I have a 60s Ludwig supraphonic that I've never loved. I finally thought to try a Vintage A on it, and what do you know? It's perfect! Not exactly breaking news, but I'm so excited and felt like sharing.
The regular coated AMB never did it for me, and the Aquarian TC that works well on my wood drums fell short.
I've used vintage A's a bit but always on wood. They are supposed to be the original 7 +3 mil of the 1950's heads and they do have a quality all their own. I could see them tempering a metal drum a little, maybe taking some of the brittleness out.
I've used vintage A's a bit but always on wood. They are supposed to be the original 7 +3 mil of the 1950's heads and they do have a quality all their own. I could see them tempering a metal drum a little, maybe taking some of the brittleness out.
It seemed like an obvious choice, "vintage" head on a vintage drum. I was able to tune it a little higher than I normally would and it had much more meat than the regular A did. I guess thats obvious since its technically a 2-ply head. Either way I'm happy and I'll remember this choice next time I'm frustrated with a snare drum.
I've been using them on my toms for a while too - a pre-70s Ludwig with those on top and coated A's on the bottom. Very cool sound in my opinion.
I tend to use a Remo coated Ambassador on my 1970 Supraphonic. So many choices in drum heads, and I'm sure many would give me excellent results!
Remo for life...D' Drummer
The thing I have found about Remo, is that for a pretty big company; they are unbelievably helpful and will almost bend over backwards to get you a head on your drum. They do charge for that but at least they will stretch , in order to accommodate. Neither Evans or Aquarian will even think outside the box of their standard production runs. There are some small companies in Germany, that do custom too.
When you are dealing with vintage drums ,it is nice to know there is a company there that works more as a partner and not just a supplier.
The thing I have found about Remo, is that for a pretty big company; they are unbelievably helpful and will almost bend over backwards to get you a head on your drum. They do charge for that but at least they will stretch , in order to accommodate. Neither Evans or Aquarian will even think outside the box of their standard production runs. There are some small companies in Germany, that do custom too. When you are dealing with vintage drums ,it is nice to know there is a company there that works more as a partner and not just a supplier.
I always felt that Aquarian had a good range of options for most drummers, but only have 1 or 2 models for wide open sounds like I like. They'll slap another ply on, make something thicker, put a dot on it, and muffle it to hell and back. Having said that, the TC heads are currently on one of my kits and on some days I like them better than my coated AMBs.
Did I miss the point of your statement? Are you saying they'll reach out and make special products for people?
I always felt that Aquarian had a good range of options for most drummers, but only have 1 or 2 models for wide open sounds like I like. They'll slap another ply on, make something thicker, put a dot on it, and muffle it to hell and back. Having said that, the TC heads are currently on one of my kits and on some days I like them better than my coated AMBs.Did I miss the point of your statement? Are you saying they'll reach out and make special products for people?
Yes. Remo does a lot of custom work. The heads made in the custom dept. are handmade. It's particularly valuable for someone like myself who needs a lot of odd sizes and Chris Wakelin at Remo has been extremely helpfull to me-----stepped outside the box and overrode some really lousy service from my local Remo distributor.
Evans doesn't really have a custom dept. and it sounds like Aquarian has a limited one.
other thing is. When you are talking about real vintage drums; drums that were made when there were no plastic heads, Remo is light years ahead of the pack in simulating the feel and tone of skin heads. Everybody else seems to be stuck in the 70's , as far as their awareness of what vintage drum requirements are.
Aquarian does have the " special coating", which is supposed to simulate calf . I have tried it in a 14" format on a metal drum only , so I can't claim to be an expert on those Aquarian heads. I would like to do a head to head comparison on identical drums, between those and the several Remo offerings. I may be out of the loop but does Evans or anyone else have anything at all, that is in this ballpark?
