Advice on Mapex Black Panther Sledgehammer drum head?

hi all. i have the sledgehammer, and it is a beast of a snare. i decided to buy a new head, as the head it came with, wasn't that good (no head that comes with a new snare is actually good). the sledgehammer came with this batter head: Coated Ambassador (by Mapex) - Remo

i know heads are above all, personal preference, and you have to try and see if a head fulfills your needs, but id like to ask if someone has the sledgehammer and what heads they preferred.
my mind is almost set for a genera hd dry head, but i am open for suggestions!!

sorry if this thread is a bit stupid. cheers
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I've tried a Aquarian Hi Energy and a Remo Emperor and both sounded good. I haven't had much luck with Evans so I haven't tried one of those yet. I'm thinking of trying an Aquarian coated with dot or a modern vintage. The Sledge is so versatile that most heads sound good on it.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I love the sledgehammer....I gotta be honest, I still have the factory heads on there and it sounds good to me. Sounded great outta the box.

I'm probably in for a happy surprise sonically when I drop new heads on there...I will go with a coated ambassador over hazy300.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

(no head that comes with a new snare is actually good). the sledgehammer came with this batter head: Coated Ambassador (by Mapex) - Remo

This says more about your experience than the head on your snare. The coated Ambassador is the most popular snare head on the planet, for good reason. It may not be right for you, but to suggest that all new snares are supplied with low quality heads is ridiculous.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I tend to like 1-ply coated heads on metal drums, so my suggestion would probably be in the coated Ambassador ballpark normally. What is it about the coated Ambassador that you don't like?

Personally, I think an HD Dry would suck all of the brass-shell tone right out of the drum. I like dry vented heads on some drums, but I don't like them on metal drums very much.

If you want a little more control I'd suggest either going with a two-ply coated head like a G2/Emperor/Response 2 or a reverse-dot type head.

I use an Aquarian coated Studio X on my brass drum. It gives me the feel and tone of a one-ply with just a little bit of ring control.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I currently own 15 high end snares, and have let several others go that weren't right for me. It's been my experience that the heads made by Remo and Evans for drum manufacturers, even for their flagship drums are not of the same quality as those they produce for individual sale. They often have a different weight and the collars are different. What I'm trying to say is that the coated Ambassador that came with your drum may not be as good as the one you can pick up at a local drum shop.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I currently own 15 high end snares, and have let several others go that weren't right for me. It's been my experience that the heads made by Remo and Evans for drum manufacturers, even for their flagship drums are not of the same quality as those they produce for individual sale. They often have a different weight and the collars are different. What I'm trying to say is that the coated Ambassador that came with your drum may not be as good as the one you can pick up at a local drum shop.

There is some truth to this in my experience....but i cannot call it a rule so to speak. I own 40 snares in the range of ultra high end to garden variety. One thing I have tried is tapping the factory head, uninstalled, next to a new head...I've done this mainly with private labeled made by remo and remo branded coated ambassadors and found them to usually be pretty close...not always.

There is also something to be said for a break in....especially in the coated ambassador. Call me crazy but they sound better to me once they are played, brought back to pitch, played some more, brought back to pitch and especially when the coating starts to wear in the sweet spot.

Just my experience....
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

guys thank you all for you responses.
first of all let me tell you that i have seen it many snares, that even though they are sold with high quality brand heaads, these heads are not of the same quality, if you buy them by yourslef. meaning that though the snare came with an ambassador head, it is not of the same quality as if you bought an ambassador by yourself. in my head, it is obvious that there is some special deal between mapex and remo and surely in order to cut down the cost, they dont provide the best heads possible?? seems logical to me.
now about my stock head. dont get me wrong. it is not that i dislike this head. it is fine but since it is time i changed the head, i thought i would try to improve the sound a bit. what my main concern is, that with the stock head, there is a lot of overtones. even though the sledgehammer is a hammered brass snare and being hammered, should get rid of many overtones, there is still plenty of them. muffling the head a bit is needed for sure. so i thought id get some head that would eliminate the excess overtones. thats why i created this thread. so that i could learn from some peoples experiences with this head. so thank you. if someone has tried the hd dry on this snare and found out that it removes too many overtones and deadens the snare, please do tell. god bless ya all
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

You sure if it's overtones or just ringing?

