Problems with D'Addario...

Pretty much flogging a dead horse in this thread now as it all seems to be on track but in direct comparison to the OP I'd have to say my experience is the complete opposite in that both Promark and Evans products have significantly got better as time goes by.

In the 80's I had these Evans Hydraulic heads, not sure how to describe it but the "collar" was not metal and they would crack and the skin pulled out of the collar. That never happens these days.

Likewise in the 80's Promark had these Red Oak sticks (remember those??). You hardly ever got a true matched pair and the quality was so hit and miss, so much so that line was dropped. You never get that now with the Shira Kashi oak. So I can only say things are wayyyyyy better now.

Cheers
 
I switched from Remo to Evans about ten years ago, not because of any issues with Remos, but because I had played on some Evans heads and liked the sound and the progressive design they employed in their products. I used the 360 heads on a modern set of Yamahas, a modern Mapex birch kit, and a vintage set of Ludwigs, and all three tune easily and sound killer.

If you ever have an issue with Evans products, wait just a minute and Ben (EvansSpecialist) will show up to discuss with you. He is the epitome of customer service and going the extra mile to satisfy the consumer... a true professional and a great asset to this forum.

(Ben, I'll be expecting my cut in the mail <grin>)
 
Evans heads sound great,but the main issue I've had with them is they are just too fragile.

The coated heads stick to the inside of the packaging and if you use a soft drum bag ,pick up fuzz , dirt and will develop impressions in the coating from the cloth pressing against the drum head.

Don't even think of using any cleaner (Windex) as the coating just strips right off.

Maybe good for a studio situation ,but for a live working drummer,not a good fit.

I use Remo Renaissance and don't have any of those issues any more .
 
Didn't we just talk about this?

D'A...(however you spell it) acquired Evans and Pro mark a while back, someone said 10 years but since I no longer have access to DataSource material I can't validate that.

Search for the "other" thread there is plenty of info over on that one.
 
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I have found the quality of both Evans and Pro-Mark to be excellent. In fact, the customer service is great, too - I once mentioned on these boards that I had a problem with some ProMark sticks in the past, and the rep contacted ME and offered to take care of it. He did, and the current sticks I've been using are great quality

I don't use evans heads but I have used promark for about 40 years, and I can also attest that the customer service is great. I also had a problem with some ProMark sticks not being 'correct' and the they quickly took care of it. As with IDDrummer, the current sticks I've been using are great quality.
 
I don't use evans heads but I have used promark for about 40 years, and I can also attest that the customer service is great. I also had a problem with some ProMark sticks not being 'correct' and the they quickly took care of it. As with IDDrummer, the current sticks I've been using are great quality.

Same here. Evans is probably the only D'Addario product I use. (well, Puresound I guess...). But I have only bought them when I needed a head "right now".

The quality is not lacking at all. I'm just not particularly fond of them as I'm used to my normal Aquarian heads.

In fact, from what I've seen, the quality has vastly improved from most of the products that D'Addario has taken over; the Pro-Mark sticks that I have messed around with seem much better then before. The Evans heads are really nice, but just not "my sound".
 
The coated heads stick to the inside of the packaging and if you use a soft drum bag ,pick up fuzz , dirt and will develop impressions in the coating from the cloth pressing against the drum head.

I've encountered that in the past as well, probably made worse by heat & humidity here. But my 360 heads aren't doing that, I suspect they've improved the coating.

Bermuda
 
I'm surprised to have read two threads where people have some serious hate towards Evans/Daddario. They've been really helpful and have made me want to continue using their stuff even more after I've had an issue.

Makes me wonder what the tone of the first email between the OPs and DAddario service was. When you email, be cool and state facts. We all get upset when we spend $60 and cant use whatever it is on our gig right NAOW. But it's best to keep that part of the equation to yourself. At least until someone shows you they have no interest in helping.

You're contacting a large professional company, not dealing with some behemoth fist like Comcast or Verizon trying to send you into a call center tesseract then bend you over a torture rack and shake out your coin.
 
Can't say I have any problems with Evans heads, (because I haven't played them), but Pro Mark shira kashi oaks, to me anyway, seem to have slacked off, I loved the tips on them, wouldn't budge if to took sandpaper to them (mild exaggeration), but the new D'Addario ones break like paper being hit with a 10 tonne anvil.

Since I bought a few pairs of them though, I've had to deal with a ride sound that's barely audible, as the inside of the tip is very soft. The sticks themselves broke really easy, I'm nowhere near the heaviest of hitters, but after 4 or 5 songs at a show I played, the sticks gave in.

I bought a pair of Vic Firth Extreme 5Bs and, honestly, I'm in love. They're so good, I don't think I'll look back.
 
