penningtron wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 8:15 am I was doing that for a while as a quarantine courtesy (and yeah, the lack of rebound is good for practice). But I found it more fun, and musical, to play normal tuned drums with brushes instead. Not swishy jazz ballad stuff either, like, really fuckin' going at it. I like it so much I want to find a lower volume group to do it in now.

(the Evans Calftone has been a great brush snare head)

Regular old wire brushes, or those hot rod/blasticks deals?

twelvepoint wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 8:45 am Regular old wire brushes, or those hot rod/blasticks deals?

Initially some heavy duty wire brushes made by Vater, but yeah I bought some nylon brush/dowel things later on that take the volume up a notch. Both are totally fun, I can't believe I went 20+ years without trying this stuff.

Re: "moon gel police."

I mean, do what you want. I didn't say anyone couldn't.

I'm just going to have opinions about you. You go on do you.

You don't have to be good at a thing to enjoy it!

There's a whole different Olympics for three-moon-gel types! You can be a three moon gel high jumper! Or a three moon gel basketball player! They have all the same events, like track and field and swimming! It's a whole special olympics!

Garth wrote: Mon Sep 12, 2022 8:20 am

ErickC wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 11:53 pm The strainers on old Ludwigs are annoying, but manageable.

I know this has been beaten to the ground but the Ludwig P85 is absolutely terrible (even though it was about the best thing available for a couple decades). Once they're bent or worn though, they're pretty much done.

I have replaced a couple of mine w/ the P86 and was about to recommend those to everyone for being simple, effective, affordable (plus they don't stick out a mile from the side of the shell like most of the "fancy" ones)..but now it looks like they've been discontinued and that really sucks ass. I think I still have a couple other snares that are much less-often used w/ P85s I was wanting to replace.

The new ones Ludwig is offering look cool (the ATLAS P88AC), but I have a deep amount of distrust of die-cast parts in any application where high tension is used. It's not as strong or flexible as steel and surprisingly brittle.

Do I misremember or did you about tear your finger off with one of those P86es at a gig once?

The Inde replacement drops right into the Ludwig holes and I've put one on like three of my Ludwig snares. I really like it.

https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/pr ... set-836805

OH, and my Breadwinner hammered brass snare came and BOY, HOWDY, does it rip. Can't wait to gig that thing.

Also, I've been using thinner heads on my snares lately. Maybe I'm going deaf. Maybe it's that because of the band I'm working for, I get Evans heads to FAFO with, but I'm liking a G1 coated over a 300 reso with Puresound 20 strand BLASTERS A LOT, right now. That's what's on my Hammered Brass Breadwinner and it's making people's ears flap.

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 11:47 am Do I misremember or did you about tear your finger off with one of those P86es at a gig once?

Good memory - yes. It was a surprisingly bloody affair even for a guy who drummed in h/c punk bands for 20+ years. I have my throw-offs situated about 10:30 on the clock (which also sucks for a sound guy if they like a clippy mic on the snare, sorry to my brothers & sisters). I reached over the top and my index finger was somewhere in the middle and gave me a good pinch & slice. Early in the set. Blood EVERYWHERE.

dontfeartheringo wrote: The Inde replacement drops right into the Ludwig holes and I've put one on like three of my Ludwig snares. I really like it.

Yep, their shop is only 10 minutes from my front door. They're set up in an old bank branch I guess, it's weird that I haven't been there as I was a fan of the guy's work w/ the ATLAS hardware. FM fouroclocker visited a couple weeks ago when he was in town for the Campout and said dude was really nice & it was a cool experience. I'll definitely bookmark this next time I'm free to mess around w/ projects/improvements.

dontfeartheringo wrote:I get Evans heads to FAFO with

I like Evans heads just fine. I had a heartbreaker w/ Remos not that long ago and have been on Evans ever since. I gotta tell ya, the UV1 and UV2 are amazing. Might be slightly more damped/thicker than normal coated heads? but the longevity makes them perfect for practice kits or backline kits (or if you're just cheap like me and trying to stretch the dollar as far as you can). I have one on my main practice snare for like 6 months now and have not shredded a bit of coating off or dented it or anything. If this was a G2, Ambassador or even Emporer, this thing would be replaced at least once by now. I plan to keep it on there till it dies...and that might be like forever - very little sign of wear on it honestly. I put the thinner UV1s on my toms and did the whole campout w/ 'em. Thought they sounded great - recorded all the stems and happy w/ the recorded sound too!

The sound is close enough to normal coated heads I don't see myself going back. Certainly recommend anyone who likes coated heads on their snares/toms give them a shot. Folks w/ fussier ears than me might have quibbles but I'm super happy.

