Deadheads!

[Gearhead]

Well, it happened to me. Friday night another band played before us and I heard myself say, "Sure, he can play my drums." The uneasy feeling came almost immediately. It was a youth band - average age probably 18 - and one of the other band members started talking about his drummer breaking sticks. Their sound check was STINKIN' LOUD. So it wasn't too much of a surprise when we took the stage after their set and all my toms were full of dents - and those are the heavy-duty Gplus heads, too! (Kinda weird that the snare is not as obviously dented - maybe it was the stick angle on the toms.) Aw, man! But that kid got such joy when he first sat behind my kit, as it's a lot bigger and nicer than what he was used to. I chose to let it go as I have a job and can afford new heads. Somebody needs to teach him to respect other people's stuff, though.

So the big Mbirch needs new heads. I like the Gplus coated that I have - everything sounds really good, with possibly one exception in that the floor toms (14, 16) are nice but not really thunderous. But I'm wondering if I should try something else for giggles. I know everyone has an opinion and I've read a bunch of those here. But what would you recommend if I told you:

- I like the toms pretty open with good sustain, and definitely want a fairly pure "singy" tone out of them without the "boingy" sound you sometimes hear. I ran my Gplus heads with no muffling.

- I tune them at third and fourth intervals, with the floors pretty low, working up to the 10 at a medium pitch.

- Would like a little more thunder out of the floors.

- Snare sounds good with mid-range tuning and a skinny o-ring (5/8" wide). A meaty sound that I like pretty well, with just a hint of ring. I like the fat, sloshy sounding snares from 70's rock (I think I have that right).

When I bought these drums used they had some slightly dented clear Pinstripes on them which sounded really good. They had more resonance than I expected from Pinstripes.

Help me decide!

Jeremy

[rush equals love]

Im not surprised that the G Plus's got dented though, because however thick they may be, they still ARE one ply heads.

[nmdrummer85]

it really makes no difference if they are one or two ply....thick or thin....

if your kit is being played by someone with poor technique things will break.

I'm the guy that plays rock and roll with Zildjian K's and K Customs (you know paper thin cymbals) and Coated Ambassadors around the kit. I've yet to break a cymbal or a head. I take that back I've broken two heads in my life I broke a marching snare head (kevlar) on purpose with a sledgehammer --don't ask high school drumline practice-- and I broke a Ludwig Rocker batter head that came with my snare drum --due to poor technique, I was in middle school then-- and I broke a Sabian B8 Crash cymbal at a show (after a friend's band had used my kit, so likely bad technique and just a crappy cymbal).

Bottom line is buy what sounds good to you. For the sound you describe I'd just use a Coated Single Ply head. Perhaps get adventurous and try different types of heads around the kit to reach the sounds you desire. If for example a coated single ply does the magic on your rack toms but a double ply clear sounds better on your floor toms try using that combination instead of all the same head. It's an unconventional approach but one that should be looked into none the less, at least in my opinion.

If you are looking for something new and exciting try something new and exciting you might like a Clear Doubly Ply head.

For about the last year I've converted myself to Aquarian heads so if you haven't followed many of the other threads/posts regarding heads they are typically what I suggest these days.

I like the single ply coated, the coated studio x, and the coated performance II on my toms. I like the Hi Energy, Focus X, and Hi Velocity on snare. I like the Force I coated and Super Kick III on kick.

[VanWinkle]

If you like what you're getting with the G-Plus coateds with the exception of the floor toms, I'd recommend sticking, sorry - staying - with those and maybe go with coated G2's on the floors.

You haven't said what you aren't pleased with on the floors, but they are naturally longer sustained than the racks and don't seem to mix properly with the same heads.

I've been doing something similar with different heads on my rack toms than the floors, with something of the same genre but a little shorter natural sustain on the floors - and I like it a lot.

[Gianpiero]

go for the G plus coated on the rack toms & G2 coated on the floor toms....
or G1 coated on the racks & G2 coated on the floor....

[rush equals love]

I find this slightly annoying. If you have poor technique, yes you will break things. HOWEVER: if you have amazingly perfect technique... you will still break things. Just ho wit goes (alot of the fact that we don't break much as relatively experienced players comes from us understanding when gear needs to be replaced [food for thought!])

