THE GOOD SNARE THREAD

Here's mine. It's been a year now and I love except I never knew how to tune my entire drums. Usually somebody did it for me before a show and I haven't done any of them since two years...........I still hope to ear its full potential revealed soon: The Yamaha Jimmy Chamberlin Signature Snare

Okay, serious investment -- I just bought a Yamaha Elvin Jones Custom in gold sparkle. Seriously, this is the nicest drum I have ever laid a stick on. I cant believe its mine. To top it off, I bought it from a fairly well known professional drummer (who I am honored to take lessons from).

This badass can be tuned as high or low as you want and never loses its pitch or tone. Just a FAT sounding snare. Sounds awesome too when you take the snare off and tune it low.

Im not nearly good enough to deserve this drum, but heck, its mine.

Pictures coming soon.

Just bought a DW Craviotto 14x4 solid maple shell snare.
Looks great, sounds amazing

mrobanLA said:

Okay, serious investment -- I just bought a Yamaha Elvin Jones Custom in gold sparkle. Seriously, this is the nicest drum I have ever laid a stick on. I cant believe its mine. To top it off, I bought it from a fairly well known professional drummer (who I am honored to take lessons from).

This badass can be tuned as high or low as you want and never loses its pitch or tone. Just a FAT sounding snare. Sounds awesome too when you take the snare off and tune it low.

Im not nearly good enough to deserve this drum, but heck, its mine.

Pictures coming soon.

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Okay, here are the pictures of my Elvin

I am looking for a tight, snappy, quick snare with great response. It have to have some versatility, but I am so tired of your standard 14x5,5" mapleshell. Opinions?

figure_02 said:

I am looking for a tight, snappy, quick snare with great response. It have to have some versatility, but I am so tired of your standard 14x5,5" mapleshell. Opinions?

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Pearl Hammered Steel Free Floater or Pearl 14x5" Sensitone?

Just two my drum teacher owns...I think they`d do a great job. But you`ve to test it in the end. Even with a normal coated Ambassador as batter head the free floater sounds full and poppy with such a niiiice crack.

Karl

Big Evil said:

Im wanting to buy a new snare but im not really sure what to go for. Any sugestions?

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Black Panther bro

www.blackpanther.com

I got their phosphor broonze hand hammered 14x6.5 beast
And their deep forest walnut 14x6.5 monsta

loudest nicest snare ever!

I also recommend the mapex saturn series snares. 4 ply maple 2 ply walnut interior. I love MApex work so much =]

Has anybody heard an Iron City Drumworks Snare? They look great but how do they sound and what do they sound like? I'm researching the company and can't find much beyone what's on their website yet. Thanks all.

I recently purchased a 1979 snare , crome finish 14 x 6? Does your drum have snare adjustments and throw off that extends on both sides of the drum? Mine has knobs on both ends of the strainer that adjust the tension of the snares. Its kinda sensitive but , what I seem to have a problem with is the tension rods loosening up during a gig. I play the batter head fairly tight so I really notice when the head starts to loosen a bit. It seems like the head keeps stretching? The new head that I installed should be broