Bass heads

[jd09]

I tore a hole in my bass head the other day, and after many attempts at keeping it alive, I finally gave in and bought a new one, off eBay. It's a Remo Powerstroke, check it out here:



Anyone have experience with this? Did I make a huge mistake? haha, let me know what you think.

[STICKSWIZZARDDRAGON]

HOLA como estas JD09 CREATIVE ARTISTIC ARTIST DRUMMER
(CAT) I use the REMO POWER STROKE I love the TONE & the ACTION is RED HOT***GRACIAS

[jd09]

Oops, I meant Powersonic, not Powerstroke.

[backtodrum]

I can't say that I am familiar with that head, let us know how you like it.

[jrock]

I have the same one. Pretty good head. Its nice to muffle the head(or have a pre-muffled head to begin with) without having to put anything inside the drum, very convienent. I prefer it without the snap on muffler most of the time. If anything happens to this head, I would like to try out the Evans EMAD. Everyone seems to rave about it.

[32ndHeartBeat]

I wasn't too impressed with the Powersonic over other Remo bass heads like the Powerstroke. I really did, however, love the innovative clip-on muffler idea. The only thing about it is that it'll fall off after a while of intense playing which most drummers looking for that muffled tone aren't too fond of.

[backtodrum]

What is the muffler held on with, velcro?

[32ndHeartBeat]

It clips on to the hoop.

[backtodrum]

Over the bearing edge, if so how can it come off?

[32ndHeartBeat]

That's the problem in my eyes is how easy it is to get off. It's just a simple clamp that doesn't have a tension rod or anything to make sure it stays put, just a mere clip that falls off under big vibrations. You'd think they would have looked through that in the design process.

[drumdeano]

I have it and its great if you mic your kick.Not much ring.Use this head and a pillow and it feels a little dead,but sounds great thru a sub.I also have the Emad and I really love this head.Nice fat sound and being able to control your kick by changing the foam ring is cool and easy.Great for live playing but you will need a pillow if its mic'ed [too much ring,even with the wide foam insert]

[backtodrum]

Most of your ring is probably coming from the reso head and not the batter head in those situations. Just a rolled towel placed inside only touching the reso head will cure allot of unwanted overtones. I personally have taken some felt and spray adhesive and glued a felt donut to the reso head. I now have no need to put any sort of dampening in the drum itself.

[Bish]

I just got that same head with my Pearl Masters last weekend. I am not sure about it. It has that "tubby" sound to it. But I haven't had much chance to mess with it. Guess, I'll go do that now and let you know....muaahahahaaaaa

[jrock]

The Powersonic has two foam rubber rings on the outer parameter inside of the head. In addition, it has an external felt muffling pad that snaps on the bottom of the head(via three snaps). The Evans EMAD I'm not too farmiliar with, but I think it has two foam rubber rings on the outside. The inside ring(the gray one) is removeable. This is a pretty cool concept because it eliminates the need to add a pillow or anything else inside the drum which is very convienent. I have the Powersonic and when tuned right it sounds pretty good. I actually prefer it most of the time without the snap on pad, as it sounds a little over muffled for most applications for me. I havn't had it that long yet, so the jury is still out on the durability. Some comments I heard was the pad falling off during playing. It seems to snap on pretty tight, but I guess if you keep snapping it on and off, the snaps are going to wear. Also, I heard comments that the foam rings on both heads can be prone to deteriorate and fall off. We'll see how it goes. I like to try the EMAD sometime. I heard alot of positive things about those.

[Bish]

Great descriptions of both heads, jrock. You rock!!

The one flaw I ran into with the Evans was that after a time the outer ring started separating from the part stuck to the head and would create a rattle.It literally Of course, the ever popular duct tape fixed that easily enough.

[jrock]

Great descriptions of both heads, jrock. You rock!!

The one flaw I ran into with the Evans was that after a time the outer ring started separating from the part stuck to the head and would create a rattle.It literally Of course, the ever popular duct tape fixed that easily enough.

Ah yes, duct tape, the universal tool. Since you got to test drive both heads, which one do you prefer?

[jd09]

Actually, it clips on with buttons. It stays on very well, but I find myself not using it, it sounds great without it on, but I guess if there were a situation where I needed more muffling, I'd use it. The head is great, and I would recommend it to any drummer.

