Mark!

On snare drums... agreed! On toms... not so much. That has been my experience anyway. I also play a better than fair amount of brushes on the gigs I do, thus... that also helps wear away the coating on the snare heads. Still, even with that.. ( and I play upwards of 80 gigs a year ) .. I only change out snare batter heads twice in a year. Tom heads have been in place approx. 3 years now. Very little wear, and no flaking of the coating. I know what you are saying though! I have noticed that on snare batters. I also think a lot of this has to do with the type playing/gigs one does. A heavier impact/louder style is going to have an effect for sure!

Tommyp

Tommy. I play a lot usually no less than 2 hours a day then gigs, I have worn the coating thru on both the snare drum and my mounted toms in only a few hours of playing, But I play hard and strike basically the very same spot. I am a remo guy from day one but the evans and ludwig coatinf holds up better than the remo does.

i use them on my snares and tom batters. i love them.

they are two-ply, so they are a bit deeper and more controlled that a regular coated ambassador. but they are still the same thickness as a regular ambassador, so they aren't thuddy like an emperor.

I haven't really noticed a problem with surface wear on these heads, but I am not a heavy hitter.

Tommy, good point re the vintage emperor on snares. I do have several snares where I am using those as well. I think the only place we differ is on bass drum head selection. I am still using coated ambassadors with the original Rogers felt strips, front and back, on my Cleveland 24". But then I have played it that way for decades. #2old2changenow

Mark!

Indeed! I honestly think that IMPACT has more to do with this than "time spent", although the two certainly coexist on the same plane. Given most all of us here, accuracy of said impact is a given!, and that would be on sticks as well as heads. Again though, given the gig/gigs I play, they are in the jazz/swing idiom 75% of the time.. thus .. impact levels are nowhere near as heavy as the music/gigs you play .. so .. yeah!, your amount of wear is going to happen a lot quicker. Another point: My gigging set is not my practice set .. so .. head wear on the gigging set.. ( especially toms ) .. is pretty low given that they are one set 90 minute shows, and again... in the jazz/swing idiom. All that being said...

... I have had "bad batches" of coated heads from almost every manufacturer from time to time. I also like the Ludwig Coated WeatherMaster heads as they seem to sound the best on Ludwig drums. But!, I had a really bad batch once and they all flaked off extremely quickly, including toms. Same with Aquarian, and even REMO. But then you'll get a nice run of them and they will hold for a long time .. again .. contingent on playing style/impact. A fine discussion regardless of take/opinion!

Powertone!

Nice old school/OEM set up on your bass drums! I would love to do that too, but can't... simply because I have to cover many different styles with my drums. Your set up wouldn't afford me the slightly drier "thump" I would need for the smooth jazz quartet.. ( with it's heavy Latin/Funk styles ) .. or the 6 piece group that plays everything from the 40's to the 90's. I LOVE that sound though! Yes!... the Vintage Emperors really dial in some of those snare drums. A little "thicker" sound if you will, but with no sacrifice on sensitivity or articulation.. plus .. a rim shot to die for! Agreed!

Tommyp

Still available..Great heads.. I've used them on my Ludwigs and they sound warm, with just enough brightness and attack.. Exactly the vintage sound any drummer using any vintage drum kit is looking for.. Vintage Emperors are nice as well..

Tommy, good point re the bass drum head selection. However, I would remind you.... WWBD? :)

Powertone!

WWBD?! HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I often find myself asking that!, but then again... BR didn't have to cover all these different styles. Well, yeah maybe... but in the confines of HIS band... HIS sound... like it or, well... you know.

Tommyp

I am also a fan of Vintage A heads. Have them on mostly all of my drums! I prefer a coated Powerstroke 3 batter head on my bass drums with original reso heads, when possible. I have no complaints on the coating. Maybe I got some good batches.

Have 3 rogers kits .....

Now have Vintage A's on all 3 ....Inclding Snare...

Bass drums are EQ3.....