Tuning Remo ebony ambassadors HELP PLEASE!

[DipstickDW]

So I have a 5pc DW and I just put new Remo ambassadors on my three toms and I can't get the sound I'm looking for. They are giving me a very hard contact sound, you can really hear the tip of the stick. It would work in a hard rock song but I'm looking for more of a softer contact sound. Is there anything I can do as far as tuning the bottom heads or should I just fork out the extra dough and get the emperors?

[DipstickDW]

Also they don't quite give me the response that I need for good sticking. They feel kinda dead. And I have them decently tight.

[fiacovaz]

I just put coated Remo Ambassadors on my toms as batter heads and clear Remo Diplomats as resos. I tuned each drum to itself and then tweaked the tuning of the batters just slightly. I am getting a deep, full sound without having to hit either of them hard at all. The heads I had just taken off were coated Remo Pinstripes. As a two ply head, the Pin stripes were okay for heavier work but, I play stricly big band jazz and wanted a fuller and more musical sound from my toms. I keep the batters tuned lower than you probably are...I noticed as I cranked them up, they sounded dead to me. I tune by "Ear" and have each tuning lug about 2 to 2 1/2 turns turns beyond finger tight.
Try experimenting with the tuning and you might find what you're looking for. BTW, are your DW's Maple or Birch? My own drums are 1960's Ludwigs with the rounded 30 degree bearing edges that promote that kind of sound.

[Jackstraw]

Hey,
I found something on You tube a while back that addresses this issue.

Check out Bob Gatzen Quick-Tip 4 - More horse power for your kit.

Bob explains that when the reso head is tuned a half step higher than your batter head, you will have a slightly choked sound with a dead feel to your batter head.

If you tune your batter head tighter than your reso head, you will have a more bouncier feel/ better response from your drum head along with more resonance.

Has to do with both heads vibrating at the same frequency compared to different frequencies.

Check it out....very informative!

Cheers!

[Dope999]

Yeah, Bob Gatzen is the man - he really knows what he's doing! So go to YouTube and check out his tuning videos. It really helps making your drums sound decent or eventually rather good :D

[backtodrum]

My particular kit seems to sound the best with both heads tunned exactly the same, it sounds really good that way. But I have always found individual kits are all different in what they like for tunning!

[CycleDude]

IIRC, The ebony's are a 2 ply head with a layer of oil between them. They're great for a metal kinda flam "br****-um" fill thing. For a softer sound, jazzier sound, the old fashioned coated ambassadors were nice.

[mkennedy]

IIRC, The ebony's are a 2 ply head with a layer of oil between them. They're great for a metal kinda flam "br****-um" fill thing. For a softer sound, jazzier sound, the old fashioned coated ambassadors were nice.

Actually Remo Ebony Ambassadors are a single ply head. CD I think you're thinking of Evans Hydraulics. Ebony Ambassadors were created to be more of a resonant head of I'm not mistaken. They look great on the bottom of the toms and of course the front of the kick drum but I really don't think they're suited for use as a batter.

[mkennedy]

Here's the description taken straight from remo.com...

"The Ebony™ Ambassador® heads are medium-weight heads made with a single ply 10 mil Mylar® film to produce an open, warm and resonant sound with plenty of attack. Ebony Ambassador heads are ideal for batter and resonant heads for tom toms and are known as the standard of the industry for front bass heads."

[itchie]

i think this might be the case of the wrong heads on the wrong drums