Hey Larry...I'd love to know more about thick wood shell snares. It seems they would have a very fat crack for a powerful back beat. Would you say this is a good way to characterize it?
Also since this Eric Singer snare is discontinued which snare would be a similar style snare in your opinion?
Thanks
It's hard to characterize sound with words. Fat crack. That depends on if you use the rim. The drum only cracks when you use rimshots. A powerful back beat depends on how the drummer hits it more than the drum itself. I tune it pretty tight so I don't know that fat is the right way to describe the sound. I go for a Buddy Rich type snare sound, tight tuning, tight snares, really tight reso, so it's a very precise sounding instrument. There's nowhere to hide with that tuning. Double strokes have to be played cleanly to sound right with that tuning. There's zero slosh the way I tune it. I like it to sound like a gunshot.
I don't know that thicker = better for snares, I have a thin birch snare that I like just about as much as my thick maple. There's just something about the tone and the overtones of the thick maple that satisfies me more than any other snare I've played, including Black Beauties, Supra's, Acro's and Sensitones. It could be I just prefer a wood snare.
A similar thick snare? I don't have a good answer. I know Ludwigs "The Brick" is thick. I know DW's Super Solid is thick. I can't speak intelligently about them as I've never had a chance to gig them. I'm not sure but I think the old Radio Kings are thicker shells, but I may have that wrong.
As far as BigDinSD's comparison of backup snares to main snares, my backup snare is a lesser drum, sounds lesser, was less expensive and the only reason I carry it is for emergencies. I don't even bring it in, it sits in my van, kinda dumb, but I never needed it. Why do extra work? If I have an equipment failure, which really never happens, too bad, I take a time out to fix things. My gigs aren't that critical that I can't take 5 minutes to correct equipment failure. It''s not like I play concerts on a regular basis. When I do festivals, I do keep a backup handy, that's different. You gotta keep those events moving along. My bar gigs are a lot looser than a festival.
I don't want an expensive backup snare sitting in my vehicle. I don't give a hoot about a 14 x 5 Mapex snare that I got with a kit that I traded a bass guitar for. I'm more apt to change the head than to change snares anyway. I keep the spare heads in the van too because I rarely break heads. I really should bring spare heads and the backup snare with me, that would be the professional thing to do, but I don't except for higher profile gigs.
I do keep a few 8 x 11 plastic laminating sheets at arms length in case I break a bass drum head. I hate when that happens, the wheels come totally off if I don't have a kick drum. Any other breakage can be worked around...but not my bass drum.