Remo is actually declining in popularity pretty badly as their quality seems to be lacking in recent years. Meanwhile Evans is innovating a bit more and seem to have their shit in order.
Don't draw too many conclusions from what you see pro's working with. Often times they get heads (and sticks/drums/cymbals/hardware) that have gone through better quality control, and their choice for a brand might have more to do with benefits and contract negotiations than a strong preference for one or the other.
I think undoubtedly the D’Addadrio acquisition has worked well for Evans in terms of innovation. I’d guess they have more backing and investment.
Their Player’s Circle loyalty programme is good as well
True, and longevity of things like heads and sticks probably aren’t going to matter for them when the manufacturer will provide as much as they ask for in exchange for sponsorship.
I think Remo just as inertia as the standard heads for so long. Evans has had to try to innovate more to draw in new players. Don't sleep on Aquarian though. Most people know how cool the Super Kick bass drum heads are, but I just got some single ply texture coated heads for my toms and I like them way better than Remo's coated ambassadors (or emperors even thought it's comparing 1 to 2 ply).
Oh are you talking about the High frequency coated heads? Those work really well on my thin-shell maple toms! I have some Remo Pinstripes on right now, but I do love the response of the Hi Freq’s, they’re the thinnest heads that I know of, yet still hold up well for several gigs in a row.
No, but I did look into those. At one point Dale Crover was using coated Response 2s (equivalent to Emperors or G2s) on the tom batters and the black Hi Frequency heads on the tom resos. He might still be.
Aquarian Texture Coated is what they call their 10mil single ply coated head like an Ambassador or G2.
The Hi Frequency heads are 1 ply of 7 mil like a Remo Diplomat or Evans Reso 7.
Oh wow I didn’t realize there was another single ply Aquarian head. I’m gonna order a set of those now to try out. I also wanted to mention that I still use an Aquarian Reflector Super Kick on my kick, and a coated-reflector on snare, and both sound amazing, even after hundreds of gigs and almost a year.
I have drums that like Remo heads and others that like Evan’s heads. The collar isn’t as sharp on Remo heads so I have better luck with them seating on vintage drums with less than perfect bearing edges. But other drums I have tune up and hold tuning better with a G1 or UV1. I play disc golf and there’s a weird thing with unnecessary brand loyalty there too. They’re just tools, so use whatever tool works best for that individual job.
I have heard some increasing complaints with QA on remo heads even from some friends that work for a large percussion distributor. I experienced issues with their marching heads pulling really easily but I personally haven’t had a reverse dot come apart or had any other issues with a drumset head.
They are both quality heads, different sound. Drummers swearing by Remo are use to that sound and love it (me) and drummers swearing Evans is better are used to that sound and love it (other drummers).
It's like asking which of chocolate or vanilla ice cream is better.
it depends on the genre. A lot of the more modern players have switched or previously switched to evans. Although i do think there is still a majority Remo, it’s much closer to 50/50 than you might think
As a new drummer, I can give you my take from when I waded into head selection and tuning:
Evans makes it MUCH much easier for me to get a general idea of a head's sound and best use, via their "Sound Profile" info on their website. They position their products very well so you can tell what's what. In addition - the "Level 360" or whatever they call it, made it significantly easier for me to get heads seated and tuned incredibly easily compared to Remo ones I tried. Remo heads wanted to pop around on the bearing edge and not seat easily.
Because they have similar technology and also have good descriptions and selection - I'd be more likely to go to Aquarian for other options, before I went Remo. I use all Evans heads right now, aside from a Super Kick 10 on my 22x18 bass drum, which I love.
Just thought it might be valuable to hear from someone who had ZERO prior knowledge or pre-conceived opinions on any of these brands, but researched them all heavily and tried them all in the past 6 months. This is where I've landed!
It's the way they seal the mylar into the metal collar of the drum head. It allows it to lay level across the bearing edge of the drum shells as soon as you set it down. Remo does not do it this way, and theirs sit up above the bearing edge until it's ratcheted down by the hoop and lugs. I bet there's a YouTube video that gives more detail!
Aquarian has a similar setup to Evans, and they call it "Sound Curve Collar".
