New heads

[Jobby]

Okay - I've had the cheapo resonant heads on my kit for too long, and the pinstripes on my toms are getting ... blah ... because I've had them for so long. So I've been checking out new heads.

I'm tossing up between Attack and Evans.

With the Attack heads for the whole kit it will cost a bit less then $600. This includes tone ridge batters on all toms and kicks, 2ply medium thin resonant heads on all the toms, ported 22" front heads on the kicks and a couple of 14" Terry Bozzio snare packs.

The Evans option is much more expensive! It will cost around $900. This includes EC2 batters on all toms with G1 resonants, Emad batters and the Emad resonants on the kicks and a couple of 14" Terry Bozzio snare packs.

Any thoughts, comments? Anyone tried Attack?

It's a lot of cash. Maybe I should start out replacing the resonant heads (at the moment I've still got the dodgy Pearl bottom heads on) and keep smacking the old pinstripes for a while?

[Ch33zz]

HOLY CRAP!?

600 bucks for heads? Since when, i replaced mine with remos for 100

[Jobby]

It's a big kit.

It's also Australian dollars - not US bucks.

[hellsbells58]

Mmm. I've been there as well Jobby. I got a quote for all my heads, both resonant and batter, that would've set me back about the same. At that time I didn't have the cash to go about replacing all of them, so I just did the Batters. I really should get around to the resonants soon.

I'm still very much a Remo supporter, but I haven't tried very many other head brands.

HB58

[funkymcstain]

ec2 over g1s would be a good combo for any kit. you could tune that combo to make any drum sound good. it is prolly the most popular combo on the whole export section on the pearl drum forums. great for heavy music and making cheaper drums sound good. i myself use coated g1s top and clear g1s bottom for all toms. hazy snareside on snare.

[Jobby]

The batters are still okay (not great, but okay). I've replaced anything that's become dead or broken (always the floor toms, by god how I like to whack those buggers). So I'm thinking if I at least put good resonant heads on, I can eke out some more life from the batter heads before replacing.

But resonant heads - how often does anyone really replace these? It's not as if they see a lot of wear, so they're almost invincible.

Funky - yeah, at the moment I'm using EC2 over G1 on one floor tom (a new addition to the kit) and it sounds soooo fat.

But I'm still wondering about Attack. They're a lot cheaper, seem to have a good reputation, and they're endorsed by Bozzio (I'm a Bozzio fanboy). AND they're glue free (which means no seating is necessary ... easy application and changeover!)

[funkymcstain]

i have no experience with the attack heads, but if they are good enuff for bozzio........
if they are not damaged i see no reason to change bottoms.

[Jobby]

The bottoms are the dodgy 'Pearl' heads that came with the kit.

[funkymcstain]

how old is the kit? if they are not damaged, or if you dont plan on having them under a microscope in the studio, then i wouldnt put them as a top priority. they wont be an incredibly noticeable difference than the g1s on bottom. as long as they stay tuned then they will be okay for a LONG time.

[Jobby]

This is the thing that still confuses me.

How much difference will resonant heads make?

Am I better of replacing batter heads instead?

The main reason that I want to change heads is: I recently bought a new floor tom (same make model as my other floor tom) and put a new Evans head on it. It sounds MILES better than the other tom (with an old remo pinstripe head on it). Both drums have the same resonant head. So I suppose the batter heads are the way to go.

But the question still remains - how much difference do resonant heads make? Is it that noticable?

[funkymcstain]

very little if not zero audible dif. in sound if it is a single ply like the protone.

[crazymanwithaplunger]

Actually, the resonant heads are far form invicible - they are REALLY susceptible to damage, as I discovered the hard way. All it was, was one strike from a stick and it left it permanatly dinted.

Granted it was a kid that hit it (i'd still like to know who let him get near the kit), but he hit the resonant head a couple of times as the floor tom happened to be upside down as a apart of packing it away, and it was permanently damaged.

The hardest tom to tune on the entire kit became even harder after that, so I am personally of the opinion that resonant heads are to be treated delicately and do play a role in the sound of a kit. I'm just trying to figure out what sort of resonant head would suit me best, hence why I asked a similar quesiton to this one not to long ago.

[livewire80]

Hey Jobby, I suffer from the same brain strain LOL. I think the best option is to do what you did with your new batter head and just get one resonant head of your choice and see what difference that makes. At least this way you dont have to spend the big bux to realise that there was not that much difference.

My question here is, if i play on a birch kit, what would be the best option for that? at the moment i have remo pinstripes as batters and the resonant are original evans heads which came with the kit. I do remember the guy I bought the kit off told me that those heads would do the job nicely but i just cant remeber what they were exactly.

so is their heads that are more suited to different types of wood?

[Jobby]

very little if not zero audible dif. in sound if it is a single ply like the protone.

Thanks Funky - that's what I suspected, so it's nice to have a bit of backup