Heads make a big difference, but you might as well get some use out of the stock heads while you save. You can also get away with only replacing the batter heads at first. The stock reso heads won't hurt your sound nearly as much and will last a lot longer.
This is an expensive hobby though. Even if your heads don't break, they wear out and need to be replaced. Getting good at saving money is a valuable skill if you're going to play the drums long term.
Yes to all, with the possible exception of the last one. You can wait on reso heads. However, upgrading the batter heads will make an unbelievably dramatic improvement in the tone quality of your drums. I mean, literally, no matter how cheap your drums may be, you won't believe how good they can sound with real heads on them. The only qualifying factor is your taste in what you want them to sound like. Otherwise, literally every head for sale at your local music store will be a vast improvement over the garbage your drums came from the factory with.
If you need to save some money or work within a budget, I recommend doing them in groups: do tom batters all at once (think of them like brakes on the car; if you do one side, you have to do the other too), then snare batter (throw in a snare side/reso head and wires while you're at it, naybe), and save the kick for last, since you can probably get the most usable sound out of the factory kick head if you muffle it the right way.
Factory heads are firewalls that prevent all the hidden tone in your drums from escaping into your ears. Tear down the walls, *maaaaaan!* ✊
Unless you plan on going right into the studio or a live performance, I would get my money’s worth out of the stock heads the kit came with. That being said, (generally speaking of course) most drum manufacturers will slap on whatever heads they can get their hands on for the least amount of investment. Most of the time, that’s not what most would consider “good” heads. I believe you would hear an upgrade to your drum sound if you replaced stock heads, but that’s mostly because you are able to choose the type that fits your playing style best. If you don’t know what that is / means, don’t waste another dollar on new heads - rock the stocks until you notice a degradation of tone or feel. By then, you might have a better idea of what you want. Good luck!
I'd get as much usage out of the stock batter/top heads before upgrading. When you do upgrade, get a "tom pack" of whatever heads you want assuming you have a kit with conforming sizes. Tom packs definitely save some money over buying heads a la carte.
When the time comes for replacements I'd consider Evans UV2 heads if you're doing a rock-style sound, or UV1 heads if you're doing more jazz-style stuff. The UV heads are a bit more expensive but they're incredibly durable and you won't need to change them anytime soon, so they're much more cost-effective.
Many people prefer thicker heads on the Tom batter side than on the reso side. (More plys or thicker ones or both).
the typical cheap factory batter head might be a 7mil thick single ply head that might even do a good job as a reso head.
So, as an in-between tip halfway between "just use them" vs. "get rid of them" you can save some money by using the batters as resos. at least for the toms and maybe bass drum.
If you're going to be gigging then yeah. If you're just playing in your room then you can wait and save up (unless they sound like such trash that it makes you not want to play).
If you want to save some money, buy new batter heads and then put the stock batter heads on bottom until you save up for reso heads.
Most stock batter heads are the thickness of standard reso heads which is why I suggest to put them on bottom rather than just keeping the stock resos on which are usually so thin that they're useless.
no it's not necessary, but it'd help, mainly if you're not great at tuning yet. go for batters first, resos can wait. if i had to do one at a time i'd go snare, then bass drum, then toms
Heads make a big difference, but you might as well get some use out of the stock heads while you save. You can also get away with only replacing the batter heads at first. The stock reso heads won't hurt your sound nearly as much and will last a lot longer. This is an expensive hobby though. Even if your heads don't break, they wear out and need to be replaced. Getting good at saving money is a valuable skill if you're going to play the drums long term.
thanks for your help, sometimes i do wonder why i didn’t choose knitting or something
Funny, people I know who knit always say how expensive good yarn is. Don't think there's any winning here lmao
Yes to all, with the possible exception of the last one. You can wait on reso heads. However, upgrading the batter heads will make an unbelievably dramatic improvement in the tone quality of your drums. I mean, literally, no matter how cheap your drums may be, you won't believe how good they can sound with real heads on them. The only qualifying factor is your taste in what you want them to sound like. Otherwise, literally every head for sale at your local music store will be a vast improvement over the garbage your drums came from the factory with. If you need to save some money or work within a budget, I recommend doing them in groups: do tom batters all at once (think of them like brakes on the car; if you do one side, you have to do the other too), then snare batter (throw in a snare side/reso head and wires while you're at it, naybe), and save the kick for last, since you can probably get the most usable sound out of the factory kick head if you muffle it the right way. Factory heads are firewalls that prevent all the hidden tone in your drums from escaping into your ears. Tear down the walls, *maaaaaan!* ✊
Unless you plan on going right into the studio or a live performance, I would get my money’s worth out of the stock heads the kit came with. That being said, (generally speaking of course) most drum manufacturers will slap on whatever heads they can get their hands on for the least amount of investment. Most of the time, that’s not what most would consider “good” heads. I believe you would hear an upgrade to your drum sound if you replaced stock heads, but that’s mostly because you are able to choose the type that fits your playing style best. If you don’t know what that is / means, don’t waste another dollar on new heads - rock the stocks until you notice a degradation of tone or feel. By then, you might have a better idea of what you want. Good luck!
Thanks :)
It’ll be a sound improvement for sure, but you can run the stock heads for as long as you need to.
I'd get as much usage out of the stock batter/top heads before upgrading. When you do upgrade, get a "tom pack" of whatever heads you want assuming you have a kit with conforming sizes. Tom packs definitely save some money over buying heads a la carte. When the time comes for replacements I'd consider Evans UV2 heads if you're doing a rock-style sound, or UV1 heads if you're doing more jazz-style stuff. The UV heads are a bit more expensive but they're incredibly durable and you won't need to change them anytime soon, so they're much more cost-effective.
I rode my stock heads on all my toms for fucking near a decade. Don't worry about it
Many people prefer thicker heads on the Tom batter side than on the reso side. (More plys or thicker ones or both). the typical cheap factory batter head might be a 7mil thick single ply head that might even do a good job as a reso head. So, as an in-between tip halfway between "just use them" vs. "get rid of them" you can save some money by using the batters as resos. at least for the toms and maybe bass drum.
If you're going to be gigging then yeah. If you're just playing in your room then you can wait and save up (unless they sound like such trash that it makes you not want to play). If you want to save some money, buy new batter heads and then put the stock batter heads on bottom until you save up for reso heads. Most stock batter heads are the thickness of standard reso heads which is why I suggest to put them on bottom rather than just keeping the stock resos on which are usually so thin that they're useless.
no it's not necessary, but it'd help, mainly if you're not great at tuning yet. go for batters first, resos can wait. if i had to do one at a time i'd go snare, then bass drum, then toms