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Tom drumheads play a massive role in establishing how your toms feel and how they sound when you play. There are various ways to tune your toms, and certain drumheads cater better to certain tones.
With so many tom drumheads available, picking a few that you love can often take years of experimentation. To make things a bit easier, I’ve compiled a list of some of the best tom drumheads available.
I’ve compared performance, design, durability, versatility, and cost to give you my top recommendations.
What Are The Best Drum Heads For Toms?
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Best modern heads
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Best open-tone heads
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Best rock heads
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Best pre-dampened heads
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Best versatile heads
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The Best Drum Heads For Toms Reviewed
Evans G2 Clear Drum Head Pack
Evans G2 Clear Drum Head Pack Review
The Evans G2 Drum Heads are the best drum heads for toms for the modern drummer looking for a clear and well-rounded tone. These are the best tom drum heads that work well for all styles of music, delivering lots of clarity and punch.
Evans designed the G2 with 2 plies of 7-mil film to produce the perfect blend of depth, sustain and attack. These drum heads are incredibly versatile and perfectly suit a wide range of musical styles.
I love playing Evans G2 drum heads on toms, as they have a fantastic tuning range and they sound great tuned up both low and high.
They aren’t as dampened as the Remo Pinstripes, and the sound isn’t quite as warm, but they have a better tonal clarity and projection.
The Evans G2s are undoubtedly some of the best drum heads for toms for rock music and will equip your drums with truly professional sounds!
Features:
- 12″, 13″ & 16″ Tom heads
- Two plies of 7mil film
- Versatile and durable
Pros
- Many professional drummers’ primary choice for toms
- Fantastic tonal clarity and projection, making them work very well for live gigs
- Wide-open response and fat low-end, giving your toms a big tuning range
- Highly durable due to the two-ply design
Cons
- They might produce some unwanted overtones if you don’t tune your drums perfectly
Remo Ambassador Coated Drum Head Pack
Remo Ambassador Coated Drum Head Pack Review
Up next on our list we have the legendary Remo Ambassador Coated Drum Heads. The Remo Ambassador is categorically the most popular drum head in the world, and for good reason!
Ambassador drum heads offer warm and open tones and they are highly articulate and responsive to play. The single ply 10-mil film works wonders and prove themselves to be a time-tested classic within the drumming world.
These drum heads are constructed with a 1-ply 10-mil coated film. These drum heads represent the industry standard for quality, resonant drum heads that are incredibly versatile and provide premium and natural sounding drum tones.
These are the best drum heads for toms that work well across all tuning ranges. They have a very open sound that works particularly well with a medium or high pitched tuning. You will also find that the single ply construction provides these with a longer sustain compared to twin ply heads.
Remo’s Ambassador drum heads are the best drum heads for toms for a wide range of musical styles, but in particular jazz, blues, light rock or pop music.
If you own a high-end set of drums, Remo Ambassador heads are some of the best heads to accurately put out the purest tones possible from your shells, and you’ll get some sweet sounds that far outweigh the quality of lower-end kits.
When you use thicker heads on high-end drums, those tones often get too muffled and sound similar to lower-end ones. That’s why I recommend these heads for premium kits.
Features:
- 12″, 13″, 14″ & 16″ Drum heads
- Single ply of 10mil film
- Responsive and open sounds
Pros
- Most popular drumheads in the world, offering highly reliable sounds and quality
- Best drumheads for jazz and blues, thanks to the open tones they produce
- Increased sensitivity for all your toms
- Make your drums sound great in medium and high tunings
Cons
- Less durability than what you get from two-ply heads
- Not ideal for heavy playing or loud music
- Some muffling or dampening may be needed to cut down on the overtones
Evans EC2 Clear Drum Head Pack
Evans EC2 Clear Drum Head Pack Review
The Evans EC2 Clear Drum Heads are some of my favorite drum heads for toms. They have an incredible dynamic range, fast attack and a really nice level of sustain.
Evans designed the EC2 drum heads to sound fat and deliver a lot of punch! They are constructed of two 7mil films and feature a sound shaping ring on the outer edge which helps to dampen the drum and control unwanted overtones.
These drum heads are an amazing choice for rock drummers and I find they are easy to tune and have a full-bodied sound. My drums really do sound killer with these heads, and they produce a lot of attack combined with a warm low end.
Not only are these drum heads punchy and musical, they are incredibly durable and they really do have a great dynamic range. They sound excellent tuned up high or tuned down low.
If you are looking to try out some new drum heads, or you are upgrading the cheap stock heads on your beginner drum set, you seriously have to give these Evans EC2 drum heads a go. They are definitely some of the best tom heads out there right now!
They’re also one of the top options for drummers that own cheap kits. They do an excellent job of upgrading the quality of your tom tones.
