I'm not entirely sure if there's that big of a difference between this and the original emad, but this head is very nice regardless. I think the new design produces a slightly deeper resonance. I have the thick dampening ring on, with an aquarian regulator resonant head, and a large flat piece of egg crate foam layed flat in the drum to reduce the mid range resonance. This setup on my Tama Rockstar kick with a heavy falam patch and the plastic side of a DW beater produces a massive sound for hardcore and metal music, it hardly requires any EQ at all! Tons of lows and a perfect click. This is definately a worthy investment for and heavy drummer.

How much difference can you make by going 10ml to 12ml? A lot. Got the 22 on my Mapex Birch kit with a ported Aquarian Regulator on the front. The sound is thick- and heavy. Which is good- maybe really good as I get used to it. I was used to a good amount of boom from the Emad and the Gmad is more like a solid thuwump. Best to describe it is a studio/mic ready- no muffling needed powerhouse. I also had to tune it a bit higher than my previous emad to get some resonance out of it- but it's a really interesting sound. I can't figure out what they did to "improve" the muffling ring (unless they changed the glue or plastic that holds the foam ring to the head) everything else looks the same. If you're looking for a power house, deep, round sound, thwump bass drum. This is a real surpise. This head would be fantastic for rock/metal/country/pop/funk.... not jazz or blues though..