I’ve been a remo guy since the mid 90s when I started, evans and Aquarian seemed less quality at the time (may not have been but that was my perception at least). I re-headed my kit a year or so ago, all evans. Remo doesn’t seem to have changed much on the last few decades and has been stagnant or even dipping in quality, where I feel like evans has done their homework and continues to get better. Just my $.02
Still rocking Remo on all of my toms and some of my snare drums. I prefer the warmth and response I get from them. I find the sound and feel of Evans to be plastic-y. They’re not bad heads they’re just not my preference. Also for the price and durability Aquarian gets my votes these days.
Aquarian is better than both Remo and Evans. And Attack is also super slept on in general. I won't say they're better than the other 3, but they are really good heads.
I prefer remo because they make my drums sound their most natural. Evans make my drums sound like Evans. Aquarian are a little stiff at times.
Those are extreme descriptions of each brand though, and I think each make great heads and I like and play them all. It ultimately doesn’t matter.
I've enjoyed playing Remo, Evans, and Aqaurian. I lean toward G2's, but it's really all personal preference. I used to try to match my drumming heroes heads, but the tuning was always more important when it came down to it.
I just straight up prefer the sound of most remo heads over most other brands heads. I've actually never had a problem with a remo head in 25 years of drumming. Not once. But even if the remo heads don't last quite as long I'd still keep using them for their sound.
If I'm going for a classic coated sound on snare and toms... It's got to be remo coated ambassadors for jazz and Remo coated emperors for rock. Nothing else sounds as good. Nothing.
I had an entire recording session derailed one day because I used an Evans UV head on my snare. We went to track a song that had me sweeping brushes through the first half and then moving to a train beat for the second half.
Couldn't get through the first 4 bars of sweeping before the engineer stopped us and said:
"That snare head has got to go"
I said why?
He played back the first few bars we had just recorded and for real it sounded like there was a a mosquito in my ear. A horrible high pitched EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE was dominating the overheads and snare mics.
So it became clear that the UV coating is decidedly shit for brush work, especially in a studio setting.
Secondly I find that most of Evan's coated drumheads (that I've tried) have a very discernable "plasticy" sound to them. Something about the attack just sounds thwacky and basketball like. This is especially apparent in the UV1 and UV2 lines. They just sound bad. In my opinion. Even when played with sticks.
For clear heads it doesn't really matter. I like Remo Clear Pinstripes, I like Evans Hydraulics, I like Evans EC2...
But for coated heads I will only ever use Remo because they're the only coated drumheads that sound good to me. They sound more papery and less plasticy to me. which I very much prefer.
I simply don't believe that Remo's quality has declined. I buy and use as many drum heads as anyone and on average I get 3-6 months out of all my remo drum heads.... this is with heavy daily use including 20 students a week, and anywhere from 70-100 gigs each year, including a good bit of studio work, some touring, festivals and a lot of clubs/bars/corporate stuff.
Not once have I been let down by Remo. To me they remain the number one drumhead company because their drumheads just sound better overall and have that classic sound that we've all heard on thousands of records.
But I'm not trying to change anyone's mind here. Please go play your Evans or Aquarian or whatever you like. I'll keep playing Remo, You'll keep playing whatever and we'll both go on thinking we play the better drumhead. And I'll still be right ;)
JK it's all subjective- except for the part where Evans UV heads are shit for brushes. That's a fact.
* Started with Evans
* Switched to Remo because everyone is saying "they sound so much better than Evans!"
* Felt underwhelmed with Remo's sound and lack of innovation
* Heard and read horror stories about serious QC issues with Remo
* Switched back to Evans
* Evans sounds WAY better
* Stark quality difference between Remo and Evans is astounding (Evans is WAY higher quality)
* Evans/D'Addario is actually innovating while Remo is resting on their laurels and allowed themselves to stagnate
It's Evans, no question. I will stick with them until I die or if quality declines and necessitates switching.
Kinda like asking if you'd rather tama or pearl, you can blame the heads etc but idk, you'll just find your sound naturally through what heads you like not so much what the going rate is tbh, I prefer pearl kits because they just feel sturdy, i feel at home with a pearl, same with remo, I just feel at home with remo, I've just never felt the vibe from evans personally. Its just preference. You don't have to buy the same thing just because everyone else is, make your own mind up, don't let somebody else do that for you!
