Man that clear head on your beautiful kit just showing off the inner shell is something of beauty! Lol absolutely wonderful kit and I hope your channel has great success! Do a video using multiple single and double ply heads! There’s just not enough, using coated, clears, ebony, etc....
Love these head comparisons you do. I've watched all of them. It's much easier to compare them when it's done one drum at a time, as you've done in some of your other videos. ie: 10" emperor to 10" ambassador, without the snare in between.
I know Todd Sucherman uses Clear Ambassadors on his Toms and they sound amazing, but when you have to buy yourself and not be endorsed you have to go with durability, having said that The Clear Ambassadors are amazing ! 👍
@@texxhexxmmhe’s correct. Todd uses ambassador clear on all tom batter heads. His drums sound phenomenal but again, those heads wear out much sooner than emperors. That was my only issue with ambassadors.
I don't think you can say one head has a warmer sound over the other. Its a matter of tuning, however the Single ply always goes on the bottom for the best resonance.
So I play a lot of hard rock/punk stuff and I really like to use 12, 13, 16" toms for that. I do something a little unorthodox, I put ambassadors on the 12 and 13" rack toms and emperors on the 16" floor tom. I use a small drum tac on the batter head of each. The sound is full, with great attack but hurries up to get out of the way, which is good for how fast we play. I always feel like ambassadors on anything bigger than 14" floor tom sound muddy and bongy. But conversely, I find Emperors too be far too dead and thuddy on rack toms. I think on floor toms, they accentuate the attack and lower fundamental nicely while speeding up decay to compensate for the deeper depth of floor toms. This means that the sustain across my drums is pretty similar despite differences in dimension and thus pitch/natural sustain. I was using an emperor with an ebony ambassador on the bass but without a mic porthole, it was way too boomy in almost every small to medium room I played in and even with external muffling a la towel, at 22", it was giving all the sound guy headaches. So I think I'm going to switch the bass drum to a powerstroke 3 black dot and a powerstroke 3 ebony with a mic porthole on the front and hopefully it'll just be a nice deep punchy thud then. I prefer smaller bass drums, but this is what I've got right now.
I may do this. I like tone but control too. I use remo pinstripe and i dont like the tone i get from my drums really. They sound high pitched without a lot of tension. I think im going to do this and buy some moon gels. Going to get a cymbal bag for transportation of my new cymbals and maybe heads and sticks if i can afford. Gotta gig this weekend gotta make sure my gear is sounding good and taken care of.
A little update on the bass drum, 22" with power stroke 3 black dot batter and power stroke 3 ebony reso with an offset porthole in reso does sound a lot better, but it was still boomy on the large bass drum when it was mic'd up on stage, so I added a remo hard falam patch on the batter and an evans pillow on the inside, with a small hand towle rolled up externally between the batter and pedal, as well as a kickport enhancement to the porthole. Now the bass drum sounds pretty sick, I'd still prefer a smaller drum, but this has a huge sound that decays quickly without being that weird trigger/clicky/fart sound you hear in a lot of metal, esp. double-bass stuff. I play single bass currently.
Also, I have seen the various muffling rings for toms, and I've always just cut a port hole in an old head of whatver thickness and put that on usually the floor tom if I need to sound more thuddy to match the bass drum. You lay it face down and play inside the porthole, saves money on new gear and repurposes old heads. Great for mimicking double bass sound on single bass setups with bass/tom combos and also in more electronic sounding/derived beats.
I liked the Clear Ambassadors more - they have a very musical, almost timpanic quality to them. For me, clear 2 ply heads tend to be a little too slappy sounding, especially in a mix. I tend to gravitate to either 2 ply coated or 1 ply clear for toms.
Interesting, but still confusing. I have been using Ambassador coated, but because of their harshness in my recording studio I am switching to Emperor clear. Hopefully I will get better results. If not I will try something else.
A lot of it comes down to the near-field experience with real human ears in the same room. You will notice more low end presence with Emps and Pins. More open highs and mids with Ambs. Under a mic though, geez I can get a great sound on a kick with an Amb. But live with ears, it sounds thin. So the real answer is how much is the live experience the concern over and against the recorded sound. So for the purist who thinks you shouldn't use much if any e.q. then you might want some heads with more low-end near-field emphasis. Just bump low end a bit with Ambs and they sound good for the boom toms.
I used to be an Emperor drum head guy but now I use the Ambassadors! It make my drums “sing” a bit more of that makes any sense. 🥁 Emperors are still great though
a good test would be the dw aa vs emperor vintage coated and uncoated. the vintage emperors are claimed to be the most durable drum head. while, the dw aa has been claimed to be nearly indestructible.
