For plastic heads I've used Remo Ambassadors all around. They require the "duct tape and felt" routine in small amounts to get it right, but at least you can tweak it whereas with stuff like pinstripes and black dots you can't take it away.

Haven't been using plastic for awhile, calf all around and I should be a calf head sales rep. Brushes on calf compared to plastic is... well... I'll shutup.

In general, it's good to play music with the instruments that the classics in that genre used, and classic rock, Beatles and Zep if that's what you mean, was plastic heads whereas Coltrane circa '56 was calf.

Someone else recommended either coated Ambassadors or Emperors on the toms and snare. What is the difference between the two? I know one is thicker than the other, but which is more controlled and which is more open?

They recommended Aquarian Super Kick 2's for the bass.. Good - bad?

I've never played fiber heads. What kind of sound do they give?

Ambassadors = 1 ply

Emperors = 2 ply

I put Emperors on some drums but I always seem to go back to Coated Ambassadors or Vintage A's.

Just my opinion.

This might help a bit too.

http://www.remo.com/portal/products/3/8/50/ds_coated.html

Cya,

Mike

I am very into Aquarian Texture Coated heads these days.

I've always been an Ambassador guy -- they seem to let the drum speak for itself with minimal interference -- but I could never get a fat enough floor tom sound until I started putting Emperors on it. They mellow out the tone and add some depth.

I recently put a double-ply Evans EC2 on my 12" snare and couldn't believe how much it improved the tone. It took away some of the bright overring and added a fat, gut-punchy tone. I was surprised to find that the double-ply head didn't rob the drum of sensitivity. I'm sure an Emperor would have a similar effect (though the EC2 also has a tiny bit of built-in muffling).

I shy away from Pinstripes, dots and other muffled heads on toms -- you want to hear those drums sing, and muffled heads don't really allow them to (at least to my ears). But I love the Pinstripe on my 22" bass drum. Warm, boomy, deep, with only a Remo Muffl Ring for tone control. I've had the same Pinstripe on every bass drum I've ever owned (aside from my recently acquired 20" Ludwig), so either I've got a weak right foot or the head is durable. Probably a bit of both.

Good luck!

Anyone ever use coated Diplomats for batter head on a snare?

Thinking about trying one on an old Damen Av badge Ludwig snare...

[COLOR="DarkRed"]First-off...are the shells the 3-ply with re-rings, or the thicker 6 or 5-ply rock shells ? Slingy made both in that era. Those are 2 different sounding kind of shells, so that info would help....

If you are gonna play cross-genre...I think you gotta have either coated or textured heads of some sort. Particularly if occasional brushwork is happenin'.

A Diplomat on the snare will be very open and airy sounding; it'll be very resonant, there will be a lotta ring to it. I personally like Diplomat coateds as batters, but I wouldn't say they are a great choice for rock playing. On an old Luddy, 3-ply with re-rings, that Diplomat is gonna resonate wide and open like a mutha'.

It could be a cool sound if that's what you are after...but it wouldn't be a very focused, tight sound, even if you tune high. You would likely need to engage the muffler big time.

Coated Emperors or Ambassadors are always the classic choices. Ambs are gonna be more open sounding; Emps are gonna have more 'slap' to their initial sound but their decay is usually quicker.

For a slightly rounder sound and a slicker feel under the stick, there's always the Fiberskyns...those are awesome; and they tune medium to low very, very well. They start ringing when you crank 'em, though, IMHO....

For a dryer sound with more attack, I use the Remo Powerstroke 3 coateds. Those are also awesome on the bass drum....enough life and bounce to make the bass sound fat, but enough dryness to make it punch without going "Boiiiiiinggggggggg" forever....

Aquarians are nice too...their Texture coateds and Focus X coateds are good heads. Plus, Aquarian makes the flat-out best bass drum head of all time: the Super Kicks I and II.

Evans has been upping their game with some good stuff, too.

Their G1 and G2 coateds aren't up to much...they never could quite compete with Remo or Aquarian coated. But they have some very unique heads in their J1 Etched, EC (edge control), and MX Frosted series heads.

The J1's are thin heads with an etched surface, wonderful feeling under stick; very open and resonant sounding, sorta old-school-ish.

The MX's are the opposite; thick 2-plys, not as responsive to subtle strikes....but you can really hit 'em hard; and their frosted texture also makes 'em great for brushwork.

The EC's are in between as far as weight, but they don't tune low very well, they really need to be cranked a bit in order to get the stick bounceback and the snap to the sound you want...but at mid-to-high tuning, they are very nice, slightly dry and focused.

...more info than you wanted, certainly.....[/COLOR]

Cool, thanks Jay - I will for sure try some Diplomat coateds on my

old Damen badge Lud's. I want some more 'sing' in these babies! :)

Jaye right about the Powerstroke, it's probably one of the best bass heads ever made!

He's also right about coated or textured heads if you don't want a lot of ring or overtones from your toms clear ambassadors tend to give you a little more of those things than you want sometimes.