""Speaking of "revolutionary," have you tried the new Evans UV1 heads?""

I have not tried them... But will take a look..

Cheers

John

Man, all of you guys are making some excellent points! I really appreciate the learning experience! I suppose that's why I asked in the first place! I've spent a day shuffling heads around and for me, at this time and, I know I'll experiment soon, I think I'm going to stick with the Remos. Just a bit of a snappier response as far as I can tell. A SLIGHTLY better bounce when doing the one-hand shuffles for blues and jazz. For rock, the Evans seen sweet. Music is subjective. We all know that. Thanks, guys. You're the best!

Brian

I just think of heads as different tools for different jobs.When I want deep rock I use EC2S. coated Ambs when I want jazz/motown. I've had an Evans UV1 on my main snare since December now and I really started liking it about a month ago.Usually Remo snare batters feel stretched and ready after about the equivalent of 1 show. The UV1 took ages to wear in, but is in great shape (including coating), and seriously like new after all the playing i've done it.

At my local store, the Evans heads are typically $3 to $20 less expensive than their Remo equivalent depending on size. So I usually buy Evans. I find I get the same response and life out of both, except on the snare, where I definitely get longer coating life from the Evans.

I haven't tried the UV yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

All you guys that care for logos, I think the Evans Calftone '56 logo is the coolest looking thing to put on a vintage drum. See below:

To those who have experience with UV1's, have you used on a whole kit or just the snare? Interested in hearing how they sound/feel on toms primarily.

Well said my man!!

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion on this site, but the cool thing about drums--vintage or otherwise--is the fact that there is an incredible variety of heads available for all sorts of different tonal possibilities, and everyone has different preferences. The EQ3 batter / Aquarian reso combination I have on my 20" 1969 Rogers sounds glorious. Plus, I prefer to not have to dampen my drums with anything if at all possible. Though admittedly, I do have to dampen the reso head with something, but only because I haven't found an aesthetically preferable reso head that doesn't need dampening.

Well, I just ordered an Evans UV1 to try on one of my snares. I needed a durable and well rounded head for a snare that I leave at church. It needs to do brushes and sticks equally well. And needs to hold up. I'll let you know.

-Doug

Remo for me. I've tried Evans and they don't work for me. I find my Snares become pingy quite quickly after playing for a short time, and the toms sound somehow baggy. That being said Evans have done a lot to try to move the business forward, and I believe they lead in the Marching world.

It's just my opinion though, there is nothing wrong with any preference.

Just another note, I have an Aquarian reso front head on my Luddy Downbeat thats been on there for 15 years since I bought it and it sounds fantastic. I have no plan to change it.

I've been mostly a Remo guy since I started playing in 2000, though I've used Aquarian and Evans (and Attack) once when the occasion called for it. In particular, I used an Evans EMAD on the bass drum of my original budget-level drumset for years.

LOVE the Fiberskyns and at one point I wanted to use them on every drum I had, though at present I'm only running one (Ambassador weight) on a wood Ludwig snare I got earlier this month. Good mix of attack and overtone control. In the past I've used Fiberskyns on Vistalites (nice warm sound but a bit too papery/thin in tone after several months). I've mentioned in other threads that the clear Vintage Emperor is fast becoming my go-to for the Vistalites now.

I ran a Powerstroke 3 Fiberskyn on a black galaxy Acrolite that I've since sold (which had some finicky lug inserts) and got that Al Green-ish sound at ultra-low tunings. Probably better for miking than any other application but love the tone.

I've used just about quite a few other Remo batter head types (Renaissance, Skyntone, Pinstripe, Powerstroke 3, black dots) over the years too, depending on what stores had available. Skyntone was something I really wanted to try on acrylic snares as something a little less thick than the Fiberskyn Ambassador, but they lose their tone after a few months of usage and aren't the greatest with brushes due to the rather smooth finish.

On the Vistalite bass drum I personally found the Powerstroke 3 Clear to be a bit too dead, so I have a clear Emperor batter head that has a ton of boom in it. I like the sound though it's very different from that EQ'd and dampened bass drum sound typical of the kits at music stores!