I need help from fellow drummers.

[FatesFan]

Here is the deal. I played drums from about 79 to about 88 at which time I hung it up for good. That was until I was asked last year to play again and join this band. The band had a kit that had been left there by a dude about 7 years ago. I have been playing it for the last 6-7 months and all of the sudden, the dude comes out of nowhere and wants it back. So, I went out today and pick up the used kit you see below in pictures. I got what I think was a heck of a deal for this kit with the cymbals you see.

What I need are some recommendations in regards to drum heads. I am going to replace all batter heads and I have no idea what are the heads of choice these days. Can I get some insight from you guys as to what I should be looking for in terms of brand and type? Maybe also some insight on what type of sound to expect from a particular head for example a single ply vs. a hydraulic head etc. I will replace all....( 12"-13"-14"-16" & 18" toms and 2-22" kick drums)

All input would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

Side note........

The dude I got them from said the dude he got them from had both kicks signed on the inside by Randy Castillo in 88'. Not sure I buy it and there is no way I can authenticate it but I have added a pic below of the supposed signature.

 

[Metaldrumz]

What style of music? Metal? Are you looking to use triggers? What type of sound do you enjoy? Higher pitch, medium, or thunderous?

Nice kit BTW reminds me of my old TAMA ROCKSTAR kit. Absolutely loved it.

 

[FatesFan]

What style of music? Metal? Are you looking to use triggers? What type of sound do you enjoy? Higher pitch, medium, or thunderous?

Nice kit BTW reminds me of my old TAMA ROCKSTAR kit. Absolutely loved it.

We are a cover band covering everything from Montrose to Velvette Revolver. These toms are deep and have a natural deep sound. I don't think it is in my best interest to fight it. I actually like the fullness of it. (thunderous) I may add higher range toms if needed. Not sure if that helps at all. I will not be using triggers. I do have a Roland V Tour set that I may mix in for added sounds when playing out.

 

[Bryan316]

I'm gonna recommend Aquarian heads, as that's what my drummer uses. Used to be Remo's, but they were too ringy and needed muffling that just killed off their tone.

The Aquarians he uses for his kick drums sound EXCELLENT. They have a foam ring glued to the inside surface of the head in a way to muffle and control the head without needing pillows or duck tape or foam or sponges. Tight, loud, but no boomy over-ring that echos the room. But be warned! When they say you should use the matched front head for this beater head, they are telling the truth! We tried, it failed. Then we put the matched front head, and everything was like movie theater popcorn - GOOD:

Aquarian Super Kick II

For his toms, he's using these for the tops, and then just plain jane solid opaque black Remo's for the bottoms. Same thing as the kick drum heads, special muffling rings glued to the inside. And these also work far better when trying to tune your toms to actual pitches, and let you get very tight heads without sounding like tight Rototoms:

Aquarian Performance II drum head

Hope that gets you in the right direction.

 

[FatesFan]

Thanks for the info Bryan. Man, I hate to give up the tama heads on the front of the kicks.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bryan316]

I know I know, seeing Tama on the front of drums is METAL, but then again, you could always get your band's logo printed on a vinyl decal, or get new Tama logos as well!

By the way, very nice drumset. I'd say yes, you got a good deal no matter what you paid! Everything looks in fine working order. It's no Artstar Select, but then again, what mortal human can afford them? When some good weather comes, take that thing completely apart (Well, as far as you feel comfortable) and clean up all that chrome, clean the shells, and slap those new heads on, and you should be looking good under the stage lights.

Oh, and one more thing. I assume that's an 18-inch floor tom down there next to a 16, right? If so, you Miiiiight want to try out different tom heads for that other floor tom. The concept being, you'll usually use the floor tom closer to your rack toms for most of your drum fills and rolls, so have those toms all set up and tuned to sound good together. Then, (depending on what sounds cooler to you) get either a thinner or thicker drum head for that biggest floor tom, so that you can get a very different sound for really dramatic effect. My drummer used a thicker head (two-ply, I think?) on his biggest floor tom, and tuned it very loosely for a war-drum sound like rawhide stretched over a barrel. His first floor tom and his second have a great contrasting sound that work great when played together for a tribal rhythm, like doing the intro to MetallicA's Enter Sandman or Megadeth's Trust or Blind Guardian's Mirror Mirror. So if you have enough cash to try it, get the Aquarian for everything including that biggest tom, and see if you can find another style or brand to experiment with.

