Aquarian 18" Super 2 Clear

My assumption was that these would be similar to Emperors - they're not! My brand new Drumcraft kit came with Chinese Ambassador style Remos, which actually sounded pretty good on the toms, despite their reputation. I was convinced the kit was gonna sound even better with the Aquarians, so the disappointment was tangible!! I couldn't get any sustain on the rack toms and the floor tom heads needed too much tightening to get the ripples out. I tried tightening them all to the max and doing CPR on them and then backing them off. I also tried different tunings on the reso heads. Nothing helped. The 13" was particularly nasty!! I used them for 5 days straight but it just annoyed the crap out of me, so I've had to switch back to the Chinese Remos - and they sound SO much better. It was an expensive mistake but I guess it's one of the pitfalls of going for something you've never tried before. I'm now putting together another shopping basket with Evans resos and CS Remo batters, which for 5 toms is the price of a decent budget shell pack! But at least they'll be the last ones I buy for a while!