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Evans G14 Heads

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Evans Clear and Coated G14 Heads

According to the Evans website the new G14 batter heads are the loudest, most durable single-ply drum heads on the market. Crafted using 14mil thick film instead of the industry standard 10mil, the G14 has a much longer durability without losing the characteristics of a single-ply drum head. Ideal for use in high-volume performance situations, the G14 can withstand heavy playing while projecting through the mix to provide a full, aggressive sound. Evans'' proprietary white coating provides additional warmth of tone while the clear version provides a full frequency response for maximum projection.

So like all the drum heads that I review on Mikedolbear.com, the heads get put onto the drums and played for a period of time in various situations. In this case both sets of heads (clear and coated) went onto my teaching kit which is a Gretsch maple 10” 12” 16” toms and were played for an average of 60/70 hours a week for four weeks by various standard of students. I find this manner of testing really gives me a chance to test for durability as well as sound, plus get some feedback from the students.

Clear G14

Straight out the box, and before they even went onto the drums, the heads have a nice tone and pitch. Once placed onto the drums I found (as I seem to find with most Evans heads) it didn''t take much work to get the drums to sound good.

First I tuned the heads to a high pitch and although the heads sounded fine when tuned high they''re probably not really designed to be used up there. When I tuned the heads down to a more natural pitch the heads really did come alive. It took me no time at all to find the best pitch for the drums and where they performed the best. I could get a nice, round, deep tone from the smaller drums very easily, which is the tone I like.

Over the period of around two weeks and about 140 hours I did not need to do much with the tuning, except maybe tweak the 10”.

When I took the heads off I found the amount of wear was very impressive for the amount of play they had had. These heads sounded great on the kit with a nice pitch and good durability.

Coated G14

I put the 13” coated on my snare drum (Sonor “Benny Greb” signature model) and found the thickness of the head took away any unwanted over tones which meant it needed no further damping. Evans claims these heads to be louder than their other existing models, but to be honest I couldn’t agree or disagree with this as when I played it live it was going through a PA. What I did feel was that because of the thickness of the head I didn’t have to worry about the head splitting when I laid into it.

G14 Tom heads

Like the clear heads, the coated versions sounded great straight out the box. The heads had a nice tone but a higher pitch when compared to the clear heads for similar tensions.

The big difference I found was I could tune the coated heads up much higher in pitch then the clear heads before the heads would choke. I could really get a nice jazz sound out of the toms. When tuned down they didn’t have the low pitch that the clear heads had but again the durability and wear was very impressive.

I needed to retune the 10” and 12” more then I did with the clear heads over the space of four weeks (approx 240 hours of playing) but this

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Page 1 of 2Mike Dolbear DRUMS | Evans G14 Heads

5/15/2012http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=3153

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could have been because the coated heads sat and sounded better at a slightly high pitch.

Overall

I was very impressed with these G14 heads. There is no doubt having used them that the heads durability (which was very impressive) is great news for the consumer but maybe not for Evans!

I was more impressed with them as tom heads then snare drum batter heads but that is just personal opinion. As I am not a heavy and loud player, maybe the snare drum head just doesn’t suit the musical situations I used it in (teaching studio, jazz gig and a couple of function gigs). I was so impressed with the clear heads that I put them back onto my teaching kit after the review.

It’s very hard to find fault with Evans drum heads. They have come along way over the past 15 years when they were seen as the ''poor relation'' and really are a major force in their field.

Review by: Mike Dolbear

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Page 2 of 2Mike Dolbear DRUMS | Evans G14 Heads

5/15/2012http://www.mikedolbear.com/story.asp?StoryID=3153