 

[DAVETHEMETALGUY]

i use remo CS black dots.
they cut down on overring a lot.
remo pinstripes for floor toms (2 ply)
resonant snare for the snare side remo white batter with kevlar black dot underneath for snare batter side

 

[Metaldrumz]

http://www.evansdrumheads.com/

It shouldnt be an issue to keep your outside bass drum heads.

 

[edgeofthorns]

When in the hell did you get an acoustic set? It looks great in my opinion....of course I'm not a drummer either.

~Brian~

 

[FatesFan]

When in the hell did you get an acoustic set? It looks great in my opinion....of course I'm not a drummer either.

~Brian~

Just got them Yesterday. I called you twice to see if you wanted to come see them but no answer. However, I am still under the weather so it may be good you did not come over.

Thanks to everyone for the input on my call for help!

 

[FatesFan]

I know I know, seeing Tama on the front of drums is METAL, but then again, you could always get your band's logo printed on a vinyl decal, or get new Tama logos as well!

Very true.

By the way, very nice drumset. I'd say yes, you got a good deal no matter what you paid! Everything looks in fine working order.

Got it for $ 900.00.

Oh, and one more thing. I assume that's an 18-inch floor tom down there next to a 16, right?

It is indeed an 18"!

Thanks for the input!

 

[SavaVIDude]

Those signed heads are cool!! Whether they are authentic or not, I just wanted to say Rock In Peace, Randy (both of 'em, I guess). Ozzy shouldn't hire any more dudes named Randy. What a tragedy.

Peace,
Chris

 

[urinalcakemix]

For a Rock band, I figure you're going to want some balls to your sound.

Kick:
Aquarian SuperKick II. Expensive, but definitely the sweetest bass drum head I've ever used. If you're on a budget, Remo's Powerstroke 3 is another great head.

Snare: I prefer single ply heads, the Remo Coated Ambassador's have been working well for me lately - on my 14x6.5 Steel Shell. I have it tuned medium tight , and has a fat, full bodied tone that works perfectly for rock/non-death metal.

The advantage to single ply heads is you can always use some dampening if you dont like overtones, with a 2 ply head, you can only open it up so far, so if you dont get ENOUGH ring, your SOL. I always thought Single ply brought out the best tone out of a drum.

Toms: For your style, I reccomend a 2 ply head. It'll be a bit more controlled, less sustain, and pack more balls/low end thunder to your drums. I've been more than satisfied with the Evans Genera G2's, their cheap, and sound AMAZING. They are very full, nice attack, nice amount of balls, and still sing.Another head I reccomend is the new Aquarian Super 2, its a thin 2 ply head, that plays like a single ply with more durability and a bit more low end. Its a harder head to tune to get to the sweet spot, but when you hit it.. It's sweet.

I also HIGHLY reccomend replacing those bottom heads too. Thats where you get ALL your tone from. Those bottom heads will SEVERELY impact the tone/sound of your drums negatively. You have no idea how much better your drums will sound with a new set of bottoms. I reccomend Aquarian Classic clears. Aquarian head collars are beefier than evans and remo, and generally last longer. I like this in a resonant head, as I don't like to have ot change them very often.
Snare side resonant: Evans Hazy 300, Remo Snare Side Ambassador, or Aquarian Snare Side will suit you just fine.

The Tama logo heads CAN stay, advised to go. Aquarian Regulators complement the Superkick II head VERY well, and are one of the sleeker looking front side BD heads.

If you need to be brought back up to speed on anything else, let me know! I can also hook you up with some sound clips of my current drum configuration with the Superkick II/Regulator on Bass, Evans G2 over Aquarian Classic Clears, and Remo Coated Ambassador over Snare side Ambassador.

