synchronicity

On The Merits Of Evans EC Snare Drum Head

01/05/2012@04:32:41

I had a Gretsch maple snare drum I'd used off and on for a while that I could never quite get the right sound out of, as if there is such a thing. Trying to describe the sound is difficult, but\ I describe it as too much head and not enough shell. The drum just didn't have the bark that it should given the shell and a certain crispness was lacking, despite the fact that I've used a Grover Club Dark snare bed on it from the beginning.

I had spied the \ new Evans EC Reverse Dot snare drum heads while browsing Modern Drummer magazine at the news stand and decided to give them a try. First of all, I don't belie\ ve the pictures at Evans site (or the myriad music stores on the web) adequately depict the frosted coating on the head, so here's a picture:




I was afraid the head would look like one of those old Ludwig silver dots that we used on our TDR's (that's Slingerland for you youngsters) in high school. Nevertheless, the frosting is whiter than the pics would indicate which \ is what I wanted.

I sampled the sound of my drum before making the change and beyond the aforementioned imbalance of head/shell, it had a certain plastic quality to the sound. I put the new EC Reverse Dot on the batter side and a new Evans Hazy 300 on the snar\ e side.

The sound was transformed! Now, the balance of the sound had shifted to the shell - exactly what I wanted. The drum had a thick, barking backbeat when played in the center and yet, when played from the edge to the dot, a crisp, well-defined orchestral \ and rudimental character. Brush sounds are just right too, the frosted coating definitely gives a nice brush sound.

If you've struggled to get the snare sound you're looking for, try the Evans EC Reverse Dot snare drum head. Don't forget to change the bottom t\ oo as it may be half-responsible for the sound. The best of all worlds for only $15.