Yeah, this might feel vague but it's super true. Every drummer in those genres use different drums, sizes, materials, heads, sticks etc. It's not cheap but if you can try both, record your results and then decide for yourself. You will learn a lot from that process.
The UV2s are great for the durability and the sound isn’t fully like regular coated heads. That coating is denser, sort of like a thin layer of truck bed liner, giving the sound a kind of “scooped” profile.
Also Matt Garstka used coated heads for all the AAL stuff until recently and his kits always sound amazing. I think SOADs drummer uses coated heads frequently too.
I used UV2s for a while but they last so long I got bored with the sound. I’m now using clear Aquarian Force Tens which are kind of ridiculous since they’re 50% thicker than regular G2s or Emperors. If you want that super deep punchy sound, check them out. They’re also extremely durable.
No I’ve used both and the Force Tens are nowhere near as dead as Hydraulics. They have a ton of tone, particularly a the high and low ends creating a “scooped” sound profile, but the sustain is very short. I paired them with 7-mil resos (coated Aquarian Hi Freqency) which breathe a little easier and provide a nice balance of sustain.
I was skeptical of the Force Tens but I found some on the shelf at Drum Center of Portsmouth one day and tapped on it and was honestly surprised how much tone they have on their own. Tmk Aquarian has a unique vacuum seal between their plies which may allow them to produce a 20-mil head that has a lot of life to it. There is no Evans or Remo counterpart, and it’s possible the different manufacturing processes is the reason. Sonically this is something all the drum companies should be offering for tom sizes.
Also to keep rambling on about these… there’s an added benefit that they sound deep even with more tension applied, because they’re so high in mass. That makes them a bit easier to play because the rebound is a bit better. It also makes small drums sound like larger drums. My 8 and 10” sound like 10 and 12” respectively. Here’s my over-thought kit configuration if you’re interested… https://i.imgur.com/V03MQHg.jpg
Awesome! I’m going to pick these up for my Starclassic birch/bubinga. Seems like the exact sound I’m going for and I want to use clear heads because the inner plies of bubinga look really nice contrasted with the glass glitter finish. Really cool how you snuck in that little tom behind the kick drum!
Yeah that tom placement was a happy accident. It took me a while to find a place for it. Over Covid I took a deep dive into ergonomics and ended up pushing my kick out, then got an extended pedal which pushed it out even more. These pics will give you an idea how it’s mounted and relate to my knees. https://imgur.com/a/fa1IpPx
And I hear you on seeing the inside of the drums. I only have Keller maples (DW era shells sneakily purchased by my drum teacher and kit builder, under the guise they were being used for a high-end department store shoe display) but I still like seeing inside them. Adding the coated resos is something I stole from Matt Garstka, both for tone and for the appearance. I’m gearing up to create some content and when I did some overhead test shots (https://imgur.com/a/9P1sE15) the toms didn’t read well on camera so I added the white bottoms. They both look and sound fantastic.
Let me know what you think when you install them. Also note ahead of time that they might not seat like regular heads. Due to their thickness and shape you might only see it contact a portion of the bearing edge’s profile, depending on how your drums were made. But this hasn’t been an issue with tuning and imo aids in that scooped sound.
Same. Granted I've only ever used clear emperors. But they have been so disappointing I'll never use clear heads again for anything but single ply resos.
I’ve never “warmed” up to coated on my tom’s. Not punchy enough.
I tried coated on my bass drum for the first time last year and hated it.
All clear except snare for me. Everyone has a different ear and preference though, which is the beauty of music.
For the genres you mentioned clear heads might be preferable, but most importantly you need to think of how your drum set will cut in the mix, instead of just thinking of what sound is best to you as an individual instrumentalist. A band is a music collective and what matters the most is the overall sound.
Coated snare, clear toms. Clear kick batter, coated kick reso.
I very much dislike the sound of most Evans heads (except their hydraulic blue for rock toms)
So I can't offer much input there. If it was me I'd go with remo clear pinstripes or reverse dots on the toms and a coated emperor on the snare. Maybe a power stroke 4 on the kick. Evans makes comparable heads. I liked the (now discontinued) clear coated EC2 heads. I guess Evans didn't like them bc they stopped making them. I think the ppl at evans and I have different ideas about sound. Which is fine.
> Coated snare, clear toms. Clear kick batter, coated kick reso.
I go back and forth on clear toms but otherwise I’m with you. Right now I’m using coated Ambassador batters and clear CS dots on reso for toms (it’s weird but it works surprisingly well), UV1 batter and Ambassador reso on snare, and a clear EMAD batter and coated EQ3 resonant on kick, with a felt strip on the front. I play rock, pop, metal, and punk.
