Hookd on Phonics wrote:
Back in the Eighties and early Nineties, I used Emperors primarily for their durability, but also because I found that a good live sound was easy to achieve, and they "broke in" quickly. I never liked the "boingy" quality that Ambassadors had on my Ludwigs, while the Emps would provide the low, thick "meaty" tone I liked back then without being too dead. But, I found that the apparent durability of the Emperors was decieving; the head's tone still dies, but the head itself doesn't show how tired it is until you take off the tension. I would keep them on the kit longer than I should have. I also experimented with Remo Fibreskyns and thought they sounded really good at the time. I only started using Ambassador batters again in 1995 when I discovered just how much better they sounded on my snare drums than the Emps or any Evans heads. Once I went to Ambassadors, I didn't care for anything else on my snare drums. While I'm currently using Evans EC2 batters, which are 2 ply as well (with clear Ambassador resonants) on my Lite toms, I'm seriously considering clear Ambassadors top and bottom again on my 8, 10, 12, 15FT 18FT 22BD(X2)kit, as durability is less important to me because I'm not playing as hard (or as often), and I'm not quite as poor as I once was. Ambassador Clears are what Sonor fitted on my drums from the factory, and I'd like to explore that sonic possibility now.
Brian
Interesting, Brian. My responses to drums sound and yours may not be analogous, but there is at least a similarity. As I look back on my choices, they were in large (maybe complete) measure due to the heads that came on Phonics Plus and Signatures. Those drums sounded great, in that era, and achieved the type of sound that recorded rock fed us. I loved Pinstripes because they sounded, from the drummers chair, like a well recorded kit.
I became allergic to single ply Amb weight heads, partly because I had learned to hit the drums harder (in order to produce the required volume to cut through loud rock bands), and partly because the response of an Amb weight head was far too lively and open, for the way I played and tuned (whatever that was), on the kits I had been using.
What has changed for me is not do much a rethinking of an optimal drum sound, but rather the recognition that the sound from the driver's seat is only a part of the story. After listening to drummers talk about projection into the room, and after listening to drummers playing more open tunings, I realized that I could and probably should get over my apprehensions. Not speaking for anyone else, I had used thicker heads to compensate for my lack of ability in tuning and finesse, and lack of understanding of acoustics.
Even so, I was always aware of the charm of open drums in recorded music (e.g. Motown recordings). I suppose I was like a man in a workable but on the whole joyless relationship, who can glimpse the joy that other people have but has no idea how to achieve it.
It has taken some time; first to develop confidence that the open sound works in a musical situation, and second to relearn how to hit the drum. Amb weight single ply heads reward a lighter touch, that is true. They can be hit hard as a matter of dynamics, but even played quietly they have more of the testosterone laden sound (projected into the room) that most of us hope to achieve. Added to that, the tonal variations of any drum are increased as the head becomes thinner, which is to say, more fun stuff to play with!
Not that one needs to limit oneself to that one choice. There may be reasons to choose other heads, including personal preference, musical venue, or durability; but Amb weight heads are a standard from which meatier heads make a tonal reduction. At least, that is how I currently see the issue.
I'm not ruling out heavier heads, but won't make that choice until I'm working in a musical situation, because that's where head choice really finds its meaning.
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