Any of you have any experience with Vistalite drums? I recently purchased a 70's smoke vistalite kit. 22'' 16'' 13''. Would anyone have any recommendations on particular kinds of heads to put on these things (specifically bass drum). At the moment, there are some Remo Weatherking Pinstripe heads that are in pretty decent condition on the toms and a weatherking powerstroke 3 head on the bass drum, but I'm not really sure about them. Not digging the tone much.

Ever put coated heads on top and bottom? I've never tried before, but recently met someone that suggested it.

I just thought I'd try to get some opinions.

I like the sound and look of clear Remo Ambassadors on the batter side of vistalite drums (clear diplomats or Evans Resonant thin on the resonant side). If the toms have too many unflattering overtones, try clear Emperors on the top side. If Emperors are too dead, try coated Ambassadors.

If you have concert toms rather than double-headed, like the Electrical kit, try clear or coated Ambassadors.

If you suck and want to sound like shit, try Aquarian heads, Remo Pinstripes or discs of carpet. Having said that, the Aquarian SuperKick bass drum heads sound pretty good and last a long time.

My experience with Vistalites is that they prefer a thinner head to what you might put on a maple shell drum. You might try a Remo Controlled Sound (power dot) Emperor on the bass drum batter side, or you could get crazy and try a remo fiberskyn 3 (or however the fuck they spell it) with one of those adhesive batter things on it. You'll blow through a fiberskyn 3 in 10 minutes without one.

I've liked the Aquarian equivalent of the coated ambassador. The product was more consistent, the sound was a little more "alive", and they were a bit more durable. I say was because the guy I used to get them from closed and they're not as easy to find now. I guess I don't like them enough to take the train to Manhattan.

Evans - fuck those heads with a five iron.

i agree w/ steve's advice of clear ambassadors or the evans equivalent, the G1 (quality control can vary). vistalites can sound a bit dead imo, so i'd go for as unmuffled of a sound as possible (clear diplomats on the resonance heads).

for bass drums, i pretty much put powerstroke renaissance heads on anything i play. i love 'em.

edpriesner wrote:Any of you have any experience with Vistalite drums? I recently purchased a 70's smoke vistalite kit. 22'' 16'' 13''.

Pretty please post pictures.

Vistalites are like porn to me.

I really like the coated ambassador on top and bottom sound. I know they're translucent drums, and clear heads gives a much cooler look, but I think the slight dryness of the coated heads helps with the upper harmonics that I usualy get with the clear drums.

I've owned a Zickos kit and the drummer in Replicator has/had vistalites.

So my vote goes for CS Dot or coated ambassador.

Ben Adrian

vockins wrote:Evans - fuck those heads with a five iron.

i agree on the small heads (toms/snares), but for some reason i really like evans on the bass drum. i like the EQ3 and EMAD systems quite a bit.

this is a general observation - not necesarily pertaining to the vistalites, as i've never even played a vistalite kit.

EQ3

these things are pretty cool until that flimsy black ring gets torn or starts peeling off.

that foam insert thing is usually too muffled for me, but it's nice to have when soundguy stuffs a D112 an inch away from it and eqs/compresses the bijeezus out of it with some alesis p.o.s.

Don't own a Vistalite kit (played 'em several times though), but I got 2 vintage maple Ludwig kits and I always use Ambassador Coated on the beater side and diplomats on the bottom. And like Steve said, problem with unflattering overtones - try Emperors, though they can easily be a bit "dead sounding" (especially coated ones).
And for the record, I want my drums to sound BAM BAM BAM!! (no, not the mtv douche) and Ambassadors give me that.
I even use just a normal coated Ambassador for my 26" kick, with no damping what so ever, and man does that thing sound loud.
So yeah, if you want a more controlled focused sound, maybe the Emperors is your ticket.

I think Bonham used clear CS Batters on his toms if I'm not mistaken.. and his drums sounds pretty nice, so..

And congrats on your purchase btw

Thanks a lot for all the input. I'm really thinkin' that coated heads are the way for me..

I'll try to take some pictures soon. They're beautiful drums.