Coated or not

[Jason00]

Bartman-

You answered a question for me before concerning snare heads, now I got one for you about bass heads--coated or not?  After your answer to my other question, I'm going to try coated heads on my toms and was wondering about a coated head on the bass.  None of the other drummers I know use a coated bass head, so I don't have anything to compare to.  Seems like it should be a good choice to have the "warm and focused" tone the Aquarian site says you will get from a coated head.  I was thinking about the coated SuperKick II or the coated Impact II--I think the "powerful attack and outstanding projection of the Force head will over-power the group I play with and the smaller rooms we play in.  Any comments?

Thanks,
Jason

[Bart Elliott]

I have a minimal amount of experience with coated Kick drumheads. Since I've been using  http://aquariandrumheads.com]Aquarian Drumheads , now going on 12 years, I've only used coated Kick drumheads on my Gretsch 20 inch kick drum.

I've used the Super Kick - SKIII and Studio-X TCSX on the Gretsch, and I don't feel like I get the sound that I want out of it. Much of this has to do with the drum, I think, than the drumhead, because I have custom-made wood hoops which don't seem to seat the head very well on the drum.

For my Gretsch I'm getting ready to have Aquarian send me the Full Force TCFB (coated) and the FB (clear) to see how they work out.

On my Yamaha Recording Customs, I don't know that I would want a coated drumhead on the Kick. I guess I'm not into the sound that much since I already have muffling on the drum, like with the Super Kick heads  ... or using a towel or pillow.

With the snare and toms, it's a different story since I play them wide open.

I would say that it's worth trying out if you can afford it. You will definitely want to have some sort of a kick pad on there too so the coating doesn't wear off on you.

My thoughts has always been that coated Kick drumheads offer more for tradition Jazz and small group playing. I typically need something that is a little more versatile ... but this is all being said by someone that doesn't have that much experience with the coated drumheads on a Kick drum.

For what it's worth ......