 

[FatesFan]

For a Rock band, I figure you're going to want some balls to your sound.

Kick:
Aquarian SuperKick II. Expensive, but definitely the sweetest bass drum head I've ever used. If you're on a budget, Remo's Powerstroke 3 is another great head.

Snare: I prefer single ply heads, the Remo Coated Ambassador's have been working well for me lately - on my 14x6.5 Steel Shell. I have it tuned medium tight , and has a fat, full bodied tone that works perfectly for rock/non-death metal.

The advantage to single ply heads is you can always use some dampening if you dont like overtones, with a 2 ply head, you can only open it up so far, so if you dont get ENOUGH ring, your SOL. I always thought Single ply brought out the best tone out of a drum.

Toms: For your style, I reccomend a 2 ply head. It'll be a bit more controlled, less sustain, and pack more balls/low end thunder to your drums. I've been more than satisfied with the Evans Genera G2's, their cheap, and sound AMAZING. They are very full, nice attack, nice amount of balls, and still sing.Another head I reccomend is the new Aquarian Super 2, its a thin 2 ply head, that plays like a single ply with more durability and a bit more low end. Its a harder head to tune to get to the sweet spot, but when you hit it.. It's sweet.

I also HIGHLY reccomend replacing those bottom heads too. Thats where you get ALL your tone from. Those bottom heads will SEVERELY impact the tone/sound of your drums negatively. You have no idea how much better your drums will sound with a new set of bottoms. I reccomend Aquarian Classic clears. Aquarian head collars are beefier than evans and remo, and generally last longer. I like this in a resonant head, as I don't like to have ot change them very often.
Snare side resonant: Evans Hazy 300, Remo Snare Side Ambassador, or Aquarian Snare Side will suit you just fine.

The Tama logo heads CAN stay, advised to go. Aquarian Regulators complement the Superkick II head VERY well, and are one of the sleeker looking front side BD heads.

If you need to be brought back up to speed on anything else, let me know! I can also hook you up with some sound clips of my current drum configuration with the Superkick II/Regulator on Bass, Evans G2 over Aquarian Classic Clears, and Remo Coated Ambassador over Snare side Ambassador.

Thanks for the info man! Sends some clips too! I would love to hear them.

 

[Bryan316]

Dude, Cakemix, I wanna hear yer drumming too! Just cuz! \m/

 

[urinalcakemix]

Dude, Cakemix, I wanna hear yer drumming too! Just cuz! \m/

Haha, alright. I have a jazz gig tomorrow, so I wont be around at ALL. I figure I can probably record something thursday, if not over the weekend. What do you guys wanna hear? Styles? Tunes? SOLOWZ?! Sorry, no video.

 

[Bryan316]

Give us a minute worth of an improv solo. A minute should be enough to sell us on your MAD SKILLZ. Give us a good idea of what your whole kit sounds like, some good speedy double-bass work, a good slow tom roll so we can hear what each tom sounds like, and remember to work the hihat to hear its characteristics.

 

[FatesFan]

Give us a minute worth of an improv solo. A minute should be enough to sell us on your MAD SKILLZ. Give us a good idea of what your whole kit sounds like, some good speedy double-bass work, a good slow tom roll so we can hear what each tom sounds like, and remember to work the hihat to hear its characteristics.

I'll go with that.

 

[urinalcakemix]

Give us a minute worth of an improv solo. A minute should be enough to sell us on your MAD SKILLZ. Give us a good idea of what your whole kit sounds like, some good speedy double-bass work, a good slow tom roll so we can hear what each tom sounds like, and remember to work the hihat to hear its characteristics.

Haha, Im not claiming any MAD SKILLZ, I'll try to con you guys into thinking Im a "respectable" drummer though. I'll see what I can scrap together for you guys. I dunno, soloings my weak point by far, so ideas of what you wanna hear give me SOMETHING to go by.

 

[FatesFan]

Just do what you do best.................