I'm pretty sure metal snares in general have more "ring" than their wooden cousins.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

guys thank you all for you responses.
first of all let me tell you that i have seen it many snares, that even though they are sold with high quality brand heaads, these heads are not of the same quality, if you buy them by yourslef. meaning that though the snare came with an ambassador head, it is not of the same quality as if you bought an ambassador by yourself. in my head, it is obvious that there is some special deal between mapex and remo and surely in order to cut down the cost, they dont provide the best heads possible?? seems logical to me.
now about my stock head. dont get me wrong. it is not that i dislike this head. it is fine but since it is time i changed the head, i thought i would try to improve the sound a bit. what my main concern is, that with the stock head, there is a lot of overtones. even though the sledgehammer is a hammered brass snare and being hammered, should get rid of many overtones, there is still plenty of them. muffling the head a bit is needed for sure. so i thought id get some head that would eliminate the excess overtones. thats why i created this thread. so that i could learn from some peoples experiences with this head. so thank you. if someone has tried the hd dry on this snare and found out that it removes too many overtones and deadens the snare, please do tell. god bless ya all

If I have a head with lots of non sympathetic overtones, it's usually that i haven't got the tuning quite right. Check the lugs for even tension and try taking the tuning up 1/2 to 1 full turn and see what happens. Also, having the batter and reso at unsympathetic tensions can lead to this scenario. Incidentally, I use mainly metal snares, both brass and steel, and I prefer them with a coated 2 ply head like a G2- I find that helps get a better fundamental note and as a bonus they tend to last a bit longer.
 
Re: advice on mapex black panther sledgehammer drum head?

I currently own 15 high end snares, and have let several others go that weren't right for me. It's been my experience that the heads made by Remo and Evans for drum manufacturers, even for their flagship drums are not of the same quality as those they produce for individual sale. They often have a different weight and the collars are different. What I'm trying to say is that the coated Ambassador that came with your drum may not be as good as the one you can pick up at a local drum shop.

I agree with this, I recently picked up a sensitone steel drum, and the standard remo ambassador head started chipping after a short amount of moderate playing. Why do this? It doesn't make me want to rush out and buy another ambassador head.
 
If it says "Ambassador", then it's the same Ambassador head that you would get anywhere. The only difference is the added Mapex logo.

Gretsch drums come stock with Ambassadors too, although they brand them as Permatone. They're identical.

The only time you'll see inferior heads is on drums made overseas. And they won't be branded "Ambassador" - they'll have some other identifying model.
 
I don't have this snare, but I have a similar model, and I love the Remo Controlled Sound X on mine. Other heads I like are the Aquarian Hi Velocity, and that HD dry actually sounds good as well, and will control the ring. Those stock heads are always overly ringy, but brass can have a pretty good ring anyway, so a single moon gel can easily quell that on any head if it's still too much with the heads mentioned.
 
If you are leaning towards the hd dry then I'm guessing you don't like ringiness. Have you tried moongel or control rings? Sometimes you can dry it up by tuning it higher. I will +1 on single ply coated heads.
 
A couple of things:

The HD dry will really kill the ring of the drum, which is fine if you want to reduce the ring, but in my own experience, it was too much, it completely stifled the drum, really too dead.

Also, I am a big fan of Aquarian heads, and wanted to point out this useful comparison on their website, it is a bit tucked away, but very useful information:

http://www.aquariandrumheads.com/products/drumhead-guide-comparison

Please do let us know what you choose, and what you think of the result.
 
the sledgehammer, with its stock coated ambassador heads, has a lot of ring. i have it medium tuned, and it is way too much. i muffle it a bit with tape but still it is too much...
the ringing sounds like in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe6aDl7tT4
just go to 4th minute
on the other hand, just check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ug8qISFNmQ
the ringing is minimal and its the sound i want to achieve.
and now i have a dilemma. i am thinking about genera hd dry but i am a bit afraid if it is too much and will deaden it a lot. in a typical snare, normally hd dry would mean that the snare could be dead, but this sledgehammer beast, has a lot of ring to eliminate...
i am also thinking about remo coated control sound head (black dot perhaps?) (or its evans powerdot equivalent) or remo ps3
unfortunatelly cant afford the money to buy many heads and experiment...

