Whats Your favorite drum head?

[Frazzetto]

This is most likely a repost of a long lost thread. But, I just wanted to (re)create it to see what some of you guys are bashin' on!
( Just going to list the "BIG NAMES" in brands, there are tons of others, but these are the big 3 in competition!)


*Evans, Ludwig, Aquarian?

Feel free to give your input on why you like each, or why you don't like the other(s)! You can also tell us which sub-series of each you use! (ie: "Remo Pinstripes" "Evans Onyx" "Aquarian Hi-Velocity" etc...)

Have fun with it :D

[Frazzetto]

PS- Multiple voting is allowed! (names are shown, ITS NO SECRET :P)

I voted for all 3, for a reason! On my home-practice kit i have Evans tom heads and bass heads, and aquarian snare heads. I Like them for their sound range.

On my gigging/Band practice kit, I have Remo everything and Evans Bass heads!

[Russ]

Brand names mean zilch to me when it comes to heads. It's more about which particular heads are being examined. Certain heads have things I like, and things I don't. Currently I use all Aquarian but if any one head from any one brand does what I want, i've no problem mixing them together. For example i'd like to see Aquarian run something like what Evans is doing with their thick single ply heads. I like single ply heads for many reasons(no plies to seperate or adhesives is one of them) but I want a thicker weight one for the bigger drums like a floor tom or a kick. But according to my research, they don't currently make anything above a 10mm. Oh well.

[Pearl MCX Man]

I've always used Evans cause to me they are easier to select than Remos. What I mean is that Evans use letters that are easy to remember like G,G2's,EC2's etc while Remos use Ambassadors, Emperors. Pinstripes etc and they just get too confusing to me. I am not saying Evans is the best of all the heads out. I use an aquarian head that I think is a great head the Z100 texture coated.

[Russ]

The coating Aquarian uses is no joke, very tough and rugged stuff. If you're not careful you can bruise your hand on it! I used to be a fan of Remo, but too many bad experiences with after quality control went down the drain got me looking elsewhere. They make a few good accessories though, like dampening rings that I like. I do credit them for making heads that have the least strange plastic/boingy sounds to them, they tend to sound the most natural of all the models i've tried. Very accurate and true expression of the instrument, but their coating is garbage.

[itchie]

russ your my favorite drum head

[Frazzetto]

lol! thats cool guys. That's what I was looking for! Mainly because, when I was a super-beginner, I had NO idea about heads. And there wasn't much about why peopled liked them, just the manufacturer's "Buy this because of this"-sales pitch. This thread allows us to get to know eachothers drumming styles. And it allows newbies to get a feel of what head they might want be seeing other's comments on them.

[marko138]

I use Evans top to bottom on my Starclassic. I like them. My experience with Remo is limited and I have Aquarian SK and Regulator kick heads on my other 2 kits but they both have Evans tom and snare heads.

[drumsetsnide]

I like the Evans EC2's on my toms. Not as muted or thick sounding as the Pinstripes and not as open and airy as a single ply or coated. A good balance of both. They have good response and tone when played soft or hard and tune nicely. I used pinstripes on my kit for quite some time, then switched to a single ply for a bit. I then put the EC2's on and that was the sound I was after. I have 100% birch shells in the accel sizes. On the bass I have the Aquarian Super Kick II. It offers nice a nice punch with enough muffling but not dead sounding. On the snare I have the Remo coated.

[DamageDrummer]

cant steer away from evans on the toms for some reason, had to vote evans. i have remo and aquarian on snare and kick. all to their own i guess

[Pearl MCX Man]

So I voted Evans cause I have EC2's/EC reso on all my toms and have EC frosted with reverse dot/ Hazy 300 on my snare and found this is the best combination for my Masters MCX 6ply 100% maple shells.

[kickinit]

Really on the fence here between Remo and Aquarian, but I voted Aquarian. I always went back to Remo every time I tried Evans though. Recently I swapped out to Aquarian and I don't think I will be so quick to return to Remo. Previously played coated Emperors but switched to coated Response 2's on my Sonors...WOW! Got a set of coated Super 2's for my DWPS but I am playing out my Remo heads a bit more before swapping.

