Which snare should I choose???!!! D:

Hey,
As some of you may know, I was hoping to get a side snare for Christmas off the parents! Well I asked my Dad and he said go for it, so now I guess its decision time.
The three choices I presently have are...

• Yamaha Steel Snare 10"
• PDP snare in 10", either 805 or Blackout, am yet to hear from the seller.
• Pearl Firecracker, either steel or poplar, 10" or 12".

As you can see I'm not sure about material or sizes. In a way I don't know how each would sound. I want something that's different to my present Black Panther maple 14"x5.5", but not too different. Could someone please offer me advice on which to choose? I'm in a snare drum dilemma here!! D:

hey man!
though 10 and 12" snare sound great, couldnt you get a 14"? its more versatile (at least for myself)
you should go for the pearl free floating 3.5" brass sheell!

I had thought about a piccolo snare of some description, but then realised that it is diameter that effects the pitch of a drum rather than depth, so a smaller drum would be more suitable for my want of a different sound (i.e. pitch). Now I'm just stuck in a wood vs. metal, 10" vs. 12" war!!! :S

I had a 10" Gretsch steel snare as a side snare for a while, and while it sounded great it was really so different that I rarely found a use for it. I've since found that 12" is really as small as I will go to get a different sound but still keep it a proper snare sound. For rock music at least, the 10" was just too small and too different.

Obviously, that's just what worked for me, but based on personal experience I'd recommend a 12" side snare. It seems to be the industry standard these days too, which might count for something?

I've had my doubts about a 10" snare. I play mostly rock, and although I would like to play some different genres involving a smaller snare, a 12" would surely be small enough for those applications? :S

I have the 805 as a side snare and it sounds great but is quite limited in its versatility.

I use it for intros when a rim click will be too weak or a poppy snare sound suits the song.
Sometimes a funky break sounds great on a poppy snare and of course you can cop some good reggae and hip hop beats with it too.

It doesn't really work well as a main snare sound for most of the music I play.

A twelve inch would be more versatile.

Check out a 13x7 snare. They are a bit higher in pitch than 14's and can sound great.

I think 12" is the biggest I want to go, I do want a fair amount of variation in tone! I just found a Premier Cabria 12"x5" snare for £60, I'm not sure about the quality of that thing though? And for the snares I mentioned in my first post, which would you rate the highest? Thanks.