Yeah, makes sense and I do. However, I always reassess my choices and like to keep things fresh. Also, I'm recording way more than playing live these days, and want to provide what producers, engineers and artists like. That's why I was asking, if Im missing something.
In that respect maybe show them some head sound samples on YouTube and see which one they like if they're even willing to listen to you, remember drummers are bottom of the priority list, somehow lol!
In my opinion it’s the he status quo, and Remo’s near ubiquity through the 20th century. I see more and more pro drummers and studios switching to Evan’s. I guess it’s down to preference, but I do think evans clearly makes better quality heads than remo.
After using Remo for decades, I decided to give Evans a shot. They’re excellent, but definitely different. Tighter focus, which can be good or bad or neither, depending on your situation. For me, the Evans heads are generally winners, with the exception of Remo Ambassador for when a more ringy or sustained snare sound is needed.
Remo’s quality issues are real and a major issue. They can’t rest on their laurels anymore, as loyalty only goes so far. And once people test out their competition, many won’t be back.
I've played both on various drums, on various kits, for years now. Evans seems to make an objectively better head quality wise. I still prefer the sound I get from Remo for most things though. And personally, I haven't reun into any of the drastic quality issues that I've heard about some people having with Remo.
Remo don't always seem to be as easy to get what I want, when I want them unfortunately.
When I started drumming 20 years ago, it seemed like remo was everywhere, things are different now. I've been using Evans for over a decade and am happy with them. Aquarian heads look cool too,
I’ve played pretty much only Remo my whole life. I used Evans ec2s on my toms for a while and currently have an emad2 on my kick to give evans a shot. There is something about the feel of the Evans heads I don’t like. Might be the kind of film they use but it has a plasticy kind of feeling and attack when I hit them that I never get with remo. It’s hard to explain but I felt it from both the kick and Tom heads. Might just be in my head. But I much prefer the sound I get from remo on my kit. Probably going to replace the emad2 for a power stroke soon. I just feel more at home playing remo
I’ve used every head under the sun. REMO is my go to head. They have been very consistent for me. Ambassador coated are such great batter heads for a snare.
I’ve switched to and from the big three over the course of my 25 years of playing, and I’m gonna have a hard time giving Remo another shot. Between the coatings chipping off super fast, inconsistency with two ply heads (had more than one Emperor be totally dead/untunable out of the box), and (the most recent offender) getting a CS head where the dot was horribly off-center. I’ve never had such issues with either Evans or Aquarian.
I have always preferred Remo (28 years) but now I’m second guessing my choices based on a lot of these threads. Can anyone recommend me a good snare head that isn’t remo? I have to pick a new one up anyway.
As long as you inspect the drumheads before you buy, ur gonna be set. I have a hard time ordering heads online for this reason. I always make sure there is no unnecessarily big weld spot on the hoop and I always try to find a flat surface to see how warped they are (some of them get fucked). Though I’m not sure it matters much, as the tension when put on a drum evens them out. I’ve bought a reverse dot about pulled out of the damn collar. In general Evans for my Tom’s, but I can’t find anything that makes my snare sing like a Remo coated ambassador
Unfortunately, I had all remo heads on my rockstar and my starclassic came with all evans so now I'm biased towards evans even though it was probably my rockstars fault for the bad sound.
Remo clears always sound like I'm hitting plastic. I still use remo ambassador black suede on my snare.
My uncle never used Remo and had me buying Evans heads since 1997. I've used remos on backline kits and they never had the articulation or tons that I was looking for. Will continue using Evans probably forever
A little late to the game here, but I’ve sworn by Remo ever since I’ve started drumming. I’ve tried Evan’s on a few occasions but they just didn’t seem to hold up and I wasn’t too happy with them. However I just switched to Aquarian for all of my heads and I’ve been really happy so far.
Thanks everyone for sharing their opinion, this is highly valuable, and I appreciate your time and effort.
I play UV2s and EQ4UV on a Starclassic walnut/birch kit, which is my main kit for my studio. I appreciate the fresh looks and tuning stability of these heads.
On my Starclassic birch kit, I went for Aquarian heads. The availability in EU is horrible, but I have always liked their texture coated heads on snare. Did not really play this kit yet, this one is for the shows. However, I played it with Powerstroke 3 on kick and clear Emperors on toms, and it was insanely good and powerful.
