Snare issue

Royston

Junior Member
Hi Guys,
Fitting some new heads today, (once again I will add in a post that I am a beginner), and cant seem to get the snare right. I should add here that I was tuning and when tuning the reso side I removed the snare to stop any interference, however having never installed a snare wire correctly I'm not sure if I have re installed correctly as I just cant quite seem to get the wires to sound "right". Naturally there is no problem with the snare off....

Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Roy
 
Ultimately, make sure the snares are straight and centered on the head.

Other than confirming that, try tightening the reso head, maybe even much tighter than you would expect. Sometimes, the snares suddenly come alive after cranking the reso. Also, once you tighten the reso, then adjust the tension of the snares up, and slowly loosen them until they respond the way you want.
 
Ultimately, make sure the snares are straight and centered on the head.

Other than confirming that, try tightening the reso head, maybe even much tighter than you would expect. Sometimes, the snares suddenly come alive after cranking the reso. Also, once you tighten the reso, then adjust the tension of the snares up, and slowly loosen them until they respond the way you want.
Hey thanks for responding. What I seem to be getting is a little bit of resonance from the snre wires after the strike, having never done this before I hadnt appreciated just how fine the adjustment might be. I dont seem able to get that snare "crack" without the wire resonance if you know what I mean.....i will keep trying with adjusting the tension screw as you seem to suggest.
Thanks again
Roy
 
Sounds like you might need to crank the snare side head even tighter. Crank that baby and listen to it crack! Crank it tighter than you would think, then crank it some more.

This may not fix your issue, but just based on what your describing I'd say it'll fix you right up. I've had problems in the past that have baffled me, but the one thing that always seemed to fix it is just experiment with different tunings. By doing so, I learned that I like a very tight snare side head which in turn has cured many problems with my snares not quite sounding right.
 
Are you sure the snare wires aren't mounted upsidedown? The welds should be on the head side.

Also, make sure the snares aren't super tight (ie: hard to engage the throw-off). You may be choking the drum. Try loosing the throw-off knob so the snares are disengaged and gradually tighten the dial until the buzz goes away and you have a nice *snap*.
 
Are you sure the snare wires aren't mounted upsidedown? The welds should be on the head side.

Also, make sure the snares aren't super tight (ie: hard to engage the throw-off). You may be choking the drum. Try loosing the throw-off knob so the snares are disengaged and gradually tighten the dial until the buzz goes away and you have a nice *snap*.

This^

As long as you have tuned with equal tension, even if a reso head is tensioned very loose (1 1/2 turns to each tension rod), it won't create the problem you are describing (unless of course there is an issue with the top head tuning.) As Xero said, start with making sure the snare has been reinstalled correctly. There are a number of helpful videos on youtube that will help out with that.

I just didn't want you to go cranking the life out of your bottom head when it may not be what's causing the problem!

Best of luck,

Kyle
 
If you still might be having problems, maybe it's time to change your snare wire. I'm using the pure sound super 30's. Their a bigger wire that produce a nice crack. I was having the same problem, and not it's solved. You also might want to buy a new throw-off. I have a Gibraltar Deluxe Classic. It's a wonderful product. The snare wires that I Recommend are the best, and if you get anything cheaper or by a different brand, then your honestly loosing a lot of sound. Also try using twine instead of plastic snare straps. They do make a better sound I think.
 
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