i had a question for those of you who have used evans bass heads before. ok when you get the heads they come with a pamplet with different variations to muffle the drums my question is, is each drum supposed to have a different variation or are they all supposed to be muffled the same way. thanks in advanced

I'm not for sure, but I know that when our drumline used them, that we muffled them all the same way.

My opinion is that you muffle all of them the same way to get the same responce and tone out of them. If one is muffled differenly, It could sound like you are using totally different heads on the drums. Now to the extent in how much you muffle them may not matter, for example the lowest bass you might muffle a little more than bass 1 or 2..

It all comes down to how you want the drums tuned and what you think sounds best. If you want them all muffled the same, do so. If not, don't. When I used Evans heads I think I used the same muffling on basses 2 and 3 while using a little less muffling on basses 1 and 4.

my suggestion is just DON'T use evans bass heads. i've used them on two different lines now, and they just suck. i hate their tone (although the way i muffled/tuned them helped) and i hate how they feel.
just don't get them is my suggestion.
get a powermax, or a good ol' ambassador

I've used Evans bass heads before and liked the tone & articulation I was getting out of them.

I did have one problem, though, and maybe a second... The problem is that the velcro or plastic that holds the muffling in place has a tendency to buzz. The "maybe" problem is that after three seasons, the plastic seems like it might have become a little brittle. Abuse that would dent an Ambassador seems to sometimes crack or tear old Evans heads.

If I knew that I'd have money to buy new heads every couple of seasons, I'd like to try the Evans MS1's -- the version without the built-in muffling.

different muffles give different heads different tones. they're all evans, so go with the same muffle all the way down the line

It's not unusual to use a different amount of muffling on each drum. That's what happens with foam or other "tried & true" muffling methods, so why not with the Evans felts? Experiment a bit and do what sounds best to you.

In my time marching I found that the muffling on each drum should be the same in all the drums except when you are doing the muffling on the bottom bass. but that will also have to depend on what size the bottom bass is

Muffle the top one, when it sounds good, move to the second, when it sounds good and has the relative ring and tone of the top, move on

etc.

Keep in mind the needs of your program. If you have an outdoor line AND an indoor line, you have to change your muffling anyway. With the Evans heads, I use the muffling all the way around for each drum and it makes tuning adjustments easier from outdoor season to indoor season.

i usually use all the felts on basses 4&5 and then i take away 2 for 1,2&3. it sounds really nice. I like how the upper basses have a little bit of overtone and then the bottoms have a lot of bottom end it sounds great.

Do what deadman says. One drum at a time. Each drum company's set of basses are going to have differences in sound character. Get the maximum punch out of each drum without losing tone. So it may require a varied approach to muffling on each drum. I think deadman's right on the money. One drum at a time. Start at the top.

For better or for worse the line I teach is using these. I'd like to get a set of Powermax, but as we all know money is sometimes hard to come by. I'm having difficulty finding a good tuning range where we get good tone and definition out of the drums.

For those that have used them a lot in the past, when you remove a felt or two do you remove adjacent felts, or do you use the recommended pattern of felts across from each other? Have you ever used extra foam in addition to the felt system? How do you place it?

Just looking for some ideas. Thanks!

Evans Bass Heads are the only ones our bass line uses. The tone quality is great and outdoors the volume can really articulate.

ours are mx2's and they have the muffling built in...but you can take some out and put it in different places for different effects