I put together a set piece by piece off eBay, 12/13/16/22. Not mint, but good enough. I've heard that Emperors, my normal heads of choice, sound choked on Vistas. That may or may not be the case, but what do you guys think? I'm taking in all considerations before I go the normal Emperor/G2 route on top, Ambassador/G1 bottom. Kick drum suggestions also welcome. Thanks!
Dan
Ludwig's own silver dot heads are great on vistalites, as are Remo's black dots. Single ply yet strengthened in the center where its needed most. The dot heads focus the swirling sound of the vistalites reasonably well....
I have the Ludwig silver dot heads on my Vistas and I like the way they sound - real wide open, big sound. I've heard others prefer the remo CS dot heads, but I haven't yet tried those. Good luck!
James
I have had a hard time figuring out batter heads for my vista toms. Seems you have to go with clear heads on these drums for looks, and I am just not a huge fan of clear batter heads. I dig the sound of the drums more with coated heads...but it kind of defeats the purpose of having a clear drumset (in my kit's case).
The next time I head the kit I am gonna go with the black dot Remos on the tom batters. I dig clear ambassador on the reso kick and clear Powerstroke 3 on the batter....but if you are going with Black dots on the toms, you might as well throw one on the kick too for that authentic 70's look!
Also...maybe try the Evans resonant heads on the tom resos instead of the G1 or Clear Ambs. They are a little thinner and seem to give em a little more clarity. Thicker heads seem to choke the projection of the toms (in my experience).
Hope that helps,
Ad
Well, in my case, I couldn't help going blue on blue... I put on evans hydraulics. They're stored right now, but I recall them being rather boomy... AND WAAAAAY cool to look at...
I have always really dug the blue Vistas.
Nice kit!
-Adam
(I recently bought a clear acrylic Vistalite tom - I sent it back with me here to Osaka on my recent trip. ) To do that I had to take off all the hardware down to the bare shell. I was amazed at the quality of every single bolt, screw and lug. The hoops are heavy and solid. It reminded me why Ludwig was the king for so long. I use Evans glass Hydraulics - batter and Evans G1 clear as reso.
I used to own a mutant clear acrylic kit -- Vistalite bass, Fibes 12" and Star 16". I had a clear Emperor batter on the 16", and it was the best-sounding floor tom I've ever played -- boomy, resonant, round and warm. I sold the kit because the 12" sounded choked (it had clear Ambassadors), but now I'm wondering if I could have rescued the kit by putting an Emperor on the 12".
I used to own a mutant clear acrylic kit -- Vistalite bass, Fibes 12" and Star 16". I had a clear Emperor batter on the 16", and it was the best-sounding floor tom I've ever played -- boomy, resonant, round and warm. I sold the kit because the 12" sounded choked (it had clear Ambassadors), but now I'm wondering if I could have rescued the kit by putting an Emperor on the 12".
Wow, so you got good results with an Emperor on an acrylic drum(albeit non-Ludwig). Does the plot thicken(literally and figuratively?)
Dan
Wow, so you got good results with an Emperor on an acrylic drum(albeit non-Ludwig). Does the plot thicken(literally and figuratively?)Dan
I wish I knew! It came with a clear Emperor batter and sounded great -- that's about all I can say. Wish I hadn't sold it. :)