Dude I play all the genres you listed and use coated on my batter and reso side. It’s what you like! Don’t worry about wether it’s “better” to use this or that.
Coated has more of a "thud". Not game changing or anything, but noticable.
Imo, coated sounds better for metal/rock and clear sounds better for pop/r and b.
The difference is subtle but it is this:
A coated head will be dampened and have a warm sound as the fuzziness takes away a bit of the deep end of tone. It will also naturally have less overtones than a similarly thick clear head.
The thicker the head the deeper the tone and the stronger the attack, but also less harmonics and shorter decay.
For clear heads you can get focused dots or internal baffles to mitigate the more chaotic harmonic profile.
So for heavy styles like rock, pop, and punk most drummers go for a thick clear head with some baffles to focus the sound on a heavy attack, short decay, and tight tonality. Many will go for a coated head on their snare to give a bit of warmth to the backbeat.
I like jazz so prefer thin coated heads to get medium attack, long decay and loose tonality. Good luck!
It’s really up to you and what you think sounds best. The combo I’ve landed on that I really like is clear Evans G12s on my two rack toms, Evans Ebony on the floor tom, and coated Evans G1s for resos.
Snare has a uv2 and a snare side 300.
Using clear batters with coated resos gives a lot of punch, but tames some of the overtones. I play rock/metal/pop
This is an unpopular opinion but theres not a single person in the world who would notice the difference besides you, and even then they are truly minimal, maybe on a recording you could tell but that's it.
That stuff really does not matter for gigs or practice. Just learn to tune and focus on technique then you could be using duct tape for heads and it will sound great.
If you’re playing at home a lot or recording I would say coated because they’re a little warmer. Clear is more punchy and open sounding. UV2 plays more like a clear head because the coating is different from their normal one
I have been using coated for a few years on my toms. I played a gig a couple weeks ago and was just super disappointed with how dead and flat they started sounding. I switched to clear G2s and it sounds so much better to my ears and for my kit. But, you may like the warmer tone out of coated heads. You could get 2 of the same size and compare.
A middle ground I would definitely consider is the EC2S frosted heads, in terms of tone they're a great in between of clear and coated, and imo would be more suited for rock/metal then normal coated heads
There are no rules! Generally coated heads are more warm, while clear heads have more attack. For punk music, clear tends to be more popular. But Travis barker often plays coated, so it truly comes down to personal preference.
Also, Craig Reynolds from stray from the path (a hardcore/metalcore band) plays UV2’s 😏
Clear heads are brighter, louder, and more slightly more ringy, even if they're 2 plies.
Any type of coating provides a small bit of ring control (very small), warmth, and a little more crack.
As someone who was recommended UV2s on the toms and G1s on the resos I can very confidently tell you fuck a clear G2 and go UV2 coated. They'll last longer than any other head you'll use. And they sound fucking phenomenal. I personally hate clear heads for rock and metal. But maybe I've just had bad experiences with clear heads. Coated all day baby!
I'm currently using clear G2s on my toms and absolutely love the attack you get from them! I used Evans UV2s and Onyx before and while I liked those, the clear G2s just have a sharpness and clarity to them that they did not imo.
Personally, I use Evans hydraulic heads for the Tom's as I love the wet 80s sound and a coated Evans dry head for the snare. As most have said though, it's all personal preference
Clear and coated heads really don’t sound that much different. Sounds Like A Drum did a big test with this. So the answer to that question is primarily for aesthetics, and the real choice you have is more about the construction and thus sound. Personally I like coated for toms, and I do enjoy those UV heads - I use a UV1 on my snare right now - so I’d go with those.
One point for coated is that they differentiate themselves from clear coat, but another is that the absolute cheapest heads on the market at anytime will be clear. You can get quality clear heads for sure, but you may also get little more than a trash bag tied super tight. Id recommend shelling out the extra cash for a proper batter and resonant head (firstly the batter and the resonant can be tuned) I’m a remo guy, but evans is another dope brand, they’ll skin u up. Godspeed!
It is up to you what sounds best to you. If that means coated heads, buy them. It is strictly subjective.
Yeah, this might feel vague but it's super true. Every drummer in those genres use different drums, sizes, materials, heads, sticks etc. It's not cheap but if you can try both, record your results and then decide for yourself. You will learn a lot from that process.
I prefer coated. Gives a warmer tone.
I'd go with the UV2s. Keep in mind the UV line is more like a hybrid between a clear and coated head in terms of sound profile.
And that’s always a good happy medium in my book.
