Do you use the same head on different drums?

[xtranoise]

Looking for your thoughts on trying a head on different drums, particularly snare drums.

 

[hsosdrum]

• When I bought my current drums I experimented with drumheads (replaced heads on the entire drumset all at once, batters and resos): Ludwig factory heads for a few months* (never got a decent sound with 'em), followed by coated Ambs for a couple of years (much better sound, but still lacking some warmth) before settling on Remo Fiberskyn 3s, which had been my head of choice on my previous drumset. The drums have been wearing the Fiberskyns for almost seven years now — that's my sound.

• I only change batter heads when the drums absolutely need brand-new heads. In fact, I bought a brand-new set of Fiberskyn batters back in September and they're still in their boxes (the drums still sound and record great with the seven-year old heads. Also, I'm incredibly lazy). Resos stay on the drums forever unless I swap the whole drumset with a different type of head.

• My snare drum wears a calfskin head, which is WAY too much of a PITA to remove and re-seat on a different drum simply as an experiment. (Properly seating a calf head requires wetting it down around the outer edge to get it slack before removing it, carefully installing it on the new drum while still wet, partially tensioning it under the new hoop and allowing it to completely dry for a few days to form a collar before finally tuning it up and playing it.)

• When I do replace batter heads I replace the entire drumset (except the snare) all at the same time. Non-calfskin snare drum heads require replacing every couple of years. Calf heads can last a lifetime.

*The Black Beauty I got with the drumset only wore its Ludwig factory head for about 30 minutes before I replaced it with a Remo Fiberskyn FA. It sounded simply dreadful with the Ludwig head.

 

[JazzyJeff]

Where’s the, “all snare heads should be coated Remo Ambassadors, all the time” option?

 

[Matched Gripper]

Looking for your thoughts on trying a head on different drums, particularly snare drums.

I know some think that once a head seats on a drum, it should stay on that drum. Unless it’s a snare drum that’s tightly tensioned, I don’t think that a mylar head truly seats on a drum. Even on a snare, if the baring edges are the same shape and the drum is the same size, I think you can exchange heads and still tune it up.

 

[xtranoise]

Where’s the, “all snare heads should be coated Remo Ambassadors, all the time” option?

I'm mainly an Evans guy so being decidedly discriminatory. Don't tell anyone though.

 

[JimmyM]

Where’s the, “all snare heads should be coated Remo Ambassadors, all the time” option?

You want the snare head poll.

I’ve done it and I will do it again. I so don’t care about MI superstitions.

 

[katulu]

If a head's in good shape I'll keep it in storage and try it out with other drums.

 

[pwc1141]

My bass drum and toms have Evans Calftone heads but my snares favor Aquarian Modern Vintage Medium as that is great for brushes which I play a lot. The kit came that way from the custom shop and after trying that snare head some time back, I didn't need to look further. I can't afford, nor have needed to, experiment with others.

 

[Whitten]

I'm one who believes when it is seated, it is seated. If I have to remove a usable head, then put it back on, I mark it's position with pen on the head (like next to the drum's badge position), so I can reinstate the head in it's same 'seated' position.
If I've ever installed a pre-used head I can't say I've heard an obvious degradation. I think it's ok when experimenting etc, but once a series of heads are chosen, I would leave them on unless it's time to replace them.

 

[jptrickster]

Edges will leave a footprint on the head especially if they’ve been broken in. I would only re use that head on the same drum. A head that’s been sitting on a crisp 45 degree edge isn’t going to do well on a 30 degree round over and vice versa. Certain heads for certain drums fit better than others, that seems to be the experiment for me , finding the best fitting head for any given drum.
For example I tried the level 360 evans on a vintage Slingerland kit and they didn’t fit well. They were sort of pre fitted for a sharper edge and did not sit at all well on the round over. A little off topic -Another quick diddy one of the first vintage Supras I purchased way back when still had the original factory head still in pretty good playable shape , I took the drum apart to clean and put a new Ambassador on it never sounded as good as the original. The moral of the story if it works don’t fix it!

 

[Kungenavallt]

When I'm changing heads and the old heads ain't broken I save them in two piles. One pile with heads that still has life left in them. And one pile for dead heads, cuz even a dead head will make a sound when struck, and sometimes you need to make that work.

When I'm in the mood for a different sound on my drums, I check the pile with heads that still has more to give, and sometimes I found something that will work.

 

[1988fxlr]

I like how some of my drums sound with bright fresh heads and some better with heads that have been played in. My Powertone usually gets to break in the heads that end up on my 402 and Festival. It has the sharpest edges but the used heads from it always seat fine on the rounder metal snares

 

[5 Style]

I've done it and it seems to work OK, but might not work as well if the drums in question have radically different style bearing edges. For the most part it seems that you can just over-tension it bit and then back it off a bit to the tuning you actually want and that this should do a pretty good job of seating (or really re-seating) the head...

 

[marc3k]

Coated ambassadors on all drums. If the coating on my snare is gone, I often switch it with the floor tom (same diameter), which usually still has a good coating.

 

[Bri6366]

I use a Remo Emperor X on my snares. My Yamaha snare still has the original Coated Ambassador on it and it sounds great, but if I were gigging, I'd put an Emperor X on it.

 

[jlzisk]

I've moved heads from drum to drum without problems.

 

[michaelocalypse]

I've used the same heads on a few drums, mostly snares. I keep the heads that are on drums when I buy them and put those back on when I sell them. Then I move the heads I like to a new set. I used to leave the "better" heads on, but it turns out everyone has a different idea of what "better" is, so I was just throwing money away. I don't play a lot, so there's usually plenty of life left in them.

On snares, I moved heads around more when I was experimenting with different heads on different drums.

I've never heard of the "you can't put a head on different drums" thing. It's never been an issue at all for me. I also tune pretty loose on toms and bass drums.

 

[varatrodder]

Absolutely. I swap heads around on different drums all the time. The only thing I don’t do is put a head back on a tom once it’s been cranked up on a snare.

 

[Tornado]

There's what I would rather do, and then there's what I actually do. If I have usable heads in the pile, they are going to get used somehow or another. If I wasn't cheap, I'd not re-use them on other drums. I think that as long as you go with medium to higher tunings, the head will stretch to form a seating on a different drum. I feel like a high tension on the original drum and a low tension on the new drum is likely to not work as well.

 

[jlzisk]

Once or twice I'll put a used head on a different drum and it will feel odd as I lay it on the edge. I rotate it or jiggle it a bit, to get it to fall more easily in place... I suppose that's proof that a head takes on the shape of a prior drum's edge, but so what? Mylar is moldable, pliable, and stretches-- up to the point that it fails. A mylar head will take on the new shape of the next drum you put it on, until you overdo it, with torquing it up or playing it to death.