Remo Powerstroke Pro - £50.20 - www.remo.com

New skin from Remo...

I first saw the Remo Powerstroke Pro at the winter NAMM show, back in January. At that point it was a prototype model, but I remember being impressed. The Powerstroke Pro has been a long time in the making and Remo had to create new tooling and manufacturing processes specifically for the head, which gives you an idea of how much development Remo have put into it.

In detail

We have the clear 22” version here, but coated and ebony versions are available. The head is single ply, 10 mil, with a ‘pressure dampening profile’. Essentially, this is an inlay ring which is sonically welded (rather than glued, which can unstick) to the outside of the head. This has two purposes: 1) it applies pressure to the outside of the head, which dampens the head and then promotes low-end frequencies; 2) it pulls the head naturally taut in its unmounted state, so you don’t need a great deal of tension to get the best from the head (if you tap the head unmounted, it produces a deep note). Inserted into the ring of the pressure dampening profile is a layer of acoustic foam, backed with felt. This provides further damping of the head. Finally, a narrow piece of foam is mounted on the outer edge of the inside of the head.

In use

When I mounted the head, only a quarter or a half turn on each rod was needed to get the wrinkles out of it. At this point it was at its lowest pitch, and this, for me, was when the head performed best of all. There is plenty of initial attack (helped by the supplied carbon Falam Slam patch) from the head, and the sub frequencies are indeed aplenty, with very truncated, warm overtones. I preferred the head after removing the layer of felt-backed acoustic foam from the ring. This allowed the head to ‘sing’; those killer sub frequencies remained, yet it had more resonance, more ‘slap’, and felt more natural under the beater. Unwanted overtones were still removed by the mix of the sonically welded dampening profile ring (which feels very secure and won’t fall off) and the layer of foam on the inside of the head. Cranking the head up promoted more of the warm overtones, making it sound a little wooden, but it was far from unpleasant.

Conclusion

This is a good multi-purpose head, but is perhaps best for live and touring use. It’s low maintenance (you could lose a tension rod or two from your bass drum before you noticed a change in pitch!) and naturally produces a fat, low kick drum sound. Those looking for something very specific from their bass drum, or those who are experts at tuning, might prefer to stick to a Powerstroke 3, but this is a great head to have in your arsenal, especially for live work.