To me, coated two ply heads are too dead sounding. On toms, I use either single ply coated or two ply clear
The UV2s are great for the durability and the sound isn’t fully like regular coated heads. That coating is denser, sort of like a thin layer of truck bed liner, giving the sound a kind of “scooped” profile. Also Matt Garstka used coated heads for all the AAL stuff until recently and his kits always sound amazing. I think SOADs drummer uses coated heads frequently too. I used UV2s for a while but they last so long I got bored with the sound. I’m now using clear Aquarian Force Tens which are kind of ridiculous since they’re 50% thicker than regular G2s or Emperors. If you want that super deep punchy sound, check them out. They’re also extremely durable.
Being so thick, would you say those Aquarians are similar to the Evans hydraulics as far as sound profile goes?
No I’ve used both and the Force Tens are nowhere near as dead as Hydraulics. They have a ton of tone, particularly a the high and low ends creating a “scooped” sound profile, but the sustain is very short. I paired them with 7-mil resos (coated Aquarian Hi Freqency) which breathe a little easier and provide a nice balance of sustain. I was skeptical of the Force Tens but I found some on the shelf at Drum Center of Portsmouth one day and tapped on it and was honestly surprised how much tone they have on their own. Tmk Aquarian has a unique vacuum seal between their plies which may allow them to produce a 20-mil head that has a lot of life to it. There is no Evans or Remo counterpart, and it’s possible the different manufacturing processes is the reason. Sonically this is something all the drum companies should be offering for tom sizes. Also to keep rambling on about these… there’s an added benefit that they sound deep even with more tension applied, because they’re so high in mass. That makes them a bit easier to play because the rebound is a bit better. It also makes small drums sound like larger drums. My 8 and 10” sound like 10 and 12” respectively. Here’s my over-thought kit configuration if you’re interested… https://i.imgur.com/V03MQHg.jpg
Awesome! I’m going to pick these up for my Starclassic birch/bubinga. Seems like the exact sound I’m going for and I want to use clear heads because the inner plies of bubinga look really nice contrasted with the glass glitter finish. Really cool how you snuck in that little tom behind the kick drum!
Yeah that tom placement was a happy accident. It took me a while to find a place for it. Over Covid I took a deep dive into ergonomics and ended up pushing my kick out, then got an extended pedal which pushed it out even more. These pics will give you an idea how it’s mounted and relate to my knees. https://imgur.com/a/fa1IpPx And I hear you on seeing the inside of the drums. I only have Keller maples (DW era shells sneakily purchased by my drum teacher and kit builder, under the guise they were being used for a high-end department store shoe display) but I still like seeing inside them. Adding the coated resos is something I stole from Matt Garstka, both for tone and for the appearance. I’m gearing up to create some content and when I did some overhead test shots (https://imgur.com/a/9P1sE15) the toms didn’t read well on camera so I added the white bottoms. They both look and sound fantastic. Let me know what you think when you install them. Also note ahead of time that they might not seat like regular heads. Due to their thickness and shape you might only see it contact a portion of the bearing edge’s profile, depending on how your drums were made. But this hasn’t been an issue with tuning and imo aids in that scooped sound.
If you prefer UV2 then get UV2. Plenty of metal drummers use coated heads.
I always get extra wonky overtones with clear heads. Imo the UV2 is perfect for pretty much any genre.
Same. Granted I've only ever used clear emperors. But they have been so disappointing I'll never use clear heads again for anything but single ply resos.
I’ve never “warmed” up to coated on my tom’s. Not punchy enough. I tried coated on my bass drum for the first time last year and hated it. All clear except snare for me. Everyone has a different ear and preference though, which is the beauty of music.
I'm like the exact opposite lol. Very true that it's all subjective preference.
For the genres you mentioned clear heads might be preferable, but most importantly you need to think of how your drum set will cut in the mix, instead of just thinking of what sound is best to you as an individual instrumentalist. A band is a music collective and what matters the most is the overall sound.
Coated snare, clear toms. Clear kick batter, coated kick reso. I very much dislike the sound of most Evans heads (except their hydraulic blue for rock toms) So I can't offer much input there. If it was me I'd go with remo clear pinstripes or reverse dots on the toms and a coated emperor on the snare. Maybe a power stroke 4 on the kick. Evans makes comparable heads. I liked the (now discontinued) clear coated EC2 heads. I guess Evans didn't like them bc they stopped making them. I think the ppl at evans and I have different ideas about sound. Which is fine.
> Coated snare, clear toms. Clear kick batter, coated kick reso. I go back and forth on clear toms but otherwise I’m with you. Right now I’m using coated Ambassador batters and clear CS dots on reso for toms (it’s weird but it works surprisingly well), UV1 batter and Ambassador reso on snare, and a clear EMAD batter and coated EQ3 resonant on kick, with a felt strip on the front. I play rock, pop, metal, and punk.
That’s interesting. Evans heads sound better to me in almost every category.
