Best heads for Toms

[Rich]

I play a MHX kit with 10",12",13", rack toms and 16" and 18" fl. toms. I still have the clear heads on the bottom and have Remo Emrperor heads on the batter side. I still think they have too much ring. Need to know what would be a good choice for both tops and bottoms. I thought of Pinstrips or Fiberskins even but not sure. Looking for some good advice. Thanks in advance. Rich.

[PADman]

I doubt you'd like the dark sound of FiberSkyns on your dark sounding mahogany shells. Pinstripes aren't different enough in tone from your Emperors either. Most over-ring can be taken care of just by tuning on high-end drums such as yours. I've always had good results with coated Ambassadors top and bottom along with a Noble & Cooley Zero Ring on mahogany kits (usually Exports) for recording. I'm not sure if N&C makes rings in an 18" size though.

[joew311]

I'm not sure how set you are on Remo heads, but personally the best thing I ever did was try other brands. I switched to Evans first. They are very good heads, but not as good as the Aquarians I play now. Aquarian makes and AWESOME drum head. I have a Mahogany kit and I have Response 2's on the tops and I believe they are Hi-Energy on the bottom, not sure on the bottoms though...Aquarian also has other awesome heads for the snare and bass. I highly recommend them!!
Joey

[PYRRHO]

First things first - before investing in new heads, try retuning. Drums produce two kinds of "ring" The first is a pleasant, high-pitched harmonic inter-play, between top and bottom heads. This is good. Though it may take some getting used to behind the kit, without that ring - drums sound really dead out front. You probably know this. The other kind of "ring" is a dissonant , annoying noise, that sounds just awful. You must determine what kind you're experiencing. If it's the latter, your problem isn't the heads - it's your hands. Work on your tuning for awhile.
We'll assume you can tune well, and just don't care for the wide-open tone; you need something a bit more controlling. First try muffle-rings/Zero-rings, and similar muffling "donuts"; from there, start playing around with heads.
If your Emperors are clear, try coated - they'll roll-off the really high overtones while retaining a full sound.
If your Emperors are already coated, try Coated Ambassadors on the bottom - again rolling-off the highs.
If this doesn't work, and you're going for a deeper sound in addition to reduced ring - you need different batter heads. Pinstripes, Hydraulics and Performance2's, are ideal for a deep, dark, controlled tone - perhaps too controlling for thin mahogany shells. It depends on how you tune. If you like your heads loose, the "premuffled" heads will be a bit muddy on mahogany. If you tune fairly tight like you should ;) , Pinstripes and similar heads can sound great.
Let's say you're pretty pleased with the overall tone of the toms, but you just want to warm 'em up some -
Remo Renaissance. They're available in the same catagories of other Remo's ie; Diplomat/Ambassador/Emperor, but with the addition of a textured layer that is more durable, and controlling than the traditional white coating.
My only experience with FiberSkyns was a negative one. They sounded nice, but the "Fiber" wore-out quickly - leaving me with just "Skyn". They were FS2's - perhaps FS3's are more durable.

What you may want to do, is contact a local shop and see if they have any used heads kickin' around - all one size. If they don't give them to you, they shouldn't charge more than a few dollars. With some luck, you can assemble a wide selection of different brands and styles to test on your own. Even though the heads are used (used, not beat to death), you can still get a good sense of what that head will or will not do for your sound. It will be a lot cheaper than redressing the whole kit, only to find you hate the heads some other drummer recommended...

[dblbassmassacre]

i have birch and they have like no ring and thats the way i love drums!

THANK YOU PEARL!

[joew311]

I would just like to say that I was responding only to help out a fellow drummer with his kit. I felt implied to offer my opinion only to help Rich with his problem, not to receive a negative response from some person who does not even know me. I replied because I have been through the same problem with my Pearl Mahogany's. My offer was only an opinion based on my experiences, nothing more, nothing less. I never said anything about how "redressing" the kit.

[PYRRHO]

Joey, you are not the other drummer.
We are all the other drummers.
My point was to try them in person. In an ideal world, we could afford to buy one of every head ever made, and test them ourselves - that isn't going to happen.

I'm still trying to figure out how you interpreted what I said as a personal attack...

[Rich]

Hi Guy's, Thanks to all of you that have tried helping with my tom tuning. I sencerely appreciate it. Please lets continue to try helping other drummers as you all have helped me. Even though we all have different taste, its important to understand we are all here trying to help others and thats whats important! I do appreciate all of your responses. They have all been very helpful.
Rich.

[RedHotMuDMath]

If your Emperors on your drums and you're still getting too much ring for your taste, I reccomend getting some Coated PowerStroke 3's (basically a single ply Ambassador-weight head with a small "zero-ring" mufflet inside the head on the edge) or try some PowerStroke 4's (a two ply Emperor-weight head with the mufflet mentioned above) I would use those on the batters and maybe some clear Ambassadors on the bottom. I personally use Emperors on the batter with old Pinstripes on the reso side, but I've recently found too much "deadness" in the drums (basically the opposite of your situation) so the next time I get some money (sometime soon, lol :D) I'm going to get some Coated Ambassadors for the batters and some clear Diplomats on the reso side.

Hope this helped you out!

[Roger-It]

I prefer Remo Pinstripe heads ... but there are also black heads, I don't remember who produces them!
If anyone here loves Queen and saw Live At Wembley '86 will understand me ..

[NeilPeartFan]

Remo pinstripes are awesome but I do hate the black heads, always did.

[drumm55insane]

Evans G2 coated

[Unlastinglove.]

Remo pinstripes are awesome but I do hate the black heads, always did.
Same actually, So i go for Evan g2 Clears.

[trecool21]

Does anyone have evans hydros on a maple kit? i want to know how they sound... im worried it would be overkill for a maple drum