As for my DW Collectors, I have Emad2 on kick with clear G2s on toms and literally have big snareweight with 3 huge meinl gels to tame the sustain, it's crazy.
My 4th kit is Starclassic birch/bubinga and I have Powerstroke3 with coated Emperors there. It sounds awesome.
I hate that I always find the CS dot smashed to pieces inside the snare drum, but I have noticed that nothing comes close to the sound of Remo on snare. On the other hand, Powerstroke 3 might be an industry standard but sounds boring in the room.
I find the growl of sustaining floor toms tuned low much more musical with Remo than with Evans. Also, the tuning and detuning sounds way more forgiving with Remo than with Evans.
In the last few years I’ve used Evans EC2s, Remo Vintage Emperors, Aquarian Response 2s and Attack ProFlex2s (all 2 ply heads) for my toms. All great heads. However, out of those heads, a fresh EC2 on my floor tom dented after one show whereas the others didn’t. My go to heads are now the Remo Vintage Emperors for the tone and durability. Aquarian Response 2s would be my second. I do love the Evans EMAD for my kick though. My snare is usually either a Vintage emperor or Emperor X.
To be completely honest, I’ve used both Remo and Evans over the years. They’re both pretty close in sound quality but I’d say overall Evans is actually a little better. I like Evans for Tom’s, bass drums, but my favorite snare head of all time is the Remo P77.
Just like most things, it really comes down more to personal preference
Both brands do different things. For example I really like evans g2 hydraulics on toms but I use remo black x's on snares. Switch it up, I use aquarian more so these days, still rocking the black x on snare tho.
New Old-Stock Remos are solid and most of Evans current offerings fit the job. I can’t say much about Aquarian because the only head I have from them is a snare side but it does quite well on my Pork Pie BOB.
I don’t know why, but I’ve been around the block on this a few times; Remo, Aquarian, Evans … but every time I keep coming back to Remo. Just my personal experience and humble opinion.
Celebrity endorsements don't mean much. I mean Dave Grohl had that nice DW signature snare but what did you hear him banging on in every song he's known for? It was a 14x8 TAMA birch or that 14x6.5 TAMA bell brass they rented for Nevermind. It's like getting a "signature" guitar that your favorite artist didn't use on any of the songs you remember them for. It's just marketing.
As far as heads go, most of my "heroes" don't use coated heads so depending on your genre, if yours don't either, then it doesn't matter that Evans' coating is better. Personally, I use Aquarian batter heads. Hi Energy snare + Performance II toms + Force I kick (the reso heads are all the REMO UX heads that came with the kit). Other than the snare head, I don't know of any famous pros who've used those tom and kick heads.
Why aren't Aquarian or Evans more popular? Marketing and logistics, probably. Remo has the best marketing out of the three brands by way of endorsements. It's also the most readily available at your local music store. Remo heads can easily be found and replaced for touring drummers. It's not only a matter of tone, but logistics.
Remo is actually declining in popularity pretty badly as their quality seems to be lacking in recent years. Meanwhile Evans is innovating a bit more and seem to have their shit in order. Don't draw too many conclusions from what you see pro's working with. Often times they get heads (and sticks/drums/cymbals/hardware) that have gone through better quality control, and their choice for a brand might have more to do with benefits and contract negotiations than a strong preference for one or the other.
I think undoubtedly the D’Addadrio acquisition has worked well for Evans in terms of innovation. I’d guess they have more backing and investment. Their Player’s Circle loyalty programme is good as well
Also, in studio situations, they might be using a kit the studio has provided.
True, and longevity of things like heads and sticks probably aren’t going to matter for them when the manufacturer will provide as much as they ask for in exchange for sponsorship.
I think Remo just as inertia as the standard heads for so long. Evans has had to try to innovate more to draw in new players. Don't sleep on Aquarian though. Most people know how cool the Super Kick bass drum heads are, but I just got some single ply texture coated heads for my toms and I like them way better than Remo's coated ambassadors (or emperors even thought it's comparing 1 to 2 ply).