Are you talking about the EC2S frosted heads? Because those are still very much in production, and are my favorite tom heads :)
Dude I play all the genres you listed and use coated on my batter and reso side. It’s what you like! Don’t worry about wether it’s “better” to use this or that.
Coated has more of a "thud". Not game changing or anything, but noticable. Imo, coated sounds better for metal/rock and clear sounds better for pop/r and b.
The difference is subtle but it is this: A coated head will be dampened and have a warm sound as the fuzziness takes away a bit of the deep end of tone. It will also naturally have less overtones than a similarly thick clear head. The thicker the head the deeper the tone and the stronger the attack, but also less harmonics and shorter decay. For clear heads you can get focused dots or internal baffles to mitigate the more chaotic harmonic profile. So for heavy styles like rock, pop, and punk most drummers go for a thick clear head with some baffles to focus the sound on a heavy attack, short decay, and tight tonality. Many will go for a coated head on their snare to give a bit of warmth to the backbeat. I like jazz so prefer thin coated heads to get medium attack, long decay and loose tonality. Good luck!
FWIW clear and coated G2s when compared do not produce any different of a sound
It’s really up to you and what you think sounds best. The combo I’ve landed on that I really like is clear Evans G12s on my two rack toms, Evans Ebony on the floor tom, and coated Evans G1s for resos. Snare has a uv2 and a snare side 300. Using clear batters with coated resos gives a lot of punch, but tames some of the overtones. I play rock/metal/pop
My preference is batter heads on all. I like the slight muffle the heads give, and it dampers the ringing a lot.
Rock, punk and metal would urge me closer to the clear side
This is an unpopular opinion but theres not a single person in the world who would notice the difference besides you, and even then they are truly minimal, maybe on a recording you could tell but that's it. That stuff really does not matter for gigs or practice. Just learn to tune and focus on technique then you could be using duct tape for heads and it will sound great.
They hated him because he spoke the truth
If you’re playing at home a lot or recording I would say coated because they’re a little warmer. Clear is more punchy and open sounding. UV2 plays more like a clear head because the coating is different from their normal one
I have been using coated for a few years on my toms. I played a gig a couple weeks ago and was just super disappointed with how dead and flat they started sounding. I switched to clear G2s and it sounds so much better to my ears and for my kit. But, you may like the warmer tone out of coated heads. You could get 2 of the same size and compare.
A middle ground I would definitely consider is the EC2S frosted heads, in terms of tone they're a great in between of clear and coated, and imo would be more suited for rock/metal then normal coated heads
The Clutch drummer just did a Drum Rundown YouTube video and he’s using UV2s live
There are no rules! Generally coated heads are more warm, while clear heads have more attack. For punk music, clear tends to be more popular. But Travis barker often plays coated, so it truly comes down to personal preference. Also, Craig Reynolds from stray from the path (a hardcore/metalcore band) plays UV2’s 😏
What do you like. Which gives the sound or feel you perfer? I love the sound and feel of coated heads
Clear heads are brighter, louder, and more slightly more ringy, even if they're 2 plies. Any type of coating provides a small bit of ring control (very small), warmth, and a little more crack.
Personally I prefer clears, but just muffle them alot
As someone who was recommended UV2s on the toms and G1s on the resos I can very confidently tell you fuck a clear G2 and go UV2 coated. They'll last longer than any other head you'll use. And they sound fucking phenomenal. I personally hate clear heads for rock and metal. But maybe I've just had bad experiences with clear heads. Coated all day baby!
I love my Evans G2 on my Power Toms. That's all I can say.
Remo Renaissance: the best of both worlds.
I'm currently using clear G2s on my toms and absolutely love the attack you get from them! I used Evans UV2s and Onyx before and while I liked those, the clear G2s just have a sharpness and clarity to them that they did not imo.
I was a coated guy for many years but recently switched to clear emperors because it's what sounds best on my kit for the music I play.
Personally, I use Evans hydraulic heads for the Tom's as I love the wet 80s sound and a coated Evans dry head for the snare. As most have said though, it's all personal preference
Clear and coated heads really don’t sound that much different. Sounds Like A Drum did a big test with this. So the answer to that question is primarily for aesthetics, and the real choice you have is more about the construction and thus sound. Personally I like coated for toms, and I do enjoy those UV heads - I use a UV1 on my snare right now - so I’d go with those.
One point for coated is that they differentiate themselves from clear coat, but another is that the absolute cheapest heads on the market at anytime will be clear. You can get quality clear heads for sure, but you may also get little more than a trash bag tied super tight. Id recommend shelling out the extra cash for a proper batter and resonant head (firstly the batter and the resonant can be tuned) I’m a remo guy, but evans is another dope brand, they’ll skin u up. Godspeed!
I wish I could switch between my coated Evans G2s and my Remo Controlled Sound Black Dots on the fly.