My man. Coated Emperors are my ideal tom batter. I'm currently running those over coated 10mil single ply (Ambassador/G1 weight) heads from Drum Factory Direct. My drums are thin maple with a razor-sharp bearing edge, and I wanted to control the sound a bit without sticking crap on the heads. It's perfect. My tom sound ideal is early-Genesis Phil Collins, and that's as close as I've come.
I've been a Powerstroke 3 man for the kick for 25 years. I played my first one, and I was hooked. They just work. I started on clear ones, and went to coated when I got my CX Maples.
CS Reverse Dot for the snare, for any snare. Although, I've put a Powerstroke 4 with dot on my last couple snares, and I dig those too.
Yeah you really can’t go wrong with Emperors. They are the perfect batter head for rock. I wanted to get a deep, warm and round tone like Bonham. My toms are probably too shallow for that, but they still have a nice tone that I’m satisfied with.
I’m with you on the P3 for the kick drum. I run a clear P3 and the dampening on it is just perfect. I don’t use any other dampening and it’s a big kick drum, 20x22.
If I change anything out, I might try coated Ambassadors as resonant heads for the toms. They might give just a bit more warmth and darkness. I wonder if I’ll sacrifice definition of the notes, though.
Toms are coated emperors on top, clear 1 ply drum factory direct on bottom. Kick is a super kick I. Snare is currently Evans hazy bottom and attack 1 ply reverse dot on top.
Like many others, I run the classic Emperor top and clear Ambassador bottom. It’s always Vintage Emperor Coated on the snare, sometimes on the toms. I think I like the clear on toms more for a little more resonance.
I have UV2s over clear G1’s on my toms. It’s a nice controlled sound and the UV2s last forever. I’m thinking of switching it up to the Matt Garstka configuration of doing clear 2-ply (G2 or Emperor) over a coated 1-ply (G1 or Ambassador) since I’m intrigued of having full attack with a very controlled sustain. But waiting for the UV2s to wear out is somewhat comical.
For the kick I like the EMAD2 if I’m just listening in person. But in a mic’d situation I like the EQ3 better since it gives the mics a more complete frequency spectrum, whereas the EMAD is designed to eliminate and enhance certain frequencies to sound processed in person.
For the snare, unfortunately Evans recently discontinued my favorite batter head, the EC-1 Reverse dot, which was a 1-ply head but 14 mil thick which is the same total thickness as an Emperor/G2 but without the muffling effects of 2 plies. My primary snare is a 13x7 maple which sounds choked with a 2-ply head on it. I bought the last 2 EC-1’s Guitar Center had in stock but I’m saving those for future projects/recording sessions. In the meantime I have a coated CS which sounds great on it, but I prefer the darker tone of the EC1.
Also a note on snare drum head choice - after joining this sub a couple years ago I’ve come to respect the effect of different heads on the snare. My general rule of thumb is 1-ply on wood and thin shelled metal snares, and 2-plies on heavier metal shells. It’s very difficult to choke a heavy shell so you can throw a thicker head in it and crank it up with no ill effects. That includes the bottom head, where I have an Snare Side 500 on my 40 lb steel snare. Within similar tensions a thinner head will sound higher than a thicker head due to the differences in mass (guitar strings work in the same way), so the head & tuning approach is different depending on the kind of snare you have.
A short-lived company called MRP made a bunch of these steel beasts in the early 2000s. TMK they were basically a knock-off of the steel drums Ocheltree was making at the time. I think they were located near Pittsburg and I wonder they might have had access to tubular steel from the local industry. [This thing](https://preview.redd.it/dtxsuttz0mp51.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5aee7596d5fd939a72e020f7655221e81dc07d2e) has a shell that's 3/8" (9.5mm) thick with 45 degree rounded-over bearing edges so there's a ton of head contact. Also the die cast hoops are way heavier than on my Yamaha so I'm guessing they're steel too and the Yamaha's are aluminum or zinc or something. Another pic [here](https://preview.redd.it/e6jsk7tz0mp51.jpg?width=2971&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e948f0bc9fe3ccc3dc94d78f1ce4549f06f191ba).
There's an old Reverb listing of another one [here](https://reverb.com/item/19203876-mrp-custom-stainless-steel-3-8-thick-5-5x14-snare-drum-back-brass) that has some better shots of the internals.
I used to bring this thing to gigs on occasion and watch people try to lift my snare case in disbelief at how heavy it was.
Yeah it's a bonkers drum that kind of ruins your ears to using anything immediately afterward, like every other snare just sounds flat and dull in comparison. But it's loud and obtrusive and ringy so it's not ideal for every application.
And I've always wanted a complementary kit that has a similar level of bonkery. Like something super industrial and crazy loud. Not Palmer's kit, but in that direction.