Garth wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:25 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 11:47 am Do I misremember or did you about tear your finger off with one of those P86es at a gig once?

Good memory - yes. It was a surprisingly bloody affair even for a guy who drummed in h/c punk bands for 20+ years. I have my throw-offs situated about 10:30 on the clock (which also sucks for a sound guy if they like a clippy mic on the snare, sorry to my brothers & sisters). I reached over the top and my index finger was somewhere in the middle and gave me a good pinch & slice. Early in the set. Blood EVERYWHERE.

I still remember the photo. It gave me the shivers. Nothing like trying to finish a set with your finger all fat and throbbing. Oof.

Garth wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:25 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote: The Inde replacement drops right into the Ludwig holes and I've put one on like three of my Ludwig snares. I really like it.

Yep, their shop is only 10 minutes from my front door. They're set up in an old bank branch I guess, it's weird that I haven't been there as I was a fan of the guy's work w/ the ATLAS hardware. FM fouroclocker visited a couple weeks ago when he was in town for the Campout and said dude was really nice & it was a cool experience. I'll definitely bookmark this next time I'm free to mess around w/ projects/improvements.

Man, I *love* the Inde throw-off. It's everything I want in a throw and nothing I don't. Ya gotta swing by there.

Garth wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:25 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote:I get Evans heads to FAFO with

I like Evans heads just fine. I had a heartbreaker w/ Remos not that long ago and have been on Evans ever since. I gotta tell ya, the UV1 and UV2 are amazing. Might be slightly more damped/thicker than normal coated heads? but the longevity makes them perfect for practice kits or backline kits (or if you're just cheap like me and trying to stretch the dollar as far as you can). I have one on my main practice snare for like 6 months now and have not shredded a bit of coating off or dented it or anything. If this was a G2, Ambassador or even Emporer, this thing would be replaced at least once by now. I plan to keep it on there till it dies...and that might be like forever - very little sign of wear on it honestly. I put the thinner UV1s on my toms and did the whole campout w/ 'em. Thought they sounded great - recorded all the stems and happy w/ the recorded sound too!

The sound is close enough to normal coated heads I don't see myself going back. Certainly recommend anyone who likes coated heads on their snares/toms give them a shot. Folks w/ fussier ears than me might have quibbles but I'm super happy.

G2 coateds on toms seems a tiny bit warm to my ear, but I was starting to feel that way about Emperors, too. I'm gonna keep messing with it. I think for heavier stuff, they're gonna do fine for me, especially considering how durable they are. I'm starting to wonder if there's a G2 coated 24" head in my future for the Bonham thing. We'll see.

The new Evans replacement for Moon Gel is really interesting because the sticky side is REALLY STICKY, which is great if you need to kill some of that floor tom resonance by sticking one to the bottom head. The non-sticky side is really not sticky, so it doesn't end up looking like a sawdust cake stuck to your head like Moon Gels do.


I haven't had much time since I got home from this tour to fart around with them on my drums, but they're doing some heavy lifting on keeping the floor time tight without losing its boom on tour.

dontfeartheringo wrote: G2 coateds on toms seems a tiny bit warm to my ear, but I was starting to feel that way about Emperors, too. I'm gonna keep messing with it. I think for heavier stuff, they're gonna do fine for me, especially considering how durable they are. I'm starting to wonder if there's a G2 coated 24" head in my future for the Bonham thing. We'll see.

I'm with you. I'm ok w/ the G2 on snare. I have G1s on my toms before I found out about the UV series and I like them just fine. They're close enough to Ambassadors that I cannot tell the difference. I have UV1s on my vistalites & love them. They might be SLIGHTLY warmer than G1/Ambassador but not enough for me to mind personally. I think I'm going to try a UV1 on snare next just to see if the longevity also translates to a drum that gets far more hits than toms. I like the sound of a thinner head on snare but like most drummers around here, I'm too abusive to get away with it for long.

I don't know about moongel police but the other day I bought one of those huge gamer mouse pads from amazon and traced out simi circles in the diameter of the durms and cut about 1.5" wide little half rings out of it and it rules to be able to go from super rezo tuned drums to stuffy 70's cocaine drums in like a sec and a half.

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:39 pm

These new edibles are SHIT.

While Evans ranks 3rd of the 3 major drum head brands for me, I do really like the Calftone stuff.

penningtron wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:16 pm

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:39 pm

These new edibles are SHIT.

While Evans ranks 3rd of the 3 major drum head brands for me, I do really like the Calftone stuff.

just put a calftone on my kick and love it. It's mellower and has more of a low mind thump than a slappy clicky thing going on.