any drummers?

[0rion]

Zach needs a new kick head. I see most are all priced about the same give or take. Any brand recommended over the others? Right now he's into Pantera and plays metal in general. Was looking at the evans emad 2 head to give him more attack and get rid of a lot of the resonance so his doubles are more crisp. Not sure if I'm even thinking about it right but it seems to make sense to me. I'm having to learn about drums as he goes. If it was guitar then that's all me but never messed with drums.

[INMY01TA]

It's been a while for me but I used just a pinstripe bass head with wood beaters and a small suede pad on the head.

[0rion]

We went yesterday and got the evans head.....going to put it on today at some point. Should be the sound he's looking for I think. Talked to the guys at the music store about it and his drum teacher. Seems this one will work for him. It also comes with 2 deadening rings that go around the head and he has a pillow for inside.

[67CamaroRSSS]

That's a really good bass drum head.

One thing you might want to think about is a Kevlar patch that is used on the head where the beaters hit, especially if he's using other than the felt side of the beaters. It prolongs the life of the head and will keep it from being dented (more or less) by the beaters.

Also, what type of pedal is he using? The DW 9000 I use now is a real heavy duty piece and is very adjustable for throw and tension. Bought it 3 years ago to replace the one I bought back in 93. The newer one is way more adjustable and quite a bit more robust than the old one.

[0rion]

we did get a patch for it but it's not kevlar....wasn't aware they had them. He's still using the felt side of the beaters so won't be as hard on the head. Right now he's using dixon pedals that I got him off ebay. He wants a set of iron cobras but at $400 he might be waiting a little while on those......at least until he's old enough to get a job haha The dixons work fine for him for now. These are the pedals he has:
Dixon 711DB Double Bass Drum Pedal

We got the head on today since they're out of school. I let him do all the work and just supervised.....that way he learns to do it himself and doesn't have to wait on me to work on them.

[0rion]

next up are heads for his other drums.....he needs all of them. I'll have to try and read up and see if there's different ply's like on the kickers and what they do. I would assume there would be. I think for his bday I'm going to get him a different snare altogether.....a metal one. I almost bought him a metal snare when I bought this set and wish I would've just done it then. Oh well....gives me a few bday presents over the next several years. The set we bought him isn't the greatest (pearl soundcheck) but it should at least last him long enough to move out of the house then he's buying his own.

[67CamaroRSSS]

There are different ply thicknesses used by various manufactures and even withing the same manufacturer.

Remo Weather King Ambassador coated batter (top) heads with Diplomat clear resonator (bottom) heads are what I have used for decades. They are the best (and most used) middle of the road heads out there. More drummers use these than any other makes I know of. I've tried others but these are what I've always come back to.

I use Remo PowerStroke3 batter head with a Diplomat resonator head on both of my snare drums (Ludwig Black Beauty 5-1/2 x 14 made out of bell brass with Pearl extra thick cast hoops and an old - 60's vintage - Rogers 6 x 14 steel shell that I found at a yard sale back in the 80's).

For more on Remo heads: Remo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PS: Having a brother that works for Guitar Center at their corporate HQ has it's advantages in that I get stuff for either his price (cost + 3%) or their price (cost). Even when I don't go through him I get stuff cheaper than retail (cost + 9%) owing to my having spent a goodish chunk of change when I bought my current kit (Premier Signia) 20+ years ago. OTOH, I can't participate in any of the drum off contests because of this (no relatives).

Almost forgot to ask: Does he play using match grip or traditional grip? Ask him, he'll know what I mean. And is his teacher teaching one way or both? I've always played traditional grip in marching band and while playing Jazz but match grip when playing Rock (in all it's "forms").

[0rion]

I spent a few minutes today looking at heads on evans site......black chrome was what I was looking at. Honestly though I'm guessing haha. I know remo heads are popular from what I've read and aquarian is the other head I've read about. I have no idea what grip he uses....he just holds the sticks as far as I know I'll have to ask him. He read Vinnie Paul plays his sticks backwards so now he's wanting to do that. I remember how it was though when you're young and want to be just like whoever your idol was at the time. It'll pass but as long as he's into and stays after it we'll keep supporting him. He already has his mansion picked out for when he becomes rich and famous. Oh to be young again.

This was today after we got the new head on.

[67CamaroRSSS]

Can't watch it here at work so I'll view it later. From the look of it he's using match grip (both hands grip the stick in a mirror image fashion).

I prefer wooden tip sticks in size 5A made by Vic Firth. Been using them for ever it seems. Used 5B (same length but thicker) when I was doing marching band. They also make sticks with no tip at all. Vinnie Paul turns them around to get maximum power. I saw Pantera twice and Damage Plan once. Got right in front of the stage for Damage Plan as they were playing at a small venue in Tempe called the Marquee (close enough to get shots of whisky from the band or their roadies). That was about 4 months before Darrell was shot.

