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Thread: marching drum heads

  1. #1

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    I recently aquired an old Carlton Dallas-London marching snare (a nice red one). It has really old heads on it and I cranked the batter down a little too hard - it split. I looked around quite a lot for heads and settled on Remo. I've ordered both heads - the Black Max KS-1614-00 (with Mylar underlay) for the batter and the Ebony SA-0414-TD snare side. I know nothing about marching drums - I play a Gretsch kit. I mainly ordered these heads because I have a red drum and I think it would look nice with black heads.

    I couldn't find anyone around here that had experience with marching drums so I thought I would as here.

    Are these heads a good choice? All I know is they're costing me about $50 CDN each.

    I will be playing indoors and I'm not in a band - just "shreadin-Reppies" for my own enjoyment....rudiments mainly.

  2. #2

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    hopefully someone will have an answer for you i aquired an old Ludwig Marching band snare this summer, and it has a Ludwig silver dot head for the batter. It works for my purpose. I don't play in a drumline, or marching bands, i actually use the marching snare as my side snare.

  3. #3

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    Make sure you are VERY careful while using a black max on an older drum. Anything made before the mid 90s will not have the strength to stand up to a highly tensioned Black Max (very good head BTW). For a while, companies sold adjustable reenforcement rings for older drums that sat just under the bearing edge to keep the drum from imploding. Sorry, I'm not sure who made them. Just keep in mind that the newer heads are stronger than the older drums. Also, if you are playing indoors, that drum will be a lot louder than you think.

  4. #4

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    Well, If you have a free-floating drum, you should be fine with that head, if not, watch yourself. The black max is a very nice head, but it is kevlar, and it WILL break a weak freefloating/standard marching snare drum if its overcranked. You'll get some shell warpage, and eventually the entire shell with just cave in and collapse.

    I don't know that company, so I would stay VERY carefull with that head. Just throw a bit of tension on it, to get the nice fat old marching snare sound instead of the new crisp staccato freefloating sound.

  5. #5

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    i agree with both posts

  6. #6

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    Default Re: marching drum heads

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaneRoney View Post
    Make sure you are VERY careful while using a black max on an older drum. Anything made before the mid 90s will not have the strength to stand up to a highly tensioned Black Max (very good head BTW). For a while, companies sold adjustable reenforcement rings for older drums that sat just under the bearing edge to keep the drum from imploding. Sorry, I'm not sure who made them. Just keep in mind that the newer heads are stronger than the older drums. Also, if you are playing indoors, that drum will be a lot louder than you think.
    My drum has reinforcement rings (maybe it's newer than I think!)
    See photo - rings on batter and snare side.

    Thanks everyone for your advice. I will be tuning very easy - I like that "fat" sound especially with this deep snare. It's going to take a while for my heads to get here. The retailer has to special order them so I don't expect to see them for a few months.
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    Last edited by kona; 01-22-2009 at 08:47 PM.

  7. #7

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    Default Re: marching drum heads

    You might be alright with that drum, as long as you are careful. Have you tried an older style plastic marching head? Something like a Remo Powerstroke will yield a good old school marching sound. IMO - there is no reason to use a Kevlar head if you aren't going for the extreme stacatto sound that is popular today with marching band and drum corps snares. On the other hand, I know a guy that uses a Remo Falam on his brass piccollo snare and it sounds great (but way loud).

  8. #8

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    Default Re: marching drum heads

    Quote Originally Posted by ShaneRoney View Post
    You might be alright with that drum, as long as you are careful. Have you tried an older style plastic marching head? Something like a Remo Powerstroke will yield a good old school marching sound. IMO - there is no reason to use a Kevlar head if you aren't going for the extreme stacatto sound that is popular today with marching band and drum corps snares. On the other hand, I know a guy that uses a Remo Falam on his brass piccollo snare and it sounds great (but way loud).
    I was looking at the Remo Powerstroke heads - they would be a good choice for sure.
    I've ordered the Black Max and the SA Ebony. If they don't work to my satisfaction on the marching drum I may try them on my Pearl Morgan Rose (metal snare) - I'll get some use out of it whatever I do. And it's always good to try something new.

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