Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop
Recently bought a new acoustic kit - Odery Fluence - which came with Odery branded Evans G1 heads. They're ok but a bit resonant - my usual choice is Remo Pinstripes. It turns out that Pinstripes aren't particularly well thought of- a bit dull - and some drummers prefer Evans G2 or EC2.
What's your preferred batter head? I may switch to EC2s in time for my next recording session but I'm looking at two rack toms & two floor toms so it could be an expensive experiment
Have you tried Aquarian? The Response series are decent all-rounders, but the Super 2 and Performance are more focused in sound.
How are you at tuning? Have you also tried replacing/tuning the resonant head?
Not bad at tuning. Drum dial helps 😉
Not tried Aquarian, I must admit
Always used Evans G2. 6" brass DW snare and it sounded MASSIVE.
I have a 6.5in Black Panther snare in stainless steel,it's loud. Remo ambassador coated on that one, happy with that
Another shout for Evans G2s - I was really impressed with them the first time I tried them, but they do 'go off' after a while - they end up a bit plastic-y sounding.
My Gretsch has Aquarian Texture Coated batters on top and bottom. My Prem has clear Ambassadors on the reso and clear Emperors on the batter side. I also like Ambassador Vintage heads, which are thicker single ply coated heads.
I also agree that a decent reso head makes a real difference - the biggest change I ever found was using identical heads top and bottom tuned to the same pitches - sounds very bongy close up, but great a few feet away.
Eek replacing batter AND resonant heads on 10,12,14 & 16 drums could get very expensive 😯
Tempted to keep the G1 resonant heads for now
john_drummer - Member
Eek replacing batter AND resonant heads on 10,12,14 & 16 drums could get very expensive
Tempted to keep the G1 resonant heads for now
Agreed, but I think that good reso heads do make a massive difference - a lot of people stick with the cheap cling film FEPOS reso heads that come with most kits - the G1s will be fine though.
Another head I really enjoyed when I tested it was an Evans G-plus - a thick single ply head with a sort of hybrid coating that wasn't as heavy as a normal coated head. Very durable too, and if dented it came out with the use of a hair dryer.
I tend to find you can get good deals on 'packs' and then add whatever sizes they don't include, plus you get some spare heads.
Yeah I had a look at packs. Eg g2 fusion pack £28 from Drumwright, EC2 from £33 same dealer, and I got the kit from them in the first place
Can't decide on G2 or EC2 though...
Clear Ambassadors here on the toms & coated on the snare.
Try a set of EC2s first if you can - they're very damped, a bit like Powerstrokes or Pinstripes but not as much. They're popular because they provide a Pre-eq'd sound, but they can limit projection when playing unmiked. You can always add damping (moon gel, o rings etc) but you can't take it away.
Ordered a set of EC2s for the toms, Genera Dry Coated for the snare. Kick's fine for now
Thanks for the input folks
Toms: Clear Remo Emperor top, ambassador btm
Snare: ambassador batter & snare.
Spend time on the tuning and listen to them sing!