dontfeartheringo wrote:the sort of classic '70s batter head was the Evans Hydraulic head, which was a thick two ply head and a thin layer of oil sandwiched between the plies.You want boxy tone? Brother, it's in there.Remo pinstripes also have a thin layer of oil in them, but the plies aren't quite as thick. These get that boxy tone when tuned down and/or get old and beaten out.Pinstripes don't have oil in them. The color whirls you see between the two plies of the head are Newton's rings. Newton's rings are diffraction of light as it passes between two media with different properties in close proximity to each other. Darkroom technicians have to be careful to avoid these when film negatives are in contact with the glass condensers in enlargers. When Remo started making double-ply heads, their competitors saw the Newton's rings and figured they needed to make heads with oil in them too. That's how you ended up with Hydraulic heads.Hydraulic heads set the standard for deadness. Their only rival was an uncoated kevlar head called Truline as I recall. They were different from the Falam kevlar heads available now in that they were un-laminated, open, porous woven material with literally no ring at all. Dead as shit.I kinda wish I had a set of those on hand for special occasions.

Falams are laminated with either a clear or coated mylar. Truline heads were just an open weave. There was a Japanese head called Compo or Campo that was a very fine linen-like kevlar weave with a thin plastic laminate, and those were pretty dead too.

johnnyshape wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:steve wrote:Pinstripes don't have oil in them. I... I had no idea.You learn something new every day.I was told they had oil in them at an Saturday-music-school percussion lesson which was something like twenty four years ago. It's obviously a popular and international misconception.I was told the same thing, but being a cynic, I cut an old pinstripe 24 up to make damping rings... and no oil spewed forth. Quite disappointing actually.

steve wrote:here was a Japanese head called Compo or Campo that was a very fine linen-like kevlar weave with a thin plastic laminate, and those were pretty dead too.Yep, Compo. They were decent heads for that kind of tone, mostly because they were thick-sounding, but still had some "give" to them so they didn't feel like Simmons pads when you played them.I believe maybe the Canasonic heads were also similar, although I could be remembering that incorrectly.Chris GargesCharlotte, NC

dontfeartheringo wrote:steve wrote:Pinstripes don't have oil in them. I... I had no idea.You learn something new every day.I was told they had oil in them at an Saturday-music-school percussion lesson which was something like twenty four years ago. It's obviously a popular and international misconception.

Mick Fleetwood, perhaps the single most influential drummer in rock history,I... I had no idea.You learn something new every day.

I just sold that guy a new floor tom. here it is...

Here's a photo of a drummer with whom I got a good, dead '70s sound. This pic just reinforces much of what's already been said here; coated heads, acoustically dead room, miles of tape on the heads, and pillow/quilt in the kick drum. Also note that there is no bottom head on the rack tom, nor is there any front head on the kick.The kick drum mic is a Neumann fet47, which has a much flatter response than something like the D112, with its scooped mid-range.