12 inch Tom drum head shootout/comparison. 2/2 (17 heads - Remo, Attack, Evans) PART II 

Remo uses a superior film compared to the one Evans uses. The Remo film resonates at a lower frequency and has a longer sustain. Compare the sounds by tapping a Remo Hazy Amabassador followed by an Evans 300 snareside. The Evans is crinkly sounding with a short sustain while the Remo has a breathy low frequency resonance and more sustain.

@@Assimilator702 film might have something to do with it but I'm doubtful. Most companies are using films commonly called "mylar" with different formulations for different models. Remo gets to use the stuff made by Dupont. Evans uses a similar films made by a different company. The hazy heads aren't comparable to clear even within a single company. Evans stopped using hazy films a while ago to add even more uncertainty to everything. The bigger difference is going to be collars and flesh hoops. As far as the whole tap test thing, Aquarian made that their whole marketing approach a while back. It's relatively meaningless as you are going to drastically change the shape of the head and tension on the film as you tune it up. "Superior" is just a silly term in this context. I use Evans for kit and Remo for most everything else. Except I favor Evans snare sides for orchestral and Remo snare sides for kit. And I prefer Evans for concert toms. I've also moved to having various concert snare batters like the Aquarian vintage heads and various hide brands. Remo generally has more film variations and overall a more colorful sound that is easily overplayed (probably because of the old school hoop channel and collar shapes). Evans are typically tougher and warmer and handle heavier beating better (except for their Onyx and EC2M heads). I'm really loving the clarity of the Aquarian heads I've gotten lately which is probably more to do with the ridiculously heavy flesh hoops. Also noticed in this video the Attack heads had a ton of depth and their hoops are literally a steel hoop crimped into an aluminum channel. They have to weigh a ton. It just feels silly to claim it's all in the film company to company when they are all basically using the same stuff with different variations for different models.

@@austinshoupe3003 The film that Dupont provides to Remo is a proprietary formula only sold to Remo according to my sources who is in the percussion industry. People have different preferences. I can use Evans for toms and bass drums but Remo for snares. While it can be argued that the "tap test" is pointlessbI do notice a difference in Remo reso heads on snares vs Evans.

@@Assimilator702 the whole proprietary film thing has a grain of truth to it: Remo is partially owned by Dupont. So they are one of the few companies who can use the Mylar trademark (Attack also used it for their "Royal" heads for a while). But at the end of the day, I think you wildly overestimate how different the films are between companies. Mylar is just a trade name for certain polyester films. It's like saying it makes a difference having Kleenex instead of facial tissues. There is a much bigger variety in hoops, collars, and assembly than the materials used. Guarantee you your tap test deal is a construction quirk rather than a film quirk. Evans purposely has a very flexible collar design these days. The heads generally all got a lot more "plastiky" sounding pre installation when they made that change. That being said, they do install a lot nicer with fewer issues and quirks since that update.

@@austinshoupe3003 I do like the way the Evans 360 heads sit on my drums a bit better. I just feel the snares especially feel flat and plasticky with Evans and I don’t hear that with Remo. Not sure if the 2022 Tama snares have up to date Evans heads but of the three brand new Tama snares I purchased this year, the Evans reso heads all had that plastic film sound when tapped and that less damped sound when tensioned on the drum. It could very well be the lack of HAZY films that Evans stopped using.

Ecs and powerstrokes as well

those overtones are the secret sauce!!

Try real calf skins and you'll never go back to plastic

This is what the head companies should be doing on their websites, but instead, they try to describe it in words!!!

Cheers! I found for me personally, these are the best tunings: 10" 196-258 / 12" 147-193 / 13" 139-182 / 16^ 87-145 / 14" snare 247-392. 22" bass drum 65-78.

Exactly my thought as well. The differences in sound of the heads at low tuning are not clear enough. The papery-fizz sound you hear - is that on the thicker ply heads? The added weight on the thicker ply heads make them vibrate slower and adds what I would describe as a growly sound. This effect becomes more expressed at lower tunings and also appears when the resonant head is tuned too low.

Same

Is that what I’m hearing on the Attack 1s? I als most wondered if it was clipping the mic

​@@VertigoGTI - It's from being more concerned with frequency continuity than how each brand of head likes to sit on the drum. Some heads need more tension to sound "right" than others. Generally, if a head is producing a fizzy sound, there are areas where the film and the edge are not in proper contact with one another.

Too much tune bot, not enough ear?

You mean Remo Emperor Coated? 5:48? Lmao. It fizzles all the time.

Remo's ring too much. Bleh!

The emperor 5:48 is horrible

@@marsilanse_8156 Yep I was confused why my tom sounded like this. It's tuned too low for this head type

I like the Coated Amb's, but the Coated Emps sounded better to me too. I didn't like any of the Evans. Sorry. Attack was the winner lol.