How big of a difference do drum heads make?

Gertz

Member
My pdp m5 maple kit arrived yesterday and I set it all up a long with my double bass drum pedal, throne and snare stand. I will be getting cymbals and other hardware later.

I havent played an acoustic kit in about 4 years because as I was in an apartment and had to use an electronic one. I learnt to tune for the first time yesterday through youtube videos and hints from my drum teacher. I've tried a technique which is quite long by Jared Falk's tutorial, one by Rob Brown which is 'quick and easy' and a couple others.

Although my tom's have a distinguished difference in pitch because of their size I am a bit disappointing by the sound I am getting. The sound I am getting out of my bass drum pleases me however and I'm glad with how that tuning turned out. Therefore I'm almost sure I'm tuning them correctly but I acknowledge as this is my first time tuning a kit that I may not be. The main problem is the overtones.

I heard that the stock heads (UK Remo's), especially on the pdp m5 kit (the discontinued version, not the new concept model) are notorious for giving a bad sound but the drums are meant to give a great sound with proper heads on them. I would be buying REMO clear emperors. Will a change of heads really make my drums sound that much better and get rid of the overtones?

Any help or ideas is appreciated, thanks.
 
Yes, Emperiors will sound different. But what makes you think that's the sound you want. Getting rid of unwanted overtones might be a case of just placing a moongel on the head. Or a ritchie ring. Or a small piece of fabric, and some tape. Experiment. Once you find out what you like, and how much muffling you need, then look into new heads.​
 
I too would suggest as well that you experiment with the current heads before buying new ones. Yes new heads will have it sound better than stock heads, IF tuned well.

But don't get down on overtones. Behold the overtones. Perhaps having been playing an e-kit you are used to a very tamed or controlled sound, but the overtones of an acoustic kit are its true beauty, once tuned well.

Make sure you record your kit and it may sound just fine 'out there' meters away...overtones and all.
 
First, Congrats on the new kit!

Acoustic kits are suppose to have overtones. Some people like them and others dont. As harryconway suggested, experiment with some rings or moongel to dampen the overtones if you dont like them. Acoustics kits are a bit different than e-kits. E-kits are EQ'd sounds as where a real drumkit produces a natural sound. New heads will make the kit sound good but wont take the overtones out much, and you will probably end up damping them
 
It makes a HUGE difference. Whenever someone is considering buying a mid-level kit (or lower), my first recommendation is to budget for new top and bottom heads. Some people (including me) can make do with the stock cheap-o heads mid kits come with, but you will eventually be forced into an upgrade, so you might as well do it from the outset. Nowadays, I see "Remo UT" heads on a kit, they just come off in favor of real Remo heads. I know what sound I'm after and what heads will give that to me, so I don't even try to get it with other heads. I don't have time to sit around and experiment.
 
If you're not in a band and just play at home, nothing wrong with muffling them slightly to take away the wild overtones. If you play out, just be aware that any muffling, even a little, kills your toms in the audience unmiced. But for now tune and muffle them so they sound good to you. The only downside is you get used to that sound, and when it comes time to play out, you have to learn to run em wide open and listen right through (ignore) the overtones and just focus on a clean fundamental. It's takes some getting used to.
 
You will see a difference. With those Emperors on top and Ambassadors on bottom you'll get much better sound out of that kit. You might not see it immediately, but as you get better at tuning from experience, your drums will be more versatile and beautiful sounding.

It's like buying a big tv and then only using the built in speaker. Buy surround sound and your whole experience will change for the better. You'll never use stock heads again. Go for it.
 
It makes a HUGE difference. Whenever someone is considering buying a mid-level kit (or lower), my first recommendation is to budget for new top and bottom heads. Some people (including me) can make do with the stock cheap-o heads mid kits come with, but you will eventually be forced into an upgrade, so you might as well do it from the outset. Nowadays, I see "Remo UT" heads on a kit, they just come off in favor of real Remo heads. I know what sound I'm after and what heads will give that to me, so I don't even try to get it with other heads. I don't have time to sit around and experiment.