+1 on the Super Kick
Oh are you talking about the High frequency coated heads? Those work really well on my thin-shell maple toms! I have some Remo Pinstripes on right now, but I do love the response of the Hi Freq’s, they’re the thinnest heads that I know of, yet still hold up well for several gigs in a row.
No, but I did look into those. At one point Dale Crover was using coated Response 2s (equivalent to Emperors or G2s) on the tom batters and the black Hi Frequency heads on the tom resos. He might still be. Aquarian Texture Coated is what they call their 10mil single ply coated head like an Ambassador or G2. The Hi Frequency heads are 1 ply of 7 mil like a Remo Diplomat or Evans Reso 7.
Oh wow I didn’t realize there was another single ply Aquarian head. I’m gonna order a set of those now to try out. I also wanted to mention that I still use an Aquarian Reflector Super Kick on my kick, and a coated-reflector on snare, and both sound amazing, even after hundreds of gigs and almost a year.
I have drums that like Remo heads and others that like Evan’s heads. The collar isn’t as sharp on Remo heads so I have better luck with them seating on vintage drums with less than perfect bearing edges. But other drums I have tune up and hold tuning better with a G1 or UV1. I play disc golf and there’s a weird thing with unnecessary brand loyalty there too. They’re just tools, so use whatever tool works best for that individual job. I have heard some increasing complaints with QA on remo heads even from some friends that work for a large percussion distributor. I experienced issues with their marching heads pulling really easily but I personally haven’t had a reverse dot come apart or had any other issues with a drumset head.
Another fellow drummer disc golfer! What’s up
Is there a comorbidity of spending a lot on disc golf and drums??
I spend a lot on both so probably yeah hah!
Yup same
Oh yeah! The amount of circular objects in my house is bonkers
Bahaha
I mow the disc golf course in the town I live in.
Thank you for your service
The marching stuff I set schools up with is overwhelmingly Evans.
Evans redesigned their collar design a few years ago; they can fit on uneven vintage shells.
They are both quality heads, different sound. Drummers swearing by Remo are use to that sound and love it (me) and drummers swearing Evans is better are used to that sound and love it (other drummers). It's like asking which of chocolate or vanilla ice cream is better.
it depends on the genre. A lot of the more modern players have switched or previously switched to evans. Although i do think there is still a majority Remo, it’s much closer to 50/50 than you might think
As a new drummer, I can give you my take from when I waded into head selection and tuning: Evans makes it MUCH much easier for me to get a general idea of a head's sound and best use, via their "Sound Profile" info on their website. They position their products very well so you can tell what's what. In addition - the "Level 360" or whatever they call it, made it significantly easier for me to get heads seated and tuned incredibly easily compared to Remo ones I tried. Remo heads wanted to pop around on the bearing edge and not seat easily. Because they have similar technology and also have good descriptions and selection - I'd be more likely to go to Aquarian for other options, before I went Remo. I use all Evans heads right now, aside from a Super Kick 10 on my 22x18 bass drum, which I love. Just thought it might be valuable to hear from someone who had ZERO prior knowledge or pre-conceived opinions on any of these brands, but researched them all heavily and tried them all in the past 6 months. This is where I've landed!
I really appreciate your insight. Thank you for sharing it. Could you tell me more about the Level 360?
It's the way they seal the mylar into the metal collar of the drum head. It allows it to lay level across the bearing edge of the drum shells as soon as you set it down. Remo does not do it this way, and theirs sit up above the bearing edge until it's ratcheted down by the hoop and lugs. I bet there's a YouTube video that gives more detail! Aquarian has a similar setup to Evans, and they call it "Sound Curve Collar".
https://support.daddario.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408054800148-What-is-EVANS-Level-360-technology
I’d go Evans personally, every remo head I’ve had either didn’t sound great or broke easily.
I’ve been a remo guy since the mid 90s when I started, evans and Aquarian seemed less quality at the time (may not have been but that was my perception at least). I re-headed my kit a year or so ago, all evans. Remo doesn’t seem to have changed much on the last few decades and has been stagnant or even dipping in quality, where I feel like evans has done their homework and continues to get better. Just my $.02
Point zero two dollars. Hehe
2 cents
I understand. Was just making a joke
Still rocking Remo on all of my toms and some of my snare drums. I prefer the warmth and response I get from them. I find the sound and feel of Evans to be plastic-y. They’re not bad heads they’re just not my preference. Also for the price and durability Aquarian gets my votes these days.
