vanarie
Junior Member
Drum head options (final update)/general impressions of DW Custom kit
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Update: 1/27/09 - Drumheads for DW Collector's Series drums.
Final verdict: Evans EC2 Clear.
After playing one gig with Aquarian StudioX coated heads on the toms as suggested by the site I mentioned previously, I was still unsatisfied with the results. The toms sounded too papery and didn't give me the resonance I was looking for.
I switched to Evans EC2 Clear. For rock or general playing, these sound the best to my ears. The dampener ring cuts down on the overtones but still gives you a nice warm sound when struck. I need little to no extra dampening on the 10". I did use one moongel on the 12" tom and 14" floor. I can imagine that these heads would also sound very good miced up, though I don't use mics for my regular gig.
For jazz, you would probably want to go with a thinner, single ply head to get a sharper tone, but I'm sticking with Evans EC2s for now. I hope this helps those who are spending a lot of money searching for the right head for these drums! They really do sound great.
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Just got a DW Custom kit, "pillow maple", a few weeks ago and played my first gig lastnight. 22"kick, 10"/12" toms and 14"/16" floor. These drums are very heavy! I don't know if it's the hardware or the wood, but these things feel like they're made of lead.
It's hard to give an accurate "mature" opinion only after playing on them one time, but I did replace the stock heads right away with Aquarian Studio-X heads. I had the option to go with clear or coated, so went with coated. I actually put the top stock tom heads (with the broken coating circle around the edge) on the bottom.
I also found a great writeup on drum head options for DW here:
http://www.musicgearreview.com/reviews.php?man=DW&cat=Drums_Percussion&mod=Collectors%20Series
They definitely have that DW ring that everyone talks about - not that it's a bad thing, but the tom mounting system means that they are basically floating so they have more than your average resonance. The stock heads had a lot of ring with very little dampening, so the Studio-X heads definitely tamed that a little.
Tuning:
I setup the heads at a baseline by putting pressure in the middle of the head and de-wrinkling the edges, then went for an even tone on all lugs for both sides. Then proceeded to tune the drums like I would normally do. IMO, there's a difference between what the drummer hears up close and what the audience hears, so it's kind of hard to tell if a drum is good to go tuning wise, and that's not even taking into account what the sound guy is going to do with your drum once it's miced up with effects, gating, etc. It's best to just try to get the natural sound the drum wants to make.
10" tom is pitched a bit higher than I'd like and sounds more like an 8" tom to my ears. I'm not sure if I can get it any lower without the tom sounding like hitting paper. It seems like the bottom head might be the key to tuning it down a little. The tom sounds like a traditional jazz/bop tom, which is OK with me since I'm playing both rock and jazz with it.
12" tom I had some trouble getting a good sound from at first, but eventually got it tuned to sound natural and full.
14" floor sounds very deep and full throated. Even with the new heads, it could use some dampening with moongel or something to take off some of the end flutter. The drum sound excellent.
16" floor I'm actually using as a jazz/bop kick. I'm still messing with it to try to make it work. Because it's only 14" deep, it's a little short. An 18" would probably work out better, but that's another story.
22" kick sounds exceptional. Tuned just a bit above the "no wrinkle" point, the drum has a really solid sound, very similar to a ported bassdrum. The front head does have vent holes by each lug, so maybe that contributes to the sound. It does come with a custom pillow that is the shape of a capitol "I" and works very well.
I actually wrote DW and asked if they would exchange the 22" with a 20". I'm waiting for a response. I think I'd be happier with a 20" as the 22" is just a little to big.
Other stuff:
Overall, the drums are well made, heavy like I said, very smooth when it comes to tuning, and look very very sharp. The bass drum is "virgin", which means there are no mounts for toms. So, you need to have tom mounts on either side of the drum for the toms/cymbals.
I'd recommend taking the position locks off of the floor tom legs and stands until you get a feel for where you want the drums to be at - they're a hassle to deal with until you know exactly where you want to drums to be height wise.
Like I said, it's very early in my "getting to know you" stage for these drums, so I think I'll get more comfortable with them as times goes on.
