Renaissance vs. Coated Ambassador vs. Fiberskyns

[honkyjonk]

I have little to no experience comparing drum heads but through using the search function etc I've kind of narrowed down things to a set of the above mentioned or combination of the above mentioned heads for snare through toms.

Still not sure about kick.

But I was wondering if someone might be able to give some esoteric comparisons here.

I'm a White Album Ringo lover, as well as a lot of other super sweet 60's stuff (often revolving around Olympic studios and Jimmy Miller. Traffic-Mr. Fantasy/Beggars' Banquet. Interesting how a lot of one's favorite albums often turn out to be tracked and produced at the same place. I am getting off topic here. What the hell am I talking about.)

Anyway, I have a stop sign Gretsch kit, so I guess I'm looking for some heads that are a little versatile, as in able to compliment acoustic guitars well, but again, I seem to attempt something resembling the white album drums.

And the best things that I can come up with are Renaissance, Coated Ambassador, Fiberskyns.
Ideas?

And kick drum, suggestions are welcome.

I intend to try out a bunch of different stuff eventually, but I'd like to throw on a new set of heads and go for awhile.

[spin]

I see you're in Prunedale. A great local Santa Cruz drummer in Jim Norris. I've played with him many times and even did a tour in Europe with him. He's a great Keltner style drummer - can actually do about anything but if I had to classify him... He's a big Ringo (and Al Jackson) fan - actually played with George Harrison when he was playing with Leon Russell way back...
Anyway, he's got lots of nice old drums including the stop sign Gretsches. He uses the Fyberskin III heads all around including the bass drum except for Ambassadors on the snare. Sounds fabulous - warm and full. Tho' I think the player has a bit to do with it.....

[The Scum]

If you want a sorta thuddy, subdued sound, the Fyberskins are probably the right thing. They're pretty mellow, and dead in a nice way (as opposed to Evans Hydraulics, which are dead in a bad way). To me, it seems like they don't want to be tuned very high.

Personally, I'm really digging the Renaissance Ambassadors right now. They're pretty lively, but still a fairly mellow sound. Their useful tuning range is wider. On my little maple Sonors, they just sing...their useful lifespan seems to be longer than some of the more vanilla remo heads.

The coated white heads never really did it for me. Lively and bright, and short lifespan. Peter Criss flashbacks, maybe?

For kick, I've never tried the Renaissance, having falled in with some of the modern prepack heads (Powerstroke 3, Evans EQ, Aquarian Superkick). But for the sound you describe, the Fyberskin might be the ticket...maybe muffled with a felt strip?

Byron Jacquot

[Jeremy Garber]

Most of my kit has Coated Ambassadors. I like the sound of them, always have. However, recently I fixed up my old (1940s) Slingerland 14x6.5 snare. The guy at the music shop slapped on a Renaissance head. I really like the sound. Of course, that may be just because of the drum it is on. I may replace all my CA's with Rens. I've never tried Fyberskins.

[covert]

Love the Rens on snare batter.

The Fibreskins can make Roto toms sound good. They do seem to like low tunings, but so do I.

Really want to try one of the Fibre/powerstrokes on kick, but haven't needed a new kick head yet.

[Dave-H]

I found the fiberskins have a sharper attack & the Renaissance more mellow. I prefer the latter.

[Umma Gumma]

nuther vote, here, for the Renaisance heads--they strike(pun intend'd)a nice balance of attack/resonance/warmth .