I'm not trying to hijack the thread at all, but I've seen two references to the japanese oaks or whatever they're called now. I remember playing either the Ed Shaughnessy models or the 808s, both made of the Japanese oak and I only discovered my aversion to that wood when I played with hickory for whatever reason for an extended period of time. My hands sweat a lot, and it seemed like whenever the Japanese oaks got wet and my hands got soft with sweat, they'd get really grabby. I always thought the monster calluses and blisters I was getting was do to the large diameter tree trunk sticks I was playing with, but I think it had more to do with that species of wood and my hands. Anyhow, I've found a stick I'm happy with now, and it's made of hickory. Am I the only one who's reacted to the Japanese oak like that? I never cared much for lacquered or coated sticks, and the hickory just seems to play nicer with my hands than the Japanese oak.

Sorry for the diversion, just curious if anyone else has had the same experience.

Oh, I'm very happy with Evans 360s. I bought a new kit last summer and have already bought three sets of different heads, all from Evans, and I can honestly say I'm the weakest link the in chain :p I have a Sonor set (which is undersized compared to my old kit with regards to shell diameter) and a Tama snare, and the heads fit beautifully on both brands.

Cheers!
 
Actually, I have to say I too have noticed a drop in the quality of ProMark sticks of late.
It pains me to say it too, as I know the previous owners and toured the factory - Nicer people you will not meet!
 
My experience: I had ALWAYS been a Pro-Mark player since I started playing drums in 1993 as an 11 year old kid. Loved the feel of them; always loved the fact that they were family owned and operated in Houston, Tx and even took a field trip in school once to their factory (I live just south of Houston). Anyhow, shortly after D'Adarrio purchased Pro-Mark, I saw a huge decline in the quality of sticks. I bought a few pairs and found that the weights between them were greatly mismatched. I found that the sticks did not last as long as before (I am not a heavy hitter, at all). I made the switch to Vic Firth and have been happy. Now.. I am told that those quality issues have been greatly improved, and I have toyed with the thought of going back to them.

As far as heads, I am a Remo guy. I will say that I use an Evans EMAD from time to time and they sound incredible! Evans got their EMAD heads -right-. I recently bought some Level 360 G1 heads for my vintage Club Date kit and I can say I wasnt impressed. They did not tune up as easy as Remo, so I took them back. Now, that said.. I have played on a few kits with the Evans Level 360 and those kits sounded great. Those were modern kits, not vintage stuff.. I don't know if that was the issue or not.
 
Dear Drumfam,

My name is Elijah. I am the Promark Product Specialist here at D'Addario. I am delighted and honored to discuss the content of this thread with you.

I took the time to carefully read your collective concerns about Promark's quality and consistency matters and will do my very best here to set the record straight while humbly owning up to some of the below issues. This is a manifesto of sorts and I&#8217;m sorry in advance to be long winded here but this is the whole story in effort to honor the drumming community.

When D'Addario acquired Promark in 2011 we were hopeful and confident that we would be able to implement the same rigid quality and consistency standards that have helped D&#8217;Addario become the iconic brand it has over its 100+ year tenure in the fretted string market place and 25 + year success in the drumhead category with Evans. Innovation is in the DNA of D'Addario and we take this responsibility very seriously as to better serve and enhance the playing experience of our consumers or in this respect our Drumfam.

That being said, 2011 posed some unique challenges in regards to the standing production process, quality assurance, mechanical/equipment needs and overall logistics. The quest to innovate this nearly 60 year old company had to start from the ground up.

We first discovered that the lathes that were being used to cut stick profiles had not been well maintained. This resulted in &#8220;lathe drift&#8221; which caused stick models to become inconsistent or vary over time. We also discovered that moisture content played a tremendous role in how a stick will maintain straightness over time (in transit, sitting in inventory etc.) This took some time to dial in and find the &#8220;sweet spot&#8221;. The result of this learning curve caused several batches of sticks to hit the market under our quality thresholds and what many of you experienced were premature breakage, straightness issues, inconsistent feel and playability (as described below). For those of you who have experience these disappointments with our product may I issue our deepest apologies and ask that you give us another shot to earn back your loyalty!

We were humbly reminded that wood is a natural product and requires specialized care at every step to maintain consistency. Though a drumstick won&#8217;t last forever, to ensure we could offer the industry&#8217;s most quality and consistent product Promark by D&#8217;Addario has taken the following action over the last 2 years:

&#8226; Implemented weight and tone sorting for every pair of drumsticks that leave the facility. Tightest specs on the market for a truly matched pair.