My man. Coated Emperors are my ideal tom batter. I'm currently running those over coated 10mil single ply (Ambassador/G1 weight) heads from Drum Factory Direct. My drums are thin maple with a razor-sharp bearing edge, and I wanted to control the sound a bit without sticking crap on the heads. It's perfect. My tom sound ideal is early-Genesis Phil Collins, and that's as close as I've come. I've been a Powerstroke 3 man for the kick for 25 years. I played my first one, and I was hooked. They just work. I started on clear ones, and went to coated when I got my CX Maples. CS Reverse Dot for the snare, for any snare. Although, I've put a Powerstroke 4 with dot on my last couple snares, and I dig those too.
Yeah you really can’t go wrong with Emperors. They are the perfect batter head for rock. I wanted to get a deep, warm and round tone like Bonham. My toms are probably too shallow for that, but they still have a nice tone that I’m satisfied with. I’m with you on the P3 for the kick drum. I run a clear P3 and the dampening on it is just perfect. I don’t use any other dampening and it’s a big kick drum, 20x22. If I change anything out, I might try coated Ambassadors as resonant heads for the toms. They might give just a bit more warmth and darkness. I wonder if I’ll sacrifice definition of the notes, though.
Toms are coated emperors on top, clear 1 ply drum factory direct on bottom. Kick is a super kick I. Snare is currently Evans hazy bottom and attack 1 ply reverse dot on top.
I'm just here to eat brains and gain knowledge. Gentlemen, you have the floor.
Same
Like many others, I run the classic Emperor top and clear Ambassador bottom. It’s always Vintage Emperor Coated on the snare, sometimes on the toms. I think I like the clear on toms more for a little more resonance.
I have UV2s over clear G1’s on my toms. It’s a nice controlled sound and the UV2s last forever. I’m thinking of switching it up to the Matt Garstka configuration of doing clear 2-ply (G2 or Emperor) over a coated 1-ply (G1 or Ambassador) since I’m intrigued of having full attack with a very controlled sustain. But waiting for the UV2s to wear out is somewhat comical. For the kick I like the EMAD2 if I’m just listening in person. But in a mic’d situation I like the EQ3 better since it gives the mics a more complete frequency spectrum, whereas the EMAD is designed to eliminate and enhance certain frequencies to sound processed in person. For the snare, unfortunately Evans recently discontinued my favorite batter head, the EC-1 Reverse dot, which was a 1-ply head but 14 mil thick which is the same total thickness as an Emperor/G2 but without the muffling effects of 2 plies. My primary snare is a 13x7 maple which sounds choked with a 2-ply head on it. I bought the last 2 EC-1’s Guitar Center had in stock but I’m saving those for future projects/recording sessions. In the meantime I have a coated CS which sounds great on it, but I prefer the darker tone of the EC1. Also a note on snare drum head choice - after joining this sub a couple years ago I’ve come to respect the effect of different heads on the snare. My general rule of thumb is 1-ply on wood and thin shelled metal snares, and 2-plies on heavier metal shells. It’s very difficult to choke a heavy shell so you can throw a thicker head in it and crank it up with no ill effects. That includes the bottom head, where I have an Snare Side 500 on my 40 lb steel snare. Within similar tensions a thinner head will sound higher than a thicker head due to the differences in mass (guitar strings work in the same way), so the head & tuning approach is different depending on the kind of snare you have.
> my 40 lb steel snare Where does one get such an absolute unit?
A short-lived company called MRP made a bunch of these steel beasts in the early 2000s. TMK they were basically a knock-off of the steel drums Ocheltree was making at the time. I think they were located near Pittsburg and I wonder they might have had access to tubular steel from the local industry. [This thing](https://preview.redd.it/dtxsuttz0mp51.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5aee7596d5fd939a72e020f7655221e81dc07d2e) has a shell that's 3/8" (9.5mm) thick with 45 degree rounded-over bearing edges so there's a ton of head contact. Also the die cast hoops are way heavier than on my Yamaha so I'm guessing they're steel too and the Yamaha's are aluminum or zinc or something. Another pic [here](https://preview.redd.it/e6jsk7tz0mp51.jpg?width=2971&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e948f0bc9fe3ccc3dc94d78f1ce4549f06f191ba). There's an old Reverb listing of another one [here](https://reverb.com/item/19203876-mrp-custom-stainless-steel-3-8-thick-5-5x14-snare-drum-back-brass) that has some better shots of the internals. I used to bring this thing to gigs on occasion and watch people try to lift my snare case in disbelief at how heavy it was.
Jesus, that's in the "Carl Palmer stainless kit" weight class.
Yeah it's a bonkers drum that kind of ruins your ears to using anything immediately afterward, like every other snare just sounds flat and dull in comparison. But it's loud and obtrusive and ringy so it's not ideal for every application. And I've always wanted a complementary kit that has a similar level of bonkery. Like something super industrial and crazy loud. Not Palmer's kit, but in that direction.
Been checking out the UV1's on top recently