on the other hand, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=247cBfiGLvQ
the guy uses the stock heads and it doesnt sound that ringy at all. some ring is there but it is very nice... the guy adviced on tighting the resonand head a bit more than the batter. perhaps i should experiment on that first. what is your opinion guys on that? is it logical? never experimented really on the resonant heads, i am a bit inexperienced. thank you
 
the sledgehammer, with its stock coated ambassador heads, has a lot of ring. i have it medium tuned, and it is way too much. i muffle it a bit with tape but still it is too much...
the ringing sounds like in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe6aDl7tT4
just go to 4th minute
on the other hand, just check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ug8qISFNmQ
the ringing is minimal and its the sound i want to achieve.
and now i have a dilemma. i am thinking about genera hd dry but i am a bit afraid if it is too much and will deaden it a lot. in a typical snare, normally hd dry would mean that the snare could be dead, but this sledgehammer beast, has a lot of ring to eliminate...
i am also thinking about remo coated control sound head (black dot perhaps?) (or its evans powerdot equivalent) or remo ps3
unfortunatelly cant afford the money to buy many heads and experiment...

on the other hand, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=247cBfiGLvQ
the guy uses the stock heads and it doesnt sound that ringy at all. some ring is there but it is very nice... the guy adviced on tighting the resonand head a bit more than the batter. perhaps i should experiment on that first. what is your opinion guys on that? is it logical? never experimented really on the resonant heads, i am a bit inexperienced. thank you

Yes,..experiment more with the tuning...my advice is too use heads that leave the tone of the drum in tact and wide open (like not cutting hair too short) and you can then have the good feel of the coated amb and use moongel, rolled over duct tape or one of the clear plastic evans rings to dampen the ring to your liking...or not

I don't have any problems with ring on the sledgehammer...it is one of my very favorite snares precisely because of it's tonal characteristics...don't kill it

you can always filter out some ring, but with a tone killer head, you can't get it back in a pinch without a new head. And they don't feel good, the thicker heads...imho
 
the sledgehammer, with its stock coated ambassador heads, has a lot of ring. i have it medium tuned, and it is way too much. i muffle it a bit with tape but still it is too much...
the ringing sounds like in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Fe6aDl7tT4
just go to 4th minute
on the other hand, just check this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ug8qISFNmQ
the ringing is minimal and its the sound i want to achieve.
and now i have a dilemma. i am thinking about genera hd dry but i am a bit afraid if it is too much and will deaden it a lot. in a typical snare, normally hd dry would mean that the snare could be dead, but this sledgehammer beast, has a lot of ring to eliminate...
i am also thinking about remo coated control sound head (black dot perhaps?) (or its evans powerdot equivalent) or remo ps3
unfortunatelly cant afford the money to buy many heads and experiment...

on the other hand, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=247cBfiGLvQ
the guy uses the stock heads and it doesnt sound that ringy at all. some ring is there but it is very nice... the guy adviced on tighting the resonand head a bit more than the batter. perhaps i should experiment on that first. what is your opinion guys on that? is it logical? never experimented really on the resonant heads, i am a bit inexperienced. thank you

μπέρνη, I have a 14x6.5 Mapex Brass snare (not a panther, it's a series before the panthers came out called just "Professional"). It had an Ambassador on when I bought it (used), muffled with a bit of velcro tape (nice idea, never seen before, gives you two levels of muffling) and it sounded absolutely amazing. Removed the head because it was old and the coating was almost gone, bought an HD Dry as I thought it's the best option for me at the moment; I know brass snares have a lot of ring and you have to accept it and embrace it and love it, but it's my only snare at this moment and I want it to be more versatile. The HD Dry over a Hazy300 is the way to go if you wanna lose the ring, IMO.

if you just want to try it, pm me and I'll bring you mine.
 
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