&#8226; Removed old lathes and converted to center less grinders ensuring consistent stick profiles and the most luxurious feeling sticks

&#8226; Stringent dowel pre-sorting. Catch poor quality wood before shaped into drumstick. Straight dowels = straight sticks

&#8226; Added 25 quality control visual and mechanical inspection points

&#8226; Upgraded to injection molded nylon tips providing more secure adhesion to drumstick

&#8226; Doubled our water filtration capacity allowing for cleaner, more efficient stick profiling and carbon footprint reduction

Another element which is among the most important is our six figure financial investment into rebuilding a brand new sawmill. This allows Promark to control every single aspect of quality along the production process, from raw log to finished drumstick. Promark is the only drumstick manufacturer in the industry who owns its own mill while all others must rely on mills that make dowels as a secondary product.

While we realize that making drumsticks requires a lot of natural resources it&#8217;s important that we look ahead to the future of drumsticks and the next generation of drummers. Pioneered by CEO and founder Jim D&#8217;Addario in 2013 we proudly introduced the sustainability initiative Play. Plant. Preserve. In partnership with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Promark is planting 5 trees for every 1 that we use for drumsticks.

The journey is long from over though the quality of our product has been improving every single day. The team that makes up the new Promark are drummers just like you and I with an unbridled passion to make the industry&#8217;s leading drumsticks and accessories. Our collective passion coupled with the D&#8217;Addario DNA for innovation is proving to be the best in drumsticks across the industry. I urge you all to give Promark by D&#8217;Addario another shot and come along for the ride while we build this iconic brand together in the spirit of #drumfam.

Onward and Upward!

Sincerely,

Elijah

Promark Product Specialist
D&#8217;Addario and Company
 
The only problem that I have with D'Addario is that they never respond to legitimate emails concerning improvements or suggestions. I need to correct myself . . . they sent me one response that basicly said, We are forwarding your email to Puresound. They never answer anything.
 
I've used Remo and Evans without much thought to each other.
The differences were so small it didn't matter to me. I like them both.

Promark sticks are great. I never had a problem with them.

I didn't experienced the thrill of the new 360 heads because I play old Sonors and the seamless rims are a bit too tight with the new 360 heads. They wobble in the rim until pressure is applied, then they seem to conform okay to the rim. They just don't tune well to a super loose JAW setting because of the tight rims. I don't tune that sloppy low so it doesn't apply to me, which is okay. I do notice that even though they don't fit the rims perfectly, they do tune evenly.

It looks like Remo might also be changing their heads because the latest big logo Remo heads that I bought were also slightly oversized.
 
OK, so tried out a pack of the new Evans and thought they were pretty good sounding heads. They were very equal (quality wise) to the remo emperors i was using. When they wore out a bit I bought another pack....They Sucked! Very dead and untunable. I needed a moongel to cut out the high pitch ring at any tuning range and before the moongel it was already to dead. And this isn't on some crappy kit, its a tama starclassic maple 12" tom were talking about. Probably regarded as one of the easiest drums to tune evah. So i thought maybe these are a dud pack, so I went to get some more a while later.....They Sucked almost as much.. I don't know how its even possible. Its definitely the heads too cause now I put some emperors on and the gems sound gorgeous!

Now for promark...... SAME STORY!!!
I had actually been using promark for a while; most of the time i used the oaks but i used the hickories as well. I would get a package or 4 pairs; 3 pairs would last literally forever..The fourth would break after 10 minutes!

Maybe Im just Crazy but I dont think so. Theres my rant. Tanks so listening.
 
I've never heard of a drum with high pitched ring that was dead. One or the other.
 
Can't say I have any problems with Evans heads, (because I haven't played them), but Pro Mark shira kashi oaks, to me anyway, seem to have slacked off, I loved the tips on them, wouldn't budge if to took sandpaper to them (mild exaggeration), but the new D'Addario ones break like paper being hit with a 10 tonne anvil.

Since I bought a few pairs of them though, I've had to deal with a ride sound that's barely audible, as the inside of the tip is very soft. The sticks themselves broke really easy, I'm nowhere near the heaviest of hitters, but after 4 or 5 songs at a show I played, the sticks gave in.

I bought a pair of Vic Firth Extreme 5Bs and, honestly, I'm in love. They're so good, I don't think I'll look back.

I've had many issues with Evans heads in the past.
The coating is just dreadful in terms of QA.

I've had heads stuck to the inside of the cardboard boxes.

Holes missing from the HD vented heads.

If you pack a snare inside a soft nylon snare bag,it can cause impressions as well as sticking to the inside of the bags.

And don't forget the fuzzies ,as they also pick up lint and hair like a magnet.
 

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My experience has been great with Evans! I've bought Evans G2s about 2 months ago for to rehead my whole kit, 10" 12" 14" and 16" toms, and they tuned right up! Not a single problem! Nice attack, great tone and sustain. I did recently replace my 14" and 16" with Aquarian Deep Vintage 2's, but still have the G2s on the 10" 12" loving them, gonna keep them, loving Evans!
 
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