making a basswood snare sound good....

[prempex]

is it possible?
i sold my chad smith and joey jordison signature snares, and now i dont have any snares to have as a secondary snare. the only thing i have left is a basswood snare that came with mapex.(i think its basswood,or the other cheap-ish wood that beginner kits come in)

i have a coatedPS4 on batter side, and stock on snare side, i have also replaced the snare strings, and have tryed my best to get it sounding good, but it just isnt happening.

any suggestions on tuning it,or some other snares under $300 AUS?

[somedrummer]

1. Try new heads (both of them!). I reccomend something dry, like any of Evan's "Genera Dry" heads. Preferably 1-ply. Also, I've been having really good luck with just a plain old Aquarian Texture Coated head on snares. Really great sound, IMHO. For the snare side, try an Aquarian Classic Clear Snare side head, the one with the little white reinforcement patches for the snares.

2. Tuning. Learn how to properly tune it (this is of course assuming you don't know how), and you can make almost any drum sound decent.

3. If neither of these things work (I'm 99% sure that one or both of them will, unless the drum has some structural damages like bad bearing edges or something), try new snare wires. I reccomend the Puresound Custom series 20 Strand wires. Again, really great sounding.

Good drumming to you!

[driver]

somedrummers got it right try all of those also I have always found that cheap snares sound better tuned higher rather than lower but thats personal.

[Guillermo]

Tighten the Bottom head REALLY tight I mean tabletop high, then the batter MEDIUM high... or high, but not as much... loosen the strainer a little bit.

Rather than dry heads, I recommend the other way around... a coated Ambassador... nothing too thick... Emperor tops, since that drum doesn't have as much resonance... then maybe a little moongel or another SMALL muffling device to take away excessive overtones.

That should do it.

[razorx]

How can you say it sounds bad? I've been using a basswood/mahogandy basswood/birch snare all my life. I guess i dont know what sounds good. would you like to elaborate on why it sounds so bad?

[drumtechdad]

How can you say it sounds bad? I've been using a basswood/mahogandy basswood/birch snare all my life. I guess i dont know what sounds good. would you like to elaborate on why it sounds so bad?

Almost any snare drum with a PS4 batter is going to sound bad.

[drumtechdad]

I'm with somedrummer. Some version of a single-ply, 10-mil coated batter such as Remo Ambassador or Evans G1, a good quality reso head (this could be your entire problem) such as Remo Ambassador hazy snare-side or Evans hazy 300; these type of heads can make almost any snare sound good with good tuning.

While Guillermo's tuning suggestions reflect what a lot of guys do, others prefer an approach more like this one:

http://www.tothestage.com/MediaDetail.Page?MediaId=177

[TwistedZ]

Another excellent choice in single ply snare heads is the Evans J1. It is a single ply 10mil. head that is etched rather than coated. I have one on a older Yamaha Stage Custom 14 x 5 snare paired with a hazy 300 snare side and it really sings. I find the etched head to be livelier than a coated head. It has a nice crack to it when hit in the middle and is nice and ringy at the edges. Rim shots are deadly and ghost notes are articulate.

Makes my cheap snare sound alot better than it is. That said, I agree with what was said above, it does like to be tuned high.

[mind_drummer]

Do exactly what I've done to my Swingstar stock snare...

http://drummerworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=409749&postcount=20

Everything's explained there ;-)

[max77]

When I has my 9 Plies Basswood Sonor 1005 snare I used an Hazy 200 Snare reso and a Coated G1 and it sound much better than all the other heads I tried.

Don't choke the heads , tune it properly , don't choke the wires and it will sound a lot better.