I just bought a set of clear Emperors for the toms and I regret that I didn’t buy the Ambassadors. They really sing much more, especially at lower dynamics. The Emperors instead are great when played at medium-higher dynamics, but when you play them quieter, they produce a strange plasticy ring, which is not exactly pleasing tbh.
Rule of thumb: Ambassadors: jazz, blues, Latin, etc. Anything you need big sustain and a softer touch Emperors: rock, pop, electronic, etc. Anything you need punch and power.
Hi Alberto! Recording equipment is as follows: Beta 52 on kick Sm57 on snare CAD M179 on toms Aston Origin for overheads All through Focusrite Clarett pres 🙂
Joey Jordison uses clear emperor as the batter head and the clear ambassador as the res head so this video was rather helpful because I am at the experimental phase of drums thanks guys
Ambassadors all the way. That big gorgeous sustain in jazz/reggae contexts, especially in more intimate venues, is a big win. Emperors are not without their charm too. I'm using an emperor to dampen down a very ringy steel snare. Good work on the comparisons guys! love your work.
I love the sound of Clear Pinstripes on small Toms and clear ambassadors on floor toms (or any tom over 12 inches. I'm a piano player and music director- so I'm big into tuning drums pricisely. Clear Pinstripes on the small toms are crazy resonant and the tone cuts through a band or mix. Clear or hazy Ambassadors are very timpani-like. I live using emperors on snares or timbales. They are percussive as hell without the tonal quality- but we have the rhythm section to take care of that 😅
Most of the legends like Gadd, Vinnie,Weckle, Simon Phillips Not to mention all the great jazz legends Blakey, Elvin The list goes on and on Have used remo ambassador for a reason .It's the most truest sound you can get out of a drum shell.
Tuning helped me get a controlled sustain out of the Ambassadors. I still use Emperors live, but reharsal and the studio I'm gonna stay with Ambassadors for now! Thanks for the video.
Cool! I use both brands, G1s/emps on 10+12 for full scale tone, G2s/ambd on 14+16 for low tune control. Just use gels on emperors for a choked ambassador sound. BTW If they get dinged up, use the heat-gun-hack and hit em up. New in seconds :) Currently switching to green emperors on an emerald green Mapex kit- gonna be epic :)
Great vid as always guys - love it when you do comparisons.......Both sound great. I feel that the emperor has a slightly fuller sound. But the attack (as you guys said) and openness in sound of the ambassador is amazing though. Will take the emperors but that ambassadors certainly had me thinking twice. Try Aquarian Focus-X vs Response 2 ...Both clear heads
Man that clear head on your beautiful kit just showing off the inner shell is something of beauty! Lol absolutely wonderful kit and I hope your channel has great success! Do a video using multiple single and double ply heads! There’s just not enough, using coated, clears, ebony, etc....
Love these head comparisons you do. I've watched all of them. It's much easier to compare them when it's done one drum at a time, as you've done in some of your other videos. ie: 10" emperor to 10" ambassador, without the snare in between.
Ambassadors for the 10 and 12, Emperor for the 16.
True
I know Todd Sucherman uses Clear Ambassadors on his Toms and they sound amazing, but when you have to buy yourself and not be endorsed you have to go with durability, having said that The Clear Ambassadors are amazing ! 👍
Really,,but emperor on Floor? I thought emperor on all Toms with Todd 😮
@@texxhexxmmhe’s correct. Todd uses ambassador clear on all tom batter heads.
His drums sound phenomenal but again, those heads wear out much sooner than emperors. That was my only issue with ambassadors.
@@mattnormandrums i am Sure Todd Always uses Emperor clear!
@@texxhexxmm afraid you’re wrong.
I don't think you can say one head has a warmer sound over the other. Its a matter of tuning, however the Single ply always goes on the bottom for the best resonance.
So I play a lot of hard rock/punk stuff and I really like to use 12, 13, 16" toms for that. I do something a little unorthodox, I put ambassadors on the 12 and 13" rack toms and emperors on the 16" floor tom. I use a small drum tac on the batter head of each. The sound is full, with great attack but hurries up to get out of the way, which is good for how fast we play.
I always feel like ambassadors on anything bigger than 14" floor tom sound muddy and bongy. But conversely, I find Emperors too be far too dead and thuddy on rack toms. I think on floor toms, they accentuate the attack and lower fundamental nicely while speeding up decay to compensate for the deeper depth of floor toms. This means that the sustain across my drums is pretty similar despite differences in dimension and thus pitch/natural sustain.
