EVANS ONYX SERIES HEADS

From £18 Black in hue, black in sound, Geoff Nicholls
explores the dark world of Evans’s new Onyx heads
A PERIMETER SHEATH
holds foam to control attack,
low-end and sustain
A MICRO-CLEAR
coating gives the heads a
matte black appearance
PRICES:
Range from £18 for a
6" to £68 for a 26"
BD22EMADONX
batter: £59
BD22RONX
resonant: £56
CONSTRUCTION
Toms and snare
batters: twin-ply
15mm, black coated
bass drum batter:
single-ply 10mm,
black coated
bass drum resonant:
single-ply 7.5mm
with 5" porthole,
black coated
DAMPING
Toms and snare: none,
bass drum batter:
EMAD interchangeable
foam ring system
CONTACT
Summerfield Music
1 Vance Court
Blaydon On Tyne
NE21 5NH
Telephone
0191 414 9000
[e-mail]
www.evansdrum
heads.com
EVANS ONYX SERIES HEADS
JUNE 2009 RHYTHM 97
EXCLUSIVE
E
vans’s G2 twin-ply tom batters are
popular choices for those needing
harder wearing heads. Now Evans is
offering a black-coated alternative, in
the form of its new Onyx heads. While the
aesthetic is certainly appealing, do they give
a performance to match?
Build
Standard G2s are formed from twin plies of
7mm Mylar. The Onyx, though, is a fraction
tougher with two 7.5mm plies (as is Remo’s
equivalent Black Suede Emperor). Plus
there’s a new micro-clear matte black
coating. Tom heads range from 6" to 20".
Onyx bass drum heads are different – a
single-ply 10mm batter fi tted with Evans’s
EMAD (Externally Mounted Adjustable
Damping) system. The EMAD is a circular
plastic sheath stuck around the head’s
perimeter into which you can slip either a
38mm- or 20mm-wide foam damping ring.
The Onyx front head is a 7.5mm single-ply
EQ3 Resonant, again with black coating. This
has an internal perimeter fl ap and a 5" offset
microphone port, protected by braided
edging tape. Sizes range from 18" to 26".
Now why is the bass batter single ply when
the toms are twin ply you’re thinking? Well,
with a foam EMAD ring in place the initial
sound was tubby. I guess a twin-ply
construction would have deadened it
completely. It must be the coating, because
Evans’s original EMAD batter is pleasingly fat.
Even after some hours gigging, with the
thinner foam ring still in place it was too
thuddy, needing to breath more. Discarding
both foam rings worked better for me. The
contact pitch was immediately brighter, the
attack more lively, even a touch pingy, but
offset by that nice deep undertone.
Verdict
The Onyx line is a welcome addition for those
who prefer Evans but also fancy black batters.
I love the look of the matte coating and, as
usual with Evans, the construction is
exemplary, the edge crimping exquisitely neat.
The sound, though, won’t suit everyone. It’s an
acquired taste and I’ll enjoy persevering with
tom and snare batters. It’s different, darker
with shorter sustain than normal G2s. The
abrupt decay and thuddy sound of the bass
head might, I think, be good for hectic double
pedal work, but personally I’d like to see a
plain, non-EMAD Onyx kick batter.
Rating ✪✪✪✪✪
Hands on
The Onyx sound is described as dark, short
and attacking. But does the mere fact of the
fi nish fool you into thinking the sound is
deeper? I put a white Remo Emperor on one
side of a 10" tom and an Onyx on the other –
tuned them the same – and yes, the Onyx was
darker and more abrupt, while the Emperor
had fractionally more sparkle and sustain. On
a 13" tom the Onyx was even duskier, a bit
subdued in fact. I tuned it higher than usual to
hear it properly live. The 16" fared better. You
want those deep tones on a fl oor tom and I
found the sound rich and velvety.
Next I put a 14" Onyx on a metal snare. It
had a clattering attack, rather hollow to start
with. It benefi tted from playing in, and by a
second gig was thoroughly seated and feeling
comfortable. The response increased in
density, becoming almost calf-like – light
centre strokes had the thick ‘ch’ sound of
‘chalk’, yet remained clear. This didn’t prevent
a healthy edge ring though, requiring a bit of
damping. The black surface has just enough
nap for a modest brush response and it
doesn’t snag your wires in the way some new
heads do.
RHY164.gear_evans 97 22/4/09 5:50:37 pm