Radek Owczarz is one of the best studio and touring drummers in Poland. He has collaborated with some of the top names in Polish popular music, such as Kasia Kowalska, Pilichowski Band, Edyta Bartosiewicz, Patrycja Markowska or Jan Borysewicz.
He is the master of groove and feel, a total professional and an all-around nice guy. Very recently, we hooked up with him to make a test of a few sets of Aquarian heads. This time around, it’s time for:
Aquarian Super 2 Clear 14″ and 18″
1. The test
The test was carried out in professional studio conditions, at the CLC recording facility in Piaseczno, Poland. We put the heads on a Ludwig kit (Radek himself does not remember what model it is, maybe you could help?) and a Ludwig Supraphonic LM402 snare. The batter skin on there is an Aquarian Response 2 Coated, while the bottom head is Aquarian Classic Clear. The resonant bass drum head is Aquarian Regulator, while the batter head is Aquarian Force I. The resonant skins on the toms are Aquarian Texture Coated. Obviously, the batter heads are Aquarian Super 2 sized 14″ and 18″. The toms were tuned with the help of the Tune Bot device, and in the following fashion:
- Low tuning (14″ – pitch D#, 18″ – pitch G#)
- Medium tuning (14″ – pitch F#, 18″ – pitch B)
- High tuning (14″ – pitch A, 18″ – pitch D)
2. Basic specification of the Aquarian heads tested by us:
- Series: Super 2 Clear
- Size: 14″, 18″
- Plies: 2
- Thickness: 12 mil (5 mil + 7 mil)
- Colour: Clear
- Character: Full, deep, lots of low end with great attack and projection
- Safe-T-Lock hoop
- Sound Curve collar
- Application: Toms
- Size: 6″ through 18″.
3. The product and the sound
The Aquarian Super-2 Clear has a very warm sound and significant projection, regardless of how high the tuning is. Since it should be described as more dark-sounding than not, the lower the tuning, the more “muscle” and attack it gets (although the latter is not scarce in higher tuning either). The Super-2 Clear is a thinner version of a 2-ply head (one of the plies is thinner than the other), which makes it very universal, as it can be treated both as a slightly thicker single ply skin, as well as a thinner double ply (which it is in fact).
The Safe-T-Lock hoop prevents the head from slipping on bearing edges and the Sound Curve collar design provides easy and comfortable tuning, which Aquarian refer to as “Responsive Tuning”, which means the skin is supposed to react to the slightest turn of the drum key.
4. Summary
We think we should Radek Owczarz himself sum up the whole experience:
“All you need to do is to put on a pair of good headphones on or use some decent speakers and just listen. I deliberately avoided playing gospel chops and all kinds of flashy fills so the viewers can focus on their sound, which is excellent in all tunings, with no studio effects. All we did was mic up, use a preamp and…go! Generally speaking, all the Aquarian skins we tested here speak (or rather sing) for themselves and don’t need much talking or writing.”
Producent: http://www.aquariandrumheads.com/
Dystrybutor w Polsce: http://www.musicinfo.pl/
OUR VERDICT: 5/5
Advantages:
- Very well crafted
- Stylistic versatility
- Innovativeness
- great dynamics in all tunings
- Price
Disadvantages:
- None
Drummers and Drummerettes! It’s time to put the 14″ and 18″ Aquarian Super 2 Clear 14″ heads to the most important test of all, i. e. the www.beatit.tv viewers’ test! Exclusively for you, we give you Radek Owczarz!
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