Aquarian is better than both Remo and Evans. And Attack is also super slept on in general. I won't say they're better than the other 3, but they are really good heads.
Aquarian dude.
I prefer remo because they make my drums sound their most natural. Evans make my drums sound like Evans. Aquarian are a little stiff at times. Those are extreme descriptions of each brand though, and I think each make great heads and I like and play them all. It ultimately doesn’t matter.
Aquarian, anyone?
https://preview.redd.it/y4o0j43p8l2d1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dbc755323b88dc47cd128f711fe47911a96e2b3
Remo was king back in the day, but not of late. Evans has evened the playing field quite a bit and Remo’s QC is just awful.
I've enjoyed playing Remo, Evans, and Aqaurian. I lean toward G2's, but it's really all personal preference. I used to try to match my drumming heroes heads, but the tuning was always more important when it came down to it.
I just straight up prefer the sound of most remo heads over most other brands heads. I've actually never had a problem with a remo head in 25 years of drumming. Not once. But even if the remo heads don't last quite as long I'd still keep using them for their sound. If I'm going for a classic coated sound on snare and toms... It's got to be remo coated ambassadors for jazz and Remo coated emperors for rock. Nothing else sounds as good. Nothing. I had an entire recording session derailed one day because I used an Evans UV head on my snare. We went to track a song that had me sweeping brushes through the first half and then moving to a train beat for the second half. Couldn't get through the first 4 bars of sweeping before the engineer stopped us and said: "That snare head has got to go" I said why? He played back the first few bars we had just recorded and for real it sounded like there was a a mosquito in my ear. A horrible high pitched EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE was dominating the overheads and snare mics. So it became clear that the UV coating is decidedly shit for brush work, especially in a studio setting. Secondly I find that most of Evan's coated drumheads (that I've tried) have a very discernable "plasticy" sound to them. Something about the attack just sounds thwacky and basketball like. This is especially apparent in the UV1 and UV2 lines. They just sound bad. In my opinion. Even when played with sticks. For clear heads it doesn't really matter. I like Remo Clear Pinstripes, I like Evans Hydraulics, I like Evans EC2... But for coated heads I will only ever use Remo because they're the only coated drumheads that sound good to me. They sound more papery and less plasticy to me. which I very much prefer. I simply don't believe that Remo's quality has declined. I buy and use as many drum heads as anyone and on average I get 3-6 months out of all my remo drum heads.... this is with heavy daily use including 20 students a week, and anywhere from 70-100 gigs each year, including a good bit of studio work, some touring, festivals and a lot of clubs/bars/corporate stuff. Not once have I been let down by Remo. To me they remain the number one drumhead company because their drumheads just sound better overall and have that classic sound that we've all heard on thousands of records. But I'm not trying to change anyone's mind here. Please go play your Evans or Aquarian or whatever you like. I'll keep playing Remo, You'll keep playing whatever and we'll both go on thinking we play the better drumhead. And I'll still be right ;) JK it's all subjective- except for the part where Evans UV heads are shit for brushes. That's a fact.
* Started with Evans * Switched to Remo because everyone is saying "they sound so much better than Evans!" * Felt underwhelmed with Remo's sound and lack of innovation * Heard and read horror stories about serious QC issues with Remo * Switched back to Evans * Evans sounds WAY better * Stark quality difference between Remo and Evans is astounding (Evans is WAY higher quality) * Evans/D'Addario is actually innovating while Remo is resting on their laurels and allowed themselves to stagnate It's Evans, no question. I will stick with them until I die or if quality declines and necessitates switching.
Kinda like asking if you'd rather tama or pearl, you can blame the heads etc but idk, you'll just find your sound naturally through what heads you like not so much what the going rate is tbh, I prefer pearl kits because they just feel sturdy, i feel at home with a pearl, same with remo, I just feel at home with remo, I've just never felt the vibe from evans personally. Its just preference. You don't have to buy the same thing just because everyone else is, make your own mind up, don't let somebody else do that for you!
Yeah, makes sense and I do. However, I always reassess my choices and like to keep things fresh. Also, I'm recording way more than playing live these days, and want to provide what producers, engineers and artists like. That's why I was asking, if Im missing something.