I was using an emperor with an ebony ambassador on the bass but without a mic porthole, it was way too boomy in almost every small to medium room I played in and even with external muffling a la towel, at 22", it was giving all the sound guy headaches. So I think I'm going to switch the bass drum to a powerstroke 3 black dot and a powerstroke 3 ebony with a mic porthole on the front and hopefully it'll just be a nice deep punchy thud then. I prefer smaller bass drums, but this is what I've got right now.
Wow! It's almost like you looked at my set and wrote this. That is exactly how my set is setup and same sizes as well.
I may do this. I like tone but control too. I use remo pinstripe and i dont like the tone i get from my drums really. They sound high pitched without a lot of tension. I think im going to do this and buy some moon gels. Going to get a cymbal bag for transportation of my new cymbals and maybe heads and sticks if i can afford. Gotta gig this weekend gotta make sure my gear is sounding good and taken care of.
A little update on the bass drum, 22" with power stroke 3 black dot batter and power stroke 3 ebony reso with an offset porthole in reso does sound a lot better, but it was still boomy on the large bass drum when it was mic'd up on stage, so I added a remo hard falam patch on the batter and an evans pillow on the inside, with a small hand towle rolled up externally between the batter and pedal, as well as a kickport enhancement to the porthole. Now the bass drum sounds pretty sick, I'd still prefer a smaller drum, but this has a huge sound that decays quickly without being that weird trigger/clicky/fart sound you hear in a lot of metal, esp. double-bass stuff. I play single bass currently.
Also, I have seen the various muffling rings for toms, and I've always just cut a port hole in an old head of whatver thickness and put that on usually the floor tom if I need to sound more thuddy to match the bass drum. You lay it face down and play inside the porthole, saves money on new gear and repurposes old heads. Great for mimicking double bass sound on single bass setups with bass/tom combos and also in more electronic sounding/derived beats.
I liked the Clear Ambassadors more - they have a very musical, almost timpanic quality to them. For me, clear 2 ply heads tend to be a little too slappy sounding, especially in a mix. I tend to gravitate to either 2 ply coated or 1 ply clear for toms.
Great vid btw! Any chance of doing a Coated Ambassador vs Coated Emperor vid? That's one I'd love to see.
They sound like shit
Coming back here 2 years later, I think I actually disagree with my own comment now!
Interesting, but still confusing. I have been using Ambassador coated, but because of their harshness in my recording studio I am switching to Emperor clear. Hopefully I will get better results. If not I will try something else.
Aquarian super 2 vs response 2 not many people compare those but I’ve always wanted to hear the real difference those close to sane heads
Bravo drumdog
Just replaced stock heads with Ambassador x coated and Ambassador clear bottoms.Classic tone sings great with my bop kit,more durible.🗽🛸
Both sound fantastic....I "think" the Emperors sound a tad fuller ???
A lot of it comes down to the near-field experience with real human ears in the same room. You will notice more low end presence with Emps and Pins. More open highs and mids with Ambs. Under a mic though, geez I can get a great sound on a kick with an Amb. But live with ears, it sounds thin. So the real answer is how much is the live experience the concern over and against the recorded sound. So for the purist who thinks you shouldn't use much if any e.q. then you might want some heads with more low-end near-field emphasis. Just bump low end a bit with Ambs and they sound good for the boom toms.
I used to be an Emperor drum head guy but now I use the Ambassadors! It make my drums “sing” a bit more of that makes any sense. 🥁 Emperors are still great though
Excellent review.
a good test would be the dw aa vs emperor vintage coated and uncoated. the vintage emperors are claimed to be the most durable drum head. while, the dw aa has been claimed to be nearly indestructible.
I just bought a set of clear Emperors for the toms and I regret that I didn’t buy the Ambassadors. They really sing much more, especially at lower dynamics. The Emperors instead are great when played at medium-higher dynamics, but when you play them quieter, they produce a strange plasticy ring, which is not exactly pleasing tbh.
Surprised they were that close. Durability a big issue though, if you're pounding on them. ;)
Rule of thumb:
Ambassadors: jazz, blues, Latin, etc. Anything you need big sustain and a softer touch
Emperors: rock, pop, electronic, etc. Anything you need punch and power.
Yes I agree
Emperor 16
Hello what mics and interface have you used?