[TheQuietOne75]

(11-16-2009 10:02 PM)rush equals love Wrote:  I find this slightly annoying. If you have poor technique, yes you will break things. HOWEVER: if you have amazingly perfect technique... you will still break things. Just ho wit goes (alot of the fact that we don't break much as relatively experienced players comes from us understanding when gear needs to be replaced [food for thought!])

+1 After 3 years of dedicated service , my medium thin dark crash gave up the ghost, with a 2 inch crack along the lathe line, 2 inches from the bell. Won't find another one like that again. Ah well, time to buy a new 18" to replace her!

Even the Mona Lisa's falling apart.

[nmdrummer85]

I honestly don't think that's true if you have good technique tuning and playing things really don't break unless they are just flat out defective products (in which case the mfr will pretty much always comp you for a replacement).

I've been using Zildjian K's and K Customs for the last 6 years and I've yet to crack or keyhole a single cymbal. I use thin-paper thin crashes, chinas, splashes, and hats. My rides are anywhere from med-light to med-heavy.

I primarily use single ply heads around the kit and I honestly haven't broken a drumhead (that wasn't defective I had a couple double ply heads have the bottom ply split shortly after seating the head because of gluing issues) in about 10 years. I really haven't broken a stick (that wasn't defective) in about 2 to 3 years which is surprisingly when I switched to Vater sticks.

I will agree there will be some road scars and freak accidents but bottom line is if you know what you are doing pretty much most if not ALL things are preventable. If you know things won't be preventable buy an extended warranty when you buy your cymbals or more used/abused pieces of gear. Prepare to increase your budget for sticks/heads. If your equipment is failing you figure out why it's failing you. Is it the way you are playing it, the way you maintain it, how often you replace it, a defective product, etc. Maybe you have unreasonable expectations from your gear. It'd be like expecting a 20 year old used Oldsmobile to be more reliable than a brand new Honda Civic.

One of those years that I wasn't breaking anything included the year I attended college for music performance studies in percussion. I was playing in multiple groups, some toured locally and nationally. For instance playing kit with the basketball band I never broke or changed heads, never cracked a cymbal, never broke a stick (though I used a fresh pair every night in most cases), never had issues with hardware failing, etc. Not to mention at the time I was playing some of these instruments x number of hours a day everyday of the week. I know a lot of people that crack cymbals, bust sticks, break heads, etc. I'm not a quiet player and I never realized how technical my playing was until I was really exposed to a lot of other drummers. We are talking about gear that was moved around daily, used extensively daily, etc. Maybe I'm lucky and a freak accident. But I feel if you have the knowledge and ability to take care and preventively maintain your gear and to play with proper technique it's next to impossible to dent heads, crack cymbals, have stands/pedals fail, etc.

I don't know same can be said for guitar, since I also play guitar. There used to be a time when I wasn't technically skilled like I am now when I'd break picks and strings all the time. Well now that I'm in the know I have each and every instrument properly setup and intonated. I have experimented and selected the picks and strings I work with best and feel give me the best tone. I can't recall the last time I broke a string (where it wasn't from me clipping them during a restring).

When instruments are setup and maintained properly it should be close to impossible to damage the vital parts (strings, heads, etc) when playing. Typically the times when gear has broken on me I can account for how and why it broke it was either excess abuse on the stuff or poor technique in either playing or maintaining the instruments.

[Gord the Drummer]

I'm sorry but perfect techniques will not prevent breakage. Sticks wear out, heads wear out, cymbals crack (NOW anyways.... )

You play the sticks and they wear down, the experienced guy will usually replace them before they break because they start to bounce funny. Heads start to sound dead and usually will get replaced (I've NEVER broken a drumhead before).

Cymbal quality (at least I've noticed with Zildjian) has declined. I can play on cymbals that are 30+ years old with no problem, cymbals that I buy now are lucky to make it over a year, usually if they do then they will survive a long time (I've got about 5 that are "lifers"). Technique? No, build quality? Yes. If I can play the same amount on 30+ year old cymbals and not worry about cracks but my 1 year old cymbal is starting to sound like it's cracked (and then it is cracked...), it's not technique, it's the product.

[hitman311]

I love pinstripes on my m birches
as far as snare heads i'm currently using the remo coated powerstroke 3 and it's awesome!