[tah821]

Remo, but only cuz I don't have enough experience with any other brands to say otherwise.

[yohin]

I've tried Remo and Evans on the toms and snare, and the Evans coating seems to hold up better so I go with them. The Remo's sound fine but they have stick marks all over them literally within a day, whereas my Evans still look brand new months later.

I've also got Aquarian on the kick drum which I love.

[Northern Redneck]

Depending on the application, I have almost always used clear Pinstripes or Emps or Cs's on my toms, my snares have always been coated Ambos or clear Cs's. Kicks up until my lates have always been clear Pinstripes, but right now Im running a Powersonic which I love.




ps Before somebody points it out, Im well aware my CGB logo head is an Evans, I didnt buy it. I normally run a Tama logo head.

[Xoferif09]

Favorite snare heads would be Ambassador X or Emperor X with a diplomat hazy reso.

Favorite tom heads would have to be coated or clear emperors with ebony ambassadors as reso.

My favorite kick head is Aquarian Super Kick 1.

[kay-gee]

I like em all for different reasons I guess. I hav eRemo, Evans and Some Aquarian as of late.

all the best...

[05WideGuy]

Aquarian, because the have a tone right out of the box! makes it easier to tune.

[slinglander]

Snare 1: Evans EC frosted over Evans 300 hazy
Snare 2: Remo Ambo over Remo clear
Toms: Evans EC2's over Remo clears
Kick 1: Aquarian/Remo Powerstroke
Kick2 : Aquarian/Remo ported

[isaacvining]

My kit currently has all evans stuff on it, but I went to buy a new Emad 2 because mine is down to one ply and Guitar Center didn't have any in the 20" size, so I ended up with an Aquarian super kick 2 hoping that it'll be pretty similar. I might be putting remo ambassadors back on my toms as well....

[groovearteest]

Remo all the way. But if remo were to go out of buisness or something then i'd go evans.

[Frazzetto]

So happy this became a decently popular thread! We have to keep it up though, because theres 100s of members, and only about 20 comments! I see a lot more Remo/Evans than Aquarian it looks like! :P

[marko138]

I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about Aquarian. I might need to try them on my toms and snare.

[Warren Wright]

My main kit is a Yamaha Oak Custom in Red Oak ( stunning lacquer finish and the wood grain shows thru ) and I put the Aquarian Focus-X coated heads on the toms batter, Remo Emperor clear on the reso, an Evans G1 on the snare (Pearl FF Copper shell) Remo Black Suede reso snare head, and an Evans EMAD coated on the kick batter & Evans EQ3 w/port on reso side.

My road kit is the other half of an 8 piece Yamaha Power V Special...22x16 kick, Pearl free floating 6 1/2 x 14 maple snare, 10" & 14 rack ( no floor ). The snare has a Remo Powerstroke 3, 10 & 14 have the Aquarian Focus-X coated on the batter, Remo Emperor clear on the reso and the Evans EMAD coated on the kick & Yamaha logo Remo with port reso head.

The practice kit is the remainder of the 8 piece Yamaha Power V Special- 22x16 kick with an Evans coated EMAD and Yamaha Logo reso, 12" & 15" racks with Aquarian Focus-X coated batter, Remo Emperor clear reso, 18" floor with Aquarian Focus-X batter, Remo Emperor clear reso, original Yamaha Power V Special steel snare with Remo Powerstroke 3 batter, Remo clear ambassador reso. I used to use the Remo Pinstripe Ebony batters on the toms...but Aquarian didnt produce the Focus-X heads back then. The Aquarian Focus-X Coated do sound better than the Pinstripes~ on this particular kit.

One comment concerning head coating: The coating material Aquarian puts on their heads is the best Ive come across in longevity.

[Frazzetto]

I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about Aquarian. I might need to try them on my toms and snare.

Marko, I've never used on toms, but I've heard and its nice! However i can vouche for the snare. I have an Aquarian Hi-Velocity snare head (black) and it sounds pretty great! nice highs, lows, and mids! cheers!