Remo UT & UK Heads Question Answered

[rritter]

My Question to Remo

I’ve been playing since 1964 and just received a new Sonor Force 3007 kit with the Remo UT batter heads made in China. Having not played your heads made in China I am interested in their construction and design. These are single ply I believe and actually sound amazingly good when tuned well. The head on the bass drum has a control dampening ring and sounds even better than the Evans EQ 4 that I like so much on my Gretsch kit. I have also seen Remo UK heads on Ludwig Accent kits. I realize they are not the same quality of the Remo heads sold here in the United States but could you enlighten me and others on these Remo heads?

Thanks in advance.
Now playing Slingerland, Gretsch, & Sonor Drums
Richard R.


Remo’s Answer
Hello Ritter,

The Remo UT heads are made in our factory in China. They are made using the same Dupont Mylar film as is used on the Remo USA WeatherKing head. The difference is in the construction of the head.

Whereas the US head is made using a poured channel technique, the China heads are crimped. The aluminum hoop is folded over a steel ring that is inserted in the U-channel to hold the film in place. In terms of sound quality, the UT head is excellent due to the high quality film that we use.

Remo UK heads are also made in the same factory in China. These heads are designed for the entry-level kit and use a Korean film that still has good sound and durability features. Though not as good as Dupont Mylar film, it is far better than any of the cheap, local supply of film in China.

Many drum companies will utilize both models across various levels of quality in their production. For the a good entry-level kit, most companies opt for UK heads. For their mid-range kits, they will opt for the better UT heads.

I am delighted to hear that you are happy with the sound of these heads. We started OEM drumhead production in China for the very reason of bringing an excellent level of sound and quality to the OEM kits being made there. Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,
Robert Shen

Robert Shen
Vice President - Remo Asia
Remo, Inc.

[Stevo42w]

hey thats cool. nice research... how did you find out where to send something like that?

[rritter]

hey thats cool. nice research... how did you find out where to send something like that?

Stevo,

Remo’s web site has their own Forum and one of the forum groups is titled “Ask Remo”. So I did. Their forum site is located at http://www.remo.com/forum/index.html.

[pastor_bob]

Richard, I've got the Remo UT's on my Gretsch Catalina Maple, and I am fairly impressed with the sound. Certainly impressed enough that I hadn't felt the need to run out and immediately replace the heads once I had the kit set up. Also, everyone who hears the kit tells me that they love the sound, from amateurs to experienced players.

[funkymcstain]

cool man, good info. thnx.

[backtodrum]

Great post thank you rriter, It is always nice to learn something new everyday on this forum.

[rritter]

Richard, I've got the Remo UT's on my Gretsch Catalina Maple, and I am fairly impressed with the sound. Certainly impressed enough that I hadn't felt the need to run out and immediately replace the heads once I had the kit set up. Also, everyone who hears the kit tells me that they love the sound, from amateurs to experienced players.

Bob,

The quality of sound I’m getting from the UT heads prompted my desire to learn more about them. I only yesterday learned of the UK heads when I visited a music store and saw Ludwig kits with those heads applied. One of the Accent kits was their top end birch kit. I’m a little surprised they didn’t have the UT heads applied to that kit. I plan to keep them on my new Sonor kit for awhile because they sound that good.

[backtodrum]

You know I have heard that marketing reps for the drum companies visit Internet drum forums in an effort to find out what people are saying about their products. I have visited many forums where people have discussed the purchase of a new kit and that it didn't sound good until they put some quality heads on it. I would imagine that the marketing reps relayed that information to the manufactures in an effort to stay a step ahead of the competition and they have now started to put some decent heads on the mid to upper line kits. Just a thought!

[pastor_bob]

That could very well be! You never know who our "guests" have been!

[Stevo42w]

I think there is someone here from kosmic sound in perth.... i was talking to him about stuff and he sounded familiar on big drum forums. I assume this would be one of them since we are prolly the biggest all round drumming forum there is. everything else is specific to something :>

[coke_can]

(this is for remo reps) oh wow i just love remo that would be so cool if i could work there one day wow remo oh my gosh remo.

[sonor]

I to had the same experience the heads sounded great on my sonors. However the time came to replace them. I didn't want to change the sound I had so after much research I found the remo ambassadors sound just about the same. As for the base the powerstroke 3 filled the job nicely.

[rritter]

I to had the same experience the heads sounded great on my sonors. However the time came to replace them. I didn't want to change the sound I had so after much research I found the remo ambassadors sound just about the same. As for the base the powerstroke 3 filled the job nicely.

Good to know.

[rubb3rduck]

As much as I'd like to get myself weatherking heads, all I find here on my side of the world are China or Taiwan-made versions of Remos. It's good to get some info on how these sound, as I have doubts settling for what's handy and readily available. Perhaps I should give the UTs a try. Thanks for the info!

One more question though, how do you distinguish the UTs from the UKs? Do they have this written on the heads or on the packaging or something?

[Stevo42w]

have any of your remo nuts actually tried evans heads? PDP use to swear buy them... just wondering if you guys have lashed out and tried something new?

[backtodrum]

I have tried them all and still come back to Remo, I use an Aquarian super kick II on my Bass drum though.

[rubb3rduck]

I still have my stock heads on as my kit is only 3 mos old (started drumming a little over 3 mos) so everything I'm planning to try is new to me.

[rritter]

have any of your remo nuts actually tried evans heads? PDP use to swear buy them... just wondering if you guys have lashed out and tried something new?

My Gretsch kit came with Evans G1’s on the toms and snare and an EQ4 on the bass. Good sounding heads. I have a Gretsch Custom Maple snare that came with the G1’s that sounds very good. I did replace the tom heads with Remo Emperor heads but could have gotten the same from Evans G2’s. As for the bass I like what I hear from the EQ4 and have replaced it once. So yea Evans do a good job too.