I recently installed a PS3 black dot on a kit I teach on in a school, thinking more about strength than tone, since it's high school kids using it. Now I'm hooked and it will surely be my next purchase. I doubt I'd go as far as CS black dots on toms, but I do like Evans EC2s when I want a fatter sound on the toms.

I can't shake my Remo loyalty heh. Occasional exception is Emad on BD batter side - man those heads make anything sound great. Other than that, and an original clear Ludwig logo head that came with my Club Dates, that I install for rock shows, it's all Remo all the time. Ambassadors top and diplomats bottom...

Mitch

Depends on the kit for me. Some kits just sound better with certain head combinations. For the longest time I was strictly Remo and then I found Evans heads I really liked. So I'm a mix of both. I tend to stay with Emperors ( coated & Clear ) Pinstripes,Ebony Pinstripes,G2 ( coated & clear ) EC2 ( clear ). Only Aquarian head I like is the Superkick. For my snares I love either Remo coated emperor or ambassador top, diplomat bottom. Or ( and this may be a favorite combo ) an Evans ST DRY batter ( has the little holes around the edge ) and either the 200 or 300 super thin / thin snare side head. Man, cannot deny the quality of the sound that comes from it. Once in a while I'll use black dots, never got into the hydraulic heads personally. I try at least a new head each year, never know what else I may enjoy.

Funny that you should ask that question, as i'm currently in a transitional period with my drum head choice after 27 years.. My vintage Yamaha Tour series came with some brand new Evans G2 coated batter heads, and will give those a try. I'll be getting some G1 clears for the bottoms as well.. I tried the EQ4 clear for the batter side of my Ludwig kick and it immediately sounded great. For some reason, anything Remo wasn't cutting it for that 8 lug bass drum, so i decide to make the switch. Now, the level 360 heads sit better on any drum with any bearing edge, so i'm really excited to try them out..I also ordered a black EQ3 resonant head with no port hole to complete the set. The proof will be at the first gig with the kit, so i guess we'll see, or in this case "hear".. ;)

There was a time when I was a big proponent of Aquarian drumheads. I really like the sound of the Performance II heads on my 80's Ludwig power tom kit on the toms, and the Superkick II w/black regulator heads for the bass drum. Nice deep tone to all of them, made them sound their best I thought. Well, since re-wrapping the kit, Aquarian heads don't fit the toms anymore! Remo, Ludwig and Evans all fit fine, just the Aquarians. :mad:

I haven't tried Aquarian's vintage series yet though. My thought that the American Vintage heads are a bit larger, so maybe they would work. But not sure if I'm going to like the sound from them since they are basically the same as an Ambassador, with maybe a slightly thicker coating. They are nothing like the Fiberskyn or the now defunct Renaissance heads they claimed to be similar to. Funny, I did talk to Roy Burns about this issue some time back and he said it was somewhat common for his heads to not fit some of the Ludwig toms from the 80's-mid 90's. So his solution was to have my local Aquarian dealer put a special order in for the regular series heads I wanted, but with their american vintage series counterhoops. I could only imagine the wait time, the quantity I would have to buy and the cost of that! DOH

So for now, the Ludwig heads stay as stated in my original post.

This is until I decide to plunk down the dough for real calf heads. That's gonna be my next experiment....

Remo Renaissance.

I used to use Evans Staccato ,but the coatings were just dreadful.

My latest thing for snare drums is the Aquarian Studio X texture coated. I like a nice deep solid whump most of the time and this does it without having to use any other kind of muffling. Power Stroke 4s on bass drums and coated ambassadors every where else.

I do miss the sound of single headed toms with black dots or oil filled heads. There are some cheap Chinese drums down in the basement I am supposed to part with. I might have to kit them out with some black dots and hide them from the Mrs.

I just picked up a set of the new Evans 56 Calftones, they are visually similar to Remo Fiberskyns. The Calftones are more open sounding with more bite to the attack, while still retaining warmth. I am digging them so far.

I like single ply heads for everything but the snare. Coated ambassadors over clear ambassadors provide a good warm, resonant tone for my Ludwigs. No muffling. I tried the black dots, but the sound wasn't for me as they were a little too dead. Bigger sticks might have helped to get more sound out of them though. I use 3A's. Not much stick action on the black dots either.

I use a smooth white PS3 with collar for the kick batter. The kick reso is a coated ambassador and has a foam muffle ring around the inside of it.