Yup, Remo UT = Utter Trash
Even well used decent heads sound better to me, as long as they aren't dented or abused too badly.
And not just batter heads… a lot of the errant overtones can come from the cheap resonant heads. So I immediately swap 'em out, top and bottom.
Like Bo, I'm a Remo guy so it' either clear or coated Ambassadors or Emperors in various combinations on most kits. Recents tried (and really like) coated Ambassadors over coated Ambassadors on my Club Custom kit.

Neal
 
Sure, new heads will help. They will tune easier and sound better.

With all the talk about overtones, it is important to distinguish between "pleasing" overtones and "nasty" overtones. Assuming one is starting out with a reasonable quality kit or better (which you are) the former are usually the result of good tuning and the latter are often the result of poor tuning. I applaud your desire to learn to tune your new drums properly. Unfortunately, just because you watched a bunch of YouTube videos yesterday does not make you a a good tuner today. It takes practice! Certainly practicing tuning skills with the UT heads will help you learn (understanding the limitation that they may never sound "great."). It can be quite educational to take a given drum from crappy sounding to OK sounding to good sounding, then with further (over)-tinkering to see it go to crappy again, then -- this is the important part -- to know how to tweak it back to good sounding again. As you experiment, you will begin to gain hands-on experience with the principles of tuning:

1. The head MUST, repeat MUST, be in tune with itself (all lugs tones equal). Unequal lug tones are a leading cause of "nasty" overtones.

2. Learning/understanding/mastering the relationships between the two heads working together. Tuned equally = max resonance. Tuning the heads at various intervals to each other results in different sounds. There are some intervals that will make the drum go dead (choked, lower volume, no "life" in it, cardboard sound). A slight tweak of either head up or down can solve that. In the same way, a slight change of tension on one head can change the overtones from "meh" to "Ahhhh!!!!"

Good luck with the new drums!
 
Go to YouTube and type in Bob Gatzen. Watch his snare tuning, tom tuning and bass tuning videos. These are the only 3 videos you'll ever need to watch for tuning. They are that good! And like everyone else is saying, Evan's G2 on top and G1 on bottom is about all you need. I run an Evans Hazy 300 on all my snares and a Genera Dry or an EC2 Reverse Dot on top (I like the Genera Dry way more than the EC2 though). Good luck in your acoustic journey. I'm having a blast with mine.

Peace, Defender
 
I'm convinced the UT heads will put Remo out of business. They're so bad.

To put your brand name on such crap seems like awful marketing.

Remo and Evans' normal heads are barely discernable when compared to each other, but if a new drummer buys any other brand after using only UTs, they won't ever buy Remo again.

Evans has cheapo heads too, but I don't see them as much.

He who has the most cheapo heads out there will lose.
 
Totally agree....just lived the UT Remo issue, But, I am and always have been a big Remo fan myself.

Anyway, I Just recently bought/received a Crush Eminent Birch kit and they came with the dreaded stock UT heads. Dead as a door nail, as stated previously, no matter how I tried to tune them; to instill some "life".

Much much better after replacing them with the old faithful combo of - Ambassador resos and Emperor batters. I know they use them (UT), to keep the cost down, but man, really are awful ! However, in my opinion, not quite as bad as the old Ludwig stock heads they USED TO send with their kits.... Ya know, the coated WM batters, with the bad "drum head dandruff". They actually sounded ok to start, but most of the white coating would come off of the head and they'd de-tune from the denting, after the maiden voyage.
 
Since I'm on a budget being 16, would only changing the stock heads to lets say for the purpose of this post to clear emperors, will that make a significant sound of my drum? I know people will reply saying that the reso. heads must be changed too which I will do eventually but right now I dont really have the money to do that so a simple yes or no answer would be appreciated. I would change the batter head before the resonant head because of play-ability too, it simply doesn't feel good when my stick hits these stock heads. If anyone of you highly feel that I should change the reso head to ambassador clears too please do mention it as well because I do have methods of making money through hoovering and such and could get enough money for both sets of heads haha.

Thanks again everyone for helping an acoustic drum newbie such as myself!
 