================================
Update: 1/27/09 - Drumheads for DW Collector's Series drums.
Final verdict: Evans EC2 Clear.
After playing one gig with Aquarian StudioX coated heads on the toms as suggested by the site I mentioned previously, I was still unsatisfied with the results. The toms sounded too papery and didn't give me the resonance I was looking for.
I switched to Evans EC2 Clear. For rock or general playing, these sound the best to my ears. The dampener ring cuts down on the overtones but still gives you a nice warm sound when struck. I need little to no extra dampening on the 10". I did use one moongel on the 12" tom and 14" floor. I can imagine that these heads would also sound very good miced up, though I don't use mics for my regular gig.
For jazz, you would probably want to go with a thinner, single ply head to get a sharper tone, but I'm sticking with Evans EC2s for now. I hope this helps those who are spending a lot of money searching for the right head for these drums! They really do sound great.
================================
Just got a DW Custom kit, "pillow maple", a few weeks ago and played my first gig lastnight. 22"kick, 10"/12" toms and 14"/16" floor. These drums are very heavy! I don't know if it's the hardware or the wood, but these things feel like they're made of lead.
It's hard to give an accurate "mature" opinion only after playing on them one time, but I did replace the stock heads right away with Aquarian Studio-X heads. I had the option to go with clear or coated, so went with coated. I actually put the top stock tom heads (with the broken coating circle around the edge) on the bottom.
I also found a great writeup on drum head options for DW here:
http://www.musicgearreview.com/reviews.php?man=DW&cat=Drums_Percussion&mod=Collectors%20Series
They definitely have that DW ring that everyone talks about - not that it's a bad thing, but the tom mounting system means that they are basically floating so they have more than your average resonance. The stock heads had a lot of ring with very little dampening, so the Studio-X heads definitely tamed that a little.
Tuning:
I setup the heads at a baseline by putting pressure in the middle of the head and de-wrinkling the edges, then went for an even tone on all lugs for both sides. Then proceeded to tune the drums like I would normally do. IMO, there's a difference between what the drummer hears up close and what the audience hears, so it's kind of hard to tell if a drum is good to go tuning wise, and that's not even taking into account what the sound guy is going to do with your drum once it's miced up with effects, gating, etc. It's best to just try to get the natural sound the drum wants to make.
10" tom is pitched a bit higher than I'd like and sounds more like an 8" tom to my ears. I'm not sure if I can get it any lower without the tom sounding like hitting paper. It seems like the bottom head might be the key to tuning it down a little. The tom sounds like a traditional jazz/bop tom, which is OK with me since I'm playing both rock and jazz with it.
12" tom I had some trouble getting a good sound from at first, but eventually got it tuned to sound natural and full.
14" floor sounds very deep and full throated. Even with the new heads, it could use some dampening with moongel or something to take off some of the end flutter. The drum sound excellent.
16" floor I'm actually using as a jazz/bop kick. I'm still messing with it to try to make it work. Because it's only 14" deep, it's a little short. An 18" would probably work out better, but that's another story.
22" kick sounds exceptional. Tuned just a bit above the "no wrinkle" point, the drum has a really solid sound, very similar to a ported bassdrum. The front head does have vent holes by each lug, so maybe that contributes to the sound. It does come with a custom pillow that is the shape of a capitol "I" and works very well.
I actually wrote DW and asked if they would exchange the 22" with a 20". I'm waiting for a response. I think I'd be happier with a 20" as the 22" is just a little to big.
Other stuff:
Overall, the drums are well made, heavy like I said, very smooth when it comes to tuning, and look very very sharp. The bass drum is "virgin", which means there are no mounts for toms. So, you need to have tom mounts on either side of the drum for the toms/cymbals.
I'd recommend taking the position locks off of the floor tom legs and stands until you get a feel for where you want the drums to be at - they're a hassle to deal with until you know exactly where you want to drums to be height wise.
Like I said, it's very early in my "getting to know you" stage for these drums, so I think I'll get more comfortable with them as times goes on.
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