Hi Alberto! Recording equipment is as follows:
Beta 52 on kick
Sm57 on snare
CAD M179 on toms
Aston Origin for overheads
All through Focusrite Clarett pres 🙂
p3 vs p4 kick heads
and Evans on snare head
They all sound great, one thing nobody seems to mention is that “clear” ambassadors look milky whereas emperors look like glass.
Joey Jordison uses clear emperor as the batter head and the clear ambassador as the res head so this video was rather helpful because I am at the experimental phase of drums thanks guys
Ambassadors all the way. That big gorgeous sustain in jazz/reggae contexts, especially in more intimate venues, is a big win. Emperors are not without their charm too. I'm using an emperor to dampen down a very ringy steel snare.
Good work on the comparisons guys! love your work.
Remo Emperor click like.
Thought the emperors sounded much better!
Dang those ambassadors sounded great actually and a lot more open at quieter dynamics.
Yeah, some of these head video results are fascinating, hope your doing good Ryan 👍
@@drumdog All good thank you, hope you're keeping well!
I love the sound of Clear Pinstripes on small Toms and clear ambassadors on floor toms (or any tom over 12 inches. I'm a piano player and music director- so I'm big into tuning drums pricisely. Clear Pinstripes on the small toms are crazy resonant and the tone cuts through a band or mix. Clear or hazy Ambassadors are very timpani-like.
I live using emperors on snares or timbales. They are percussive as hell without the tonal quality- but we have the rhythm section to take care of that 😅
Not bad choice. Man ambassadors on floor Tom’s is thunder
Shit I am now totally in love with the Ambassadors, but I really want the durability of the Emperors
I use Vintage Emperors for live band performances because they’re more durable!
Ambassadors all the way. 👍☝️
Most of the legends like Gadd, Vinnie,Weckle, Simon Phillips Not to mention all the great jazz legends Blakey, Elvin The list goes on and on Have used remo ambassador for a reason .It's the most truest sound you can get out of a drum shell.
I love comparison videos, they really help you spend your money more wisely
Im a 2 ply guy and use Evans hydraulics
Tuning helped me get a controlled sustain out of the Ambassadors. I still use Emperors live, but reharsal and the studio I'm gonna stay with Ambassadors for now! Thanks for the video.
Cool! I use both brands, G1s/emps on 10+12 for full scale tone, G2s/ambd on 14+16 for low tune control. Just use gels on emperors for a choked ambassador sound. BTW If they get dinged up, use the heat-gun-hack and hit em up. New in seconds :) Currently switching to green emperors on an emerald green Mapex kit- gonna be epic :)
in my ear emperor is my taste. is not which one better is about taste.
The emperor defiantly sound duller/more muted. Almost a "boing" type sound.
They are “defiant” about it?
That workbench you have is REALLY nice… (the bubinga kit)
Emperor for me is the clear winner
Dog water tuning
What kind of head is on the snare? An Evans what? It sounds fantastic!
That's an Evans HD Dry on the Snare 🥁👌
Nice video, gents! Great to see a comparison video of to "related" heads: clear single-ply vs clear double-ply. 👍
You should have tried a clear snare batter head as well...
All coated Ambassador heads here. Toms and bass drum. Snare is a coated CX. Sweet jebus!
I'm a Clear Ambassador guy from way, way back, so yeah, those. Though I do like (and I have used) both.
What reso heads are u using
Evans G1 clears 🥁
Not much in it?
I put on good headphones and can hardly tell the difference
definitly ambassodor but emporer for jazz
both sound of head are good but the sound of the snare its totaly dead.
Emperor for me ambassador for the bottom
No podrian hacer un video en español por favor😞
Please testing reno ambassador x on Tom's & snare.
Thanks for the video
i like the ambassador
nice thanks
Hi guys. Great video.
In an unmiked situation, would it be better to use single ply heads for more resonance and volume ?
Thanks
if you use good shell and know how to tune, single ply is better choice
Emporers all the way I'm just confused as to what to use on the bottoms ambassadors or diplomats ??? PLS do a comparison sound/ price
I use coated diplomats as reso heads with a little cotton ball in the tom, tip I got watching a Sweetwater video. Really works well for me.
I don't think you said what your were using as a resonant head??????
they didnt but they are Evans G1 clears
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Great vid as always guys - love it when you do comparisons.......Both sound great. I feel that the emperor has a slightly fuller sound. But the attack (as you guys said) and openness in sound of the ambassador is amazing though. Will take the emperors but that ambassadors certainly had me thinking twice. Try Aquarian Focus-X vs Response 2 ...Both clear heads
What snare is that?