FWIW, see if he'll learn to play with earplugs or some other sound deadening device. I credit using the type of earplugs I use (when shooting) while playing with the ability to hear after playing loud rock and roll for most of the last 45 years. I rarely use them while practicing as you learn dynamics after awhile, but they sure have helped throughout the years playing gigs (and loud concerts, bars, etc.)...

[67CamaroRSSS]

Regarding China cymbals (IMHO):

I have 2 K Zildjian (16" hi and 18" low) that I paid big $$$ for and a beat to piss (I did all the beating) Wuhan 18" that I paid $40 for new. Sound wise, the Wuhan China kicks ass over the Zildjian China's.

Regarding cymbals in general (just my opinion):

FWIW, I've acquired about 50 different cymbals from different makers over the years. Ufip sounds the best but are very pricey. K Zildjian sounds better than A Zildjian (I have both) and Paiste makes a good 20" ride. I also have some Sabian splashes that sound pretty good.

What I use depends (or it did depend) on what I was playing and whom I was playing. I want to try some Mienl cymbals but as I don't play out much these days I can't justify the cost.

And, just for you: Orion Cymbals - Esse é meu som, esse é meu prato! I don't know anything about them but thought you'd find it amusing...

[0rion]

yep....he has a good set of ear plugs. Mandatory when you're playing in a garage like he does. He also uses a little mute pad for the cymbals because those damn things can be heard from miles if not. I saw Pantera when they were first hitting it big.....they opened a show here for Megadeth and Skid Row. I had never heard of them at that time but after that show I was a fan. They frigin rocked that place. Summer before last Zach had just started playing drums and we were sitting around the fire out back and I let him listen to a few songs. He fell in love with the drums immediately. The guy that teaches him drums is also a big pantera fan so it worked out pretty good for him. His drum teacher is also a helluva guitarist and they rock it out during his lessons. He's working on "becoming" right now and I put in a request to have him learn "13 steps to nowhere" because that opening drum section is killer in that song.

[0rion]

I couldn't tell you what cymbals he has other than they're zildjan and I think his hi hat is a paiste. Got them at a music store in columbus used. Save a helluva lot of money doing that. He wants some new cymbals too. He wants one of the cymbals that turns up on the edges and he wants a small splash he said. There's a never ending list of shit he wants.

[67CamaroRSSS]

Although new cymbals are cool (ohh shiny!) used cymbals that are still in good shape (no cracks, dents or chips) are the best. Almost half of the cymbals I've acquired were used when I bought them.

The cymbals that "turn up at the edge" are called China Cymbals. I've found Wuhan to be a great economical China.

And the "wanting to acquire shit" never ends. At least it hasn't for me. Thanx to my bro I bought some new cymbals and stands as well as all new heads for my kit back in 2012 at either their cost (heads) or his cost (everything else).

[0rion]

digging this one back up.....bought Zach a new set of double pedals today. Those dixon's have served him well but it's time to move up to a little better set. We ordered him a set of Pearl P932 Demonator pedals this morning before he left for school. Still not a $400 set of pedals but he can buy that shit with his own money after he has a job . Those will be better than his dixon pedals so that's really all I was going for. He's added a couple cymbals the last year or so. Next up is probably roto toms......he's hinted a few times lately that he'd like to have a set. I need to learn about stand and rack options though....he's going to have 10 damn stands if we don't start doing something a little different. Again....not sure how that works so I'll have to read and learn.

We're going to donate his old set of pedals to the guy he takes lessons from. Right now we have to carry his pedals back and forth there for lessons because his teacher just has a single pedal.


one of his lessons from a few weeks ago. I can never seem to get a video of when he completely nails it. Last night he was in the zone.....made very few if any mistakes when taking his lesson. Guess I need to record them all.

[0rion]

3 months later......he's getting there. He goes off on the kickers at 3:30. First time they played all the way through this part so it was a little sketchy starting but he was working the kickers.

[SMWS6TA]

Love he's wearing the Classic Metallica shirt. I only listen to the 1st 3.

[0rion]

they do a halfway decent version of master of puppets....I'll have to get that one on video at some point too. He's definitely a metal head. He listens to all kinds of stuff but definitely prefers metal. I've turned him onto all the old stuff. I was a big accept fan back in the day so he's heard almost all their stuff.

[SMWS6TA]

When he gets better he'll love Slipknot's & 5FDP drummers.

The orginal Avenge Sevenfold's drummer was pretty good too.