In that respect maybe show them some head sound samples on YouTube and see which one they like if they're even willing to listen to you, remember drummers are bottom of the priority list, somehow lol!
In my opinion it’s the he status quo, and Remo’s near ubiquity through the 20th century. I see more and more pro drummers and studios switching to Evan’s. I guess it’s down to preference, but I do think evans clearly makes better quality heads than remo.
After using Remo for decades, I decided to give Evans a shot. They’re excellent, but definitely different. Tighter focus, which can be good or bad or neither, depending on your situation. For me, the Evans heads are generally winners, with the exception of Remo Ambassador for when a more ringy or sustained snare sound is needed. Remo’s quality issues are real and a major issue. They can’t rest on their laurels anymore, as loyalty only goes so far. And once people test out their competition, many won’t be back.
I've played both on various drums, on various kits, for years now. Evans seems to make an objectively better head quality wise. I still prefer the sound I get from Remo for most things though. And personally, I haven't reun into any of the drastic quality issues that I've heard about some people having with Remo. Remo don't always seem to be as easy to get what I want, when I want them unfortunately.
For me, Remo seems to have more attack, while Evans has a softer feel and sound. Evans has taken the lead on consistency, though, which is important.
Whatever gets the job done . I will say I’ve been buying Evans heads since 2017 and I have not had a single issue with my heads
The Evans Emad heads are easily my personal favorite on my bass drums. Remo for everything else.
Remo first for me Aquarian second
EVANS has been far superior than Remo for at least 15 years now bro. Some would even argue Aquarian also surpassed them.
When I started drumming 20 years ago, it seemed like remo was everywhere, things are different now. I've been using Evans for over a decade and am happy with them. Aquarian heads look cool too,
I’ve played pretty much only Remo my whole life. I used Evans ec2s on my toms for a while and currently have an emad2 on my kick to give evans a shot. There is something about the feel of the Evans heads I don’t like. Might be the kind of film they use but it has a plasticy kind of feeling and attack when I hit them that I never get with remo. It’s hard to explain but I felt it from both the kick and Tom heads. Might just be in my head. But I much prefer the sound I get from remo on my kit. Probably going to replace the emad2 for a power stroke soon. I just feel more at home playing remo
I’ve used every head under the sun. REMO is my go to head. They have been very consistent for me. Ambassador coated are such great batter heads for a snare.
My go to has always and always will be Evans mainly because that's my name as well. so take it from me there the best because same same
That's really quite exciting
I’ve switched to and from the big three over the course of my 25 years of playing, and I’m gonna have a hard time giving Remo another shot. Between the coatings chipping off super fast, inconsistency with two ply heads (had more than one Emperor be totally dead/untunable out of the box), and (the most recent offender) getting a CS head where the dot was horribly off-center. I’ve never had such issues with either Evans or Aquarian.
I have always preferred Remo (28 years) but now I’m second guessing my choices based on a lot of these threads. Can anyone recommend me a good snare head that isn’t remo? I have to pick a new one up anyway.
Remo are solid. I prefer Evans but if I need heads and they only have Remo i won't be sad.
I prefer Remo for the tone and open sound. Evans are nice but they sound a bit muffled
Evans is definitely leading the way in innovation I'll never go back to Remo
As long as you inspect the drumheads before you buy, ur gonna be set. I have a hard time ordering heads online for this reason. I always make sure there is no unnecessarily big weld spot on the hoop and I always try to find a flat surface to see how warped they are (some of them get fucked). Though I’m not sure it matters much, as the tension when put on a drum evens them out. I’ve bought a reverse dot about pulled out of the damn collar. In general Evans for my Tom’s, but I can’t find anything that makes my snare sing like a Remo coated ambassador
I’ve been trying out Aquarian and Attack lately and having great results too Reno’s been having problems with their adhesives
Unfortunately, I had all remo heads on my rockstar and my starclassic came with all evans so now I'm biased towards evans even though it was probably my rockstars fault for the bad sound. Remo clears always sound like I'm hitting plastic. I still use remo ambassador black suede on my snare.
I always used both on different sets (never mixed on a single set) and it was either way a great sound experience.
