I am almost finished restoring a late 70's Slingy red sparkle kit, 20, 13,16, no re-rings, and need some help on head selection. Since I already have a jazz kit, I'd like get a good classic rock sound out of it. Yeah, I know the kit is 70's but we mostly play 50's and 60's tunes.
My bet is everyone will say Remo Amby's top and bottom. Any other ideas, especially for the bass?
Go with a pinstripe or something similar and tune them a bit tighter. Not the common 'thud' associated with those heads....
BTW, Good to meet you Saturday...
Ive suggested this before for people with 70's Slingy kits (I play one as my main gigging kit). I have had excellent results for all things "rock":
Toms: Evans G2 Coated on top/G1 Clear or resonant on bottom
Bass Drum: Remo Ambassador w/ Aquarian "Port Hole" on one side and 2 inch felt strip vertical on the other side (on the front)
Evans COATED EMAD 1 ply on the batter side.
Hope that helps.
-Adam
Go with a pinstripe or something similar and tune them a bit tighter. Not the common 'thud' associated with those heads.... BTW, Good to meet you Saturday...
Good to meet you too Dave. Pinstripes were not even on my radar, since I used and abused them in my youth. I alway thought of them as the head that makes cheap drums sound good and good drums sound cheap. Kind of got me turned off to Remo since then. I also developed an aversion to clear heads because of them. Maybe I need some 'head' therapy!
I've got coated Ambassador X's on my 70's Slingey kit. With smooth Ambassador's on the bottoms. I like Evans G2s too but I'm really digging the thick single ply sounds I'm getting at the moment from the Remos. Sounds pretty rock and roll to me. guitar2
If I HAVE to use plastic on my Slingerland kit, I use a thicker head (G2, Emperor type). I have some video on my YouTube site that does an A-B type comparison for different heads on my early 70's Slingerland kit. I swap out mediums, thicks, and calf. Knock yourself out if you want to hear the differences. I'm at : ITeachThereforeIDrum
I use a Remo powerstroke 3 batter head and remo ambassador or emperor smooth white on the front it will roar for you!!!
MC -
Great videos of the differing sounds. Right now I'm leaning toward Aquarian Performance II's on top and Hi-frequency on the bottom, both coated. The bass is still up in the air.
Either that or Vintage medium top, vintage thin bottom, but I did like the lows you got with the double thick heads.
Which bottom heads did you use?
Greg
Back in the day, when I played large 1977 vintage Slingerlands, I used clear Emperor batters and clear Diplomat bottoms.
Since I was rarely mic'ed, I tuned them to get a nice Keith Moon "Tommy"-era ring and got a lot of positive comments.
If I was doing it today, I'd try coated batters, although I'll admit that I love the look of clear heads.
