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Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2025
Head shipped fast and very nice.Great opportunity to hear that great sound
Elaine Kremer
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2022
Can't say enough good things about the Earthtone Calfskin Snare Drum Batter. I just started a Creole, Blues Dixieland project and was enjoying the wonderful vintage sound calfskin lends to this music.. on a 1915 Leedy brass shell snare! When the ancient but fine sounding head let go at the bearing surface.(my bad .a grain of sand sized blemish!) Woah Miz' ree. I shopped ,read the reviews on Several heads. Earthtones' reviews stated all the significant necessary parameters, tuning notes brush swish, dynamics. I got the carefully packed head the NEXT Day. It has a beautiful texture for plenty volume rich swish, virtually self muting by resonant head tuned to do so. Tuned low overnite sounded same next day. Then up to where I needed it with only moderate tension .Head fits precisely on 107 year old shredder hoops ,and tunes super easy. Played several takes with brushes. The snare sings with this head, fine presence easy to play. Records exactly as it sounds. RCA 77, RCA 44 Oktava M-12 You can't go wrong with this head.
Adamdeus
Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2020
If you hunger for the sound of natural drums that possess the warmth, and tone of history you've found them. They do require some breaking in because they are Calf Skin, not MYLAR! So initially they won't sound, or play as good as they will once they're seated properly, and stretched a bit. I just love them.
Yeldarb
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2019
Took this drum head to a recording session and the beater went straight through the drum head whilst I was sound checking it for the engineer. Avoid.
Rusty Nuts
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2019
I have these on some vintage LP Tito Puente brass timbales. I love the sound. Just like when I was a kid. Warm and earthy. They bring down the volume a bit on the drum. Easy to tune with the metal collar.
CJB
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2018
I've played calf heads for nearly 20 years. I have heads made in the 1930's and 40's, as well as heads made by the old United Rawhide and the subsequent company, Sterns. I began using Earthtone when they were a new company and were made of goatskin, so I have plenty of experience with hide drumheads. I purchased three 14's, two 12's, and an 18. The pro's on the current Earth Tone; they easily fit vintage drums, and look great as well as sound very good. The cons; inconsistent quality. Earth Tone claims the heads come formed with a pre formed crown for the bearing edge. The best it got was one head had the crown formed half way arounds. This is really not a big deal. The crown will form soon enough. All the heads varied in thickness. I can deal with that. Earth Tone claims the heads are pre-stretched and treated to be less affected by humidity. I found neither to be true with the product I received. After mounting them two weeks prior to taking them out to a gig, I found small variations in humidity affected these every bit as much as better calfskin heads are. I play in a moderate volume traditional blues band that works small clubs of up to 40 customers in the audience. The second number in the 12 batter head split. I am in no way a heavy hitter. Tuning was a problem throughout the gig. I am reluctant to recommend these unless you keep them on a home set or know you will be playing in a controlled environment. Personally, I would welcome Earth Tone to return to goatskin heads. If you want to try calf, these are a good way to get into it at about 2/3rds the cost. If you are a serious devotee of hide, spend the money on better heads.
arcee
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018
A friend turned me on to these and I ordered one to replace a similar head on a Brazilian surdo. Easy to mount and has great response and sound.
JB
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2018
I am giving this a poor rating purely for the fact that the image shown is different from the drumhead that I have received.Apparently Earthtone changed their logo about three years ago and there seem to be lots of mixed heads out there. I have purchased seven heads in total in varying sizes and have had to return the 13" head three times because they are the old (very large capital letters) logo that do not match the rest of the kit.I might not normally care if if weren't for the fact that these are twice as expensive as mylar heads and that I had a photoshoot planned showcasing these heads that needed to be postposed.Otherwise the feel of these heads are great but beware that they are very thick.
Brian M. Lear
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2018
Very weak heads, for drum set playing. Every single earth tone head I've ever bought I've put a stick through. And I don't play hard music either. I'm talking Jazz, R&B. Might be appropriate for a concert tom played with mallets, but even then I wouldn't rely on it. The calf-skin they are using is just too thin and fragile.
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