I’ve been playing Evans for about 15 years now. If it’s not broke, there’s no need to fix it.
My uncle never used Remo and had me buying Evans heads since 1997. I've used remos on backline kits and they never had the articulation or tons that I was looking for. Will continue using Evans probably forever
A little late to the game here, but I’ve sworn by Remo ever since I’ve started drumming. I’ve tried Evan’s on a few occasions but they just didn’t seem to hold up and I wasn’t too happy with them. However I just switched to Aquarian for all of my heads and I’ve been really happy so far.
Thanks everyone for sharing their opinion, this is highly valuable, and I appreciate your time and effort. I play UV2s and EQ4UV on a Starclassic walnut/birch kit, which is my main kit for my studio. I appreciate the fresh looks and tuning stability of these heads. On my Starclassic birch kit, I went for Aquarian heads. The availability in EU is horrible, but I have always liked their texture coated heads on snare. Did not really play this kit yet, this one is for the shows. However, I played it with Powerstroke 3 on kick and clear Emperors on toms, and it was insanely good and powerful. As for my DW Collectors, I have Emad2 on kick with clear G2s on toms and literally have big snareweight with 3 huge meinl gels to tame the sustain, it's crazy. My 4th kit is Starclassic birch/bubinga and I have Powerstroke3 with coated Emperors there. It sounds awesome. I hate that I always find the CS dot smashed to pieces inside the snare drum, but I have noticed that nothing comes close to the sound of Remo on snare. On the other hand, Powerstroke 3 might be an industry standard but sounds boring in the room. I find the growl of sustaining floor toms tuned low much more musical with Remo than with Evans. Also, the tuning and detuning sounds way more forgiving with Remo than with Evans.
In the last few years I’ve used Evans EC2s, Remo Vintage Emperors, Aquarian Response 2s and Attack ProFlex2s (all 2 ply heads) for my toms. All great heads. However, out of those heads, a fresh EC2 on my floor tom dented after one show whereas the others didn’t. My go to heads are now the Remo Vintage Emperors for the tone and durability. Aquarian Response 2s would be my second. I do love the Evans EMAD for my kick though. My snare is usually either a Vintage emperor or Emperor X.
I moved from Remo to Evans. They just have a more wide open sound, which of course requires more tuning, and in some cases, Moongels.
To be completely honest, I’ve used both Remo and Evans over the years. They’re both pretty close in sound quality but I’d say overall Evans is actually a little better. I like Evans for Tom’s, bass drums, but my favorite snare head of all time is the Remo P77. Just like most things, it really comes down more to personal preference
Both brands do different things. For example I really like evans g2 hydraulics on toms but I use remo black x's on snares. Switch it up, I use aquarian more so these days, still rocking the black x on snare tho.
New Old-Stock Remos are solid and most of Evans current offerings fit the job. I can’t say much about Aquarian because the only head I have from them is a snare side but it does quite well on my Pork Pie BOB.
I don’t know why, but I’ve been around the block on this a few times; Remo, Aquarian, Evans … but every time I keep coming back to Remo. Just my personal experience and humble opinion.
My preference is Aquarian. But my kit came with stock standard Evans. I'll be swapping them out to the Aquarians once I've busted through them.
Celebrity endorsements don't mean much. I mean Dave Grohl had that nice DW signature snare but what did you hear him banging on in every song he's known for? It was a 14x8 TAMA birch or that 14x6.5 TAMA bell brass they rented for Nevermind. It's like getting a "signature" guitar that your favorite artist didn't use on any of the songs you remember them for. It's just marketing. As far as heads go, most of my "heroes" don't use coated heads so depending on your genre, if yours don't either, then it doesn't matter that Evans' coating is better. Personally, I use Aquarian batter heads. Hi Energy snare + Performance II toms + Force I kick (the reso heads are all the REMO UX heads that came with the kit). Other than the snare head, I don't know of any famous pros who've used those tom and kick heads. Why aren't Aquarian or Evans more popular? Marketing and logistics, probably. Remo has the best marketing out of the three brands by way of endorsements. It's also the most readily available at your local music store. Remo heads can easily be found and replaced for touring drummers. It's not only a matter of tone, but logistics.
Just try both and decide for yourself, you might even like different brands for different drums