

Bass (ex.)

Res: Remo Ambassador (Ebony) Batter: Remo Pinstripe with muffling ring

I actually used the drum tuning bible that Skinslapper always talks about. The heads I mentioned above are pretty much the standard for rock/metal drummers that I've seen, not necesarilly remo, but you know what I mean.

If you wanted a slightly more muted set you could go with the Ebony heads. The ebony heads give a deeper tone and will take away more of the overtone than the normal clear heads (plus they look cool). The only downside with these heads is they might seem to take away from the attack of the drum.

I'm actually still debating on whether I want to change all my heads from clear pinstripes to Ebony, or just stay the same.

AJChxc · #7 (**permalink**) 04-12-2007, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crotia

Hmm, yeh, i'm not sure whether to get coated or clear...i don't want to have to get new heads when the coating gets worn down...and i play pretty hard, so it'll happen fairly fast.

what do you consider "fairly fast"? i have had mine on for maybe 2 months of serious playing, and they have no signs of wearing through, not even in the slightest. and i'm VERY hard on my equipment, not because our music is overly heavy, but because we are just loud. think of how long it takes a snare to wear through, same idea, only more then likely you play your toms less then your snare.

Pyrochazm · #8 (**permalink**) 04-13-2007, 12:39 AM

I really recomend the classic G2 batter/G1 reso combination. You can't go wrong with that. You can tune em high or low, and have a nice medium sustain.

As far as the kick is concerned, the Emad will do anything you really want it to. You can tune an Emad absurdly low and get good sound with no wrinkles. Being as you like punk, I recomend a tight tuning for that quick solid THUMP.

The diffrence between the Emad 1 and the 2 is the number of plies. The 1 being 1-ply and the 2 being a 2-ply. I personaly feel that the Emad 2 is waaaay two damped down. No tone at all.

Now the kinda tricky one: The snare. We're picky about our snares, because the snare kinda defines the rest of the kit. We all have a particular sound we're going for, and it can get expensive to find it sometimes. I personally prefer the HD Dry, but my Tama Metalworks snare came with an ST Dry, and I think it sounds great.

I thought I should mention that Brandon Barnes of Rise Against uses the Emad1, G2/G1 combo, and an St Dry snare head. www.evansdrumheads.com/EVAArtists.aspx?ID=1

Smee · #9 (**permalink**) 04-14-2007, 02:43 AM

I have just changed from all Remo heads to, Evans EC2s on the Toms, G2 on the Snare (I like a fat sound) and EMAD on Bass, my sound is now much much better.......

Crotia · #10 (**permalink**) 04-14-2007, 02:17 PM

Hmm, i just realized how easily i am influenced by sales people :S lol

I need to work on that :P

I went to the store, and I was like so, what do you recommend, and he said emporors, I asked him about G2s, and he said they were similar (I COMPLETELY forgot about pinstripes :S)

Anyways, they are treating me pretty well, i still have to get new resonant heads though, maybe some other time, low on funds at the moment. My next head purchase is probably gonna be the EMAD batter

Drum Heads

Drum Heads

Hope this helps...........