Features:
- 12″, 13″ & 16″ Tom heads
- Two plies of 7mil film
- Exclusive Sound Shaping Technology
Pros
- Surprisingly wide dynamic range, but they tend to sound best when tuned low or medium
- Highly durable due to the two layers and built-in dampening
- One of the best options for rock and metal drummers
Cons
- Not as responsive or articulate as single-ply heads or dual-ply heads without built-in dampening
Remo Pinstripe Clear Drum Head Pack
Remo Pinstripe Clear Drum Head Pack Review
Up next we have a set of the legendary Remo Pinstripe Drum Heads. These drum heads offer immense durability as well as warm and focused sounds, and they are some of the world’s best drum heads for rock music.
Remo Pinstripe drum heads are constructed with 2-plies of 7-mil film and they feature a distinctive pinstripe around the drum which helps to control unwanted overtones.
The Pinstripe series has proven to be one of the most popular amongst drummers because of their excellent durability paired with a full-sounding drum tone. They produce a fantastic sound that has a lot of projection and warmth and they are the go-to choice for many professional drummers around the world.
These drum heads provide a well-rounded tone and have just the right level of dampening. Remo makes fantastic drum heads, and these are the go-to choice of drummers around the world.
These are some of the best drum heads for toms both live and in the studio thanks to their pre-dampened, warm and focused sound. They truly deliver great sounds on all types of drum sets, and can completely transform a beginner drum set from sounding cheap to high quality and musical.
One of the upsides of the Remo Pinstripes is that they’re slightly more affordable than the Evans EC2 drumheads. Both sets of heads offer similar qualities, so these are better option if you’re on a budget.
Features:
- 10″, 12″ & 16″ Tom heads
- Two plies of 7mil film
- Controlled overtones
Pros
- Pinstripe design controls unwanted overtones, making your drums easier to tune
- Excellent durability, stopping you from needing to replace drumheads often
- Warm and well-rounded tones
- More affordable than the Evans EC2s, which are similar drumheads from Evans
Cons
- Not as dynamic or responsive as single-ply heads
Remo Emperor Clear Drum Head Pack
Remo Emperor Clear Drum Head Pack Review
Remo produce some of the best sounding drum heads in the world. These Remo Emperor Clear Drum Heads are ultra versatile and deliver an ultra clean sound with lots of attack and projection that makes them suitable for a wide range of musical styles.
Remo designed the Remo Emperor tom heads with two plies of 7mil film to have a clean projection whilst remaining highly durable and warm sounding.
These drum heads are very musical, and they are favored by many of the world’s most in-demand professional drummers of all musical genres such as rock, fusion, funk, pop, metal and R&B.
Remo Emperor drum heads are without a doubt some of the best drum heads for toms on the market. They will allow your toms to sing beautifully whether tuned up high, low or in between.
Features:
- 10″, 12″ 14″ & 16″ Tom heads
- Two plies of 7mil film
- Versatile drum heads for all styles of music
Pros
- Great amount of attack and projection, making these heads perfect for live gigs
- Bright and open tones, which is something slightly different from other two-ply heads
- Incredibly versatile, as these heads perform well in any musical style
Cons
- Will likely require muffling or dampening
- Not the most durable drumheads around
What’s The Difference Between 1 and 2 Ply Drum heads?
1-Ply Drum Heads:
Single ply drum heads are traditionally the most commonly used type of drum head. These drum heads are made from a single sheet of mylar and come in various thicknesses. The most popular single ply drum head is the Remo Ambassador – which comes in a 10mil thickness. It can be used on toms and your snare drum.
Single ply drum heads are the industry standard for resonant drum heads (the underside skin opposite the batter skin.
Some qualities of a single ply drum head:
- Increased sensitivity
- More ring and overtones
- Open sounding
- Highly articulate
- Less durability
- Better tuned to medium/ higher pitches
- Best suited for jazz/ light rock/ folk/ latin
2-Ply Drum Heads:
2-ply drum heads consist of two layered plies, commonly of either 7 or 7.5mil thickness. Generally speaking, 2-ply drum heads provide greater attack and depth compared to single ply drum heads. For most modern drummers, 2-ply drum heads are the ‘go-to’ choice for batter skins, and single ply drum heads consistently the choice for resonant drum heads.
Some qualities of a 2-ply drum head:
- Fatter sound
- Shorter sustain
- Increased durability
- Higher tuning range
- Pronounced attack
- Less overtones
- Better tuned to low/ medium pitches
- Best suited for rock/ R&B/ metal/ pop
Clear vs Coated Heads
Drum heads come in either a coated or a clear finish, and each type offers a drum head its own unique sound characteristics:
Coated Drum Heads Provide:
- Warmer sounds
- Subtle muffling
- A distinctive sound when played with brushes
Clear Drum heads Provide:
- Brighter sounds
- More clarity and attack
- A cleaner tone
