For the kick... Pick up an Aquarian Super Kick II batter and matching reso head. I never thought a head could make such a difference on a drum, and was convinced that these heads were a waste of money... until I heard one on a cheap, luan Japanese kick. It sounded like heaven - No more pillows or blankets for me.

A bud of mine has one on his 60's Ludwig kick and it sounds 110% better than it ever did. Now I just need to convince him to swap out the old Remo coated Ambassador reso head for the matching Aquarian reso.

I would describe the sound as deep and round with just enough ring so it doesn't sound like a pillow is stuffed in there. On a recent recording gig, the engineer who had mic'd up my kit said that he had never heard a kick with so much low end to it.

This was on my $350.00 Pulse Pro Lacquer kit (the cheapest luan kit around), not a vintage/nice maple or birch shelled kit.

As for the rest of the drums, it really depends on what kind of tone you're going for. For open, ringing toms, try any of the single ply coated or clear heads with a clear single ply reso head. For more of a thud, try 2 ply batter heads and clear single ply reso heads. For something in between, you could go with single ply coated on both top and bottom. I like this combo for a blues/old rock sound myself.

++ on the Aquarian bass batter head. They are great! For the toms you might try the Evans G2's which I have on my Fibes kit and they seem to be the best I've ever had on that kit. Or for the vintage vibe Aquarians American Vintage series are also very nice. I just got the snare batter in one of those for my newly acquired 1958 WFL's. The rest of the drums have the original calfskins so I want to hear those first before switching to modern heads.

I would have to agree as well. The Aquarian heads make a world of difference. I am also a fan of the G2s as well, but am a complete sucker for REMO Emperor coated.

band2