[ThePloughman]

I find it amusing that the Industry has spent MILLIONS of dollars since 1977 trying to convince the one segment of musicians totally lacking in brains and talent that they absolutely must have deeper and deeper bass drums for more boomy punchy resonance, that they must have isolation mounts that cost major dollars, and no mounting holed drilled into their toms, that their tom mounting hardware absolutely must not be attached to the now "virgin" bass drum, that there be Isolation feet on their bass drum spurs, and that these are the innovations that seperate a "real" drumset of the pro line from an entry level crap set................

And then, the industry sells us Bass heads with foam rubber rings that totally defeat all the BS improvements we have sucked down like poisoned coolaid.

A five dollar blanket from KMart accessed through that 4" microphone port, will accomplish the same thing.

[32ndHeartBeat]

Excellent theory, Ploughman.

[Bish]

A five dollar blanket from KMart accessed through that 4" microphone port, will accomplish the same thing.

Ah but the weight of the blanket offsets the benefit of function. I prefer the bass drum to be as light as possible when gigging every weekend so my goal was to NOT use the blanket and I haven't in years.

JRock, I spent some time setting up the Powersonic and I believe I like it better than the Evans. The head has a good thud to it with barely any boing......

[Kjbakke2]

What is the muffler held on with, velcro?

there are little plastic snaps on the head that they clip to
it depends on what sound your going for
but im a huge emad fan
my second choice is the aquarian super kick

[jrock]

I find it amusing that the Industry has spent MILLIONS of dollars since 1977 trying to convince the one segment of musicians totally lacking in brains and talent that they absolutely must have deeper and deeper bass drums for more boomy punchy resonance, that they must have isolation mounts that cost major dollars, and no mounting holed drilled into their toms, that their tom mounting hardware absolutely must not be attached to the now "virgin" bass drum, that there be Isolation feet on their bass drum spurs, and that these are the innovations that seperate a "real" drumset of the pro line from an entry level crap set................

And then, the industry sells us Bass heads with foam rubber rings that totally defeat all the BS improvements we have sucked down like poisoned coolaid.

A five dollar blanket from KMart accessed through that 4" microphone port, will accomplish the same thing.

I agree to an extent, there were some gimmicks, and as far as sound, some might of helped little if at all, don't even know where to start, however, alot of innovative developments also happened over the last 30 years, some which you described are standard on almost every drumkit now, even the entry level kits. I'll take the hardware and mounting systems now over the stuff I seen 20-30 years ago. Of course it don't make you a better drummer, but it's just plain better and easier to work with. I prefer the resonant head without a port hole, so I like these batter heads, you can adjust to little or more muffling on the fly and they really don't cost that much more than the Powerstrokes or the Superkicks.

[fiacovaz]

A five dollar blanket from KMart accessed through that 4" microphone port, will accomplish the same thing.

Not only that but, as a drum pro at local music store suggested to me a while back, stick one of the wife's tampons on the bass batter head just below the beater. I did and, guess what...? it worked!! Dampened the head just about right. of course, I never did tell her why there was a missing "Pad."

[armyoflarry]

I find it amusing that the Industry has spent MILLIONS of dollars since 1977 trying to convince the one segment of musicians totally lacking in brains and talent that they absolutely must have deeper and deeper bass drums for more boomy punchy resonance, that they must have isolation mounts that cost major dollars, and no mounting holed drilled into their toms, that their tom mounting hardware absolutely must not be attached to the now "virgin" bass drum, that there be Isolation feet on their bass drum spurs, and that these are the innovations that seperate a "real" drumset of the pro line from an entry level crap set................

And then, the industry sells us Bass heads with foam rubber rings that totally defeat all the BS improvements we have sucked down like poisoned coolaid.

A five dollar blanket from KMart accessed through that 4" microphone port, will accomplish the same thing.

It is nice to see someone else who thinks the way I do. Ha ha!

The truth is, if you have drums that are well built with quality wood, drum heads that fit your needs, hardware that does not slip and the ability to tune a drum properly you are set.

I used to have an old Japanese Rogers-wannabe off brand kit. It had the old slot tom mount and counsole attached to the bass drum. It sounded huge once I fixed the bearing edges and put new heads on it. I'd put it up to my Pearl Vision set any day.

[DeathMetalDrummer]

I have a remo coated powerstroke 3. The clerk at a store told me its the best head for any type of music. I really like it.