Replacing bass drum heads is an expensive undertaking. And I have a lot of drums, so I try and cheap out, re-using and adapting, like peeling the large black dot off of CS clear BD heads to make them Ambassador clears. But I ,as of yesterday have concluded that no matter what you do to them, the heads that usually come factory-mounted on newer sets AND Attack heads are basically useless. This realization comes from an episode yesterday where I have been noticing a weird rattly sound coming from my BD. Turns out the inside deadening ring of the Attack "No Overtone" head had wrinkled and was rattling against the main head. So I cut off the deadening ring. And what did I get? Probably the WORST BD sound ever, like a wax paper drum head. So on goes the $40 Emad and everything's fine. Heads MAKE the drum sound-literally. Good heads make medium drums sound good. Bad heads make medium drums sound like KRAP...I also did try using Attack heads as resonant heads, but have concluded it just isn't worth the cost of 2 gallons of gas finagling to get them to sound OK-not good-OK.
The end of "cellophane" heads...
I'm with you on this! The only time I use "cheap" heads are...1) when I sell a drum or kit and know that the buyer probably has their own preference and 2) for my display drums where there is no reason to outfit the drum with expensive heads. I just ordered some dfd (Drum Factory Direct) heads for some of my display snare drums. Should arrive this week and I'll let you guys know about them.
-Mark
I usually buy BD heads second-hand. Suprising number of people sell brand new heads for 30-50 percent of the price. I also have quite good experience with the cheaper heads from big companies like Remo or Evans (Remo UX and the like). Then again, I'm not a heavy hitter, I think I threw away like two heads in my 8 years of playing so far... and those were snare ones.
-196?-72 6ply White Oyster Amati
-1960s 3ply Red Sparkle Amati
- Zildjian, Paiste, Zyn, Istanbul
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I like the sounds of the Attack heads,but I only use them in certain settings.
Clear ,with the tone ring gives me a nice overtone on my Pearl free floater.
Wish I could find them local.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnnlO-XWIsE"]Pearl FF brass w/ attack drum heads - YouTube[/ame]
I am actually a big fan of the Remo "drum head only" heads used on MIJ/MIT's in the 70's. They are great resonant heads. Probably a type of Diplomat-thick head on an imported ring.But I'm with ID4F on the stock heads. Just use them to ship the goods...
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