Last edited:
Since I'm on a budget being 16, would only changing the stock heads to lets say for the purpose of this post to clear emperors, will that make a significant sound of my drum? I know people will reply saying that the reso. heads must be changed too which I will do eventually but right now I dont really have the money to do that so a simple yes or no answer would be appreciated. I would change the batter head before the resonant head because of play-ability too, it simply doesn't feel good when my stick hits these stock heads. If anyone of you highly feel that I should change the reso head to ambassador clears too please do mention it as well because I do have methods of making money through hoovering and such and could get enough money for both sets of heads haha.

Thanks again everyone for helping an acoustic drum newbie such as myself!

Yes. If all you can afford right now is changing out the batter heads, that will still improve your sound and playability. And if you save money quickly enough to change out the bottom heads before the top ones are done, you will notice an even bigger difference, but it's ok to take baby steps.
 
Since I'm on a budget being 16, would only changing the stock heads to lets say for the purpose of this post to clear emperors, will that make a significant sound of my drum?
Define "significant"? You may hear a difference. You may not. Will the difference be significant? Hard to say. Depends on a lot of things. Your hearing. The acoustics of the room. You say you just got the kit. You just set them up. Give 'em some time. Tune, and re-tune them. If money's a bit of a stumble, just buy one head. Mount it. Tune it. Play it. Listen to it. Find out if it's what you want. If it is, then buy more heads for the rest of the drums. If it's not, then try a different head. Be a shame to drop $40-50 on clear Emperors, only to find out you really want Powerstroke3s or Pinstripes .... and have to drop another $60.​
Personally, I like coated Emperors or coated P3s over clear Ambassadors, but that's me.​
 
Define "significant"? You may hear a difference. You may not. Will the difference be significant? Hard to say. Depends on a lot of things. Your hearing. The acoustics of the room. You say you just got the kit. You just set them up. Give 'em some time. Tune, and re-tune them. If money's a bit of a stumble, just buy one head. Mount it. Tune it. Play it. Listen to it. Find out if it's what you want. If it is, then buy more heads for the rest of the drums. If it's not, then try a different head. Be a shame to drop $40-50 on clear Emperors, only to find out you really want Powerstroke3s or Pinstripes .... and have to drop another $60.​
Personally, I like coated Emperors or coated P3s over clear Ambassadors, but that's me.​

I think I have a pretty good ear for music so I don't see why I wouldn't have a good ear for the drums. When I tune them, all the lugs sound matched. The heads also feel bad to play like a mentioned which is a big part of why I want to change them, I mean, worse than my Alesis electronic kit's heads which were not mesh heads, they were plastic. The acoustics of the room aernt great but they are decent for a home, there is a window that covers the width of the room and I always draw the curtains when I play and the floor is carpeted. There is other furniture in that room too such as a wardrobe and my guitar and keyboard. The reason why I keep saying clear emperors is because I have filled in on a couple of school performances when the real jazz band's drummer was ill and I had to improvise the whole song. (I never liked any school music groups so I never tried joining one). Anyway, that kit has clear emperors batter and clear ambassador resonant on a Mapex Meridian Maple that the school has and the toms sound pretty damn good, nothing like what I'm getting now. I would love to try out one particular head but like I said i have played those heads before and a pack of 3 tom clear emperor heads is £32 and it comes free with an ambassador snare drum head. Individually these heads all cost around £12-15 so I don't think it would be wise to buy the heads individually. It's also not just that I don't have the money, I do, but like anyone else I have other things I spend my money on, if it's worth it, I will spend it though. I'll definitely consider the coated heads too though and take your advice on giving my stock heads some more time. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
 
The reason why I keep saying clear emperors is because I have filled in on a couple of school performances when the real jazz band's drummer was ill and I had to improvise the whole song. (I never liked any school music groups so I never tried joining one). Anyway, that kit has clear emperors batter and clear ambassador resonant on a Mapex Meridian Maple that the school has and the toms sound pretty damn good, nothing like what I'm getting now.

New info. Since you've played clear Emperiors, before ..... and you liked the sound, then yeah, maybe you should try 'em.​
 
Back
Top