Drum Heads

Picking the right drum heads for your kit is so important. You can have the lowest quality kit and with superb drum heads they will develop a better quality sound. I am going to be writing about my experience with Evans heads since these are my heads of choice. 

In the past I have used several different kinds of Evans drum heads. For the toms I've used the Evans hydraulic clear drum heads, which have a thin layer of oil between the two ply of the heads. 

 This allows for a deeper tone with sound that does resonate, they sound pretty good in a small live venue. I used these for most of the churches I played in, due to volume issues.

 

Evans Hydraulic

 

 Then I switched to the Evans EC2 clear drum heads, which are a 2 ply head that have a thin layer of etching around the outside perimeter of the head. Allowing a beautiful resonating sound with no overtones. I really like these heads, they give the drum kit more of a deep, wet tone. These are great for live and studio settings. 

Evans EC2 clear

 Recently, I've switched to the Evans G2 coated drum heads.

I must say I like these the best so far. My rack tom sings beautifully and my floor tom has that deep end that gives you the willies. Not only are they great for live and studio settings, they also play well when switching styles in a set. Jazz, they have that nice warm sound with that ring. Rock, they have the great tones for highs and deep growling lows. I'm real happy with the purchase of these heads and would recommend the Evans G2 coated to anyone. 

 I always run the Evans resonant on all bottoms of toms.

Evans G2 coated

 For the snare batter head I've always liked the Evans STDry, it has little pin holes around the perimeter of the head which allows for air to escape, making it ring less. And it's a super tough nice dry sounding head. It's a great head for those deep snare drums that have a tendency to overtone a lot.

Evans ST dry coated

 Now I'm using a 13" piccolo snare, and running a Evans EC coated batter. Love the sound, it's an open sounding head so it's loud and it sings. It gives my snare that "crack" I love, especially with the rim shot. 

Evans EC coated

On my kick drum, the Evans EMAD clear of course, with a small pillow inside. This head gives the bass drum a great sounding low end thud with no overtone. Enjoy your new heads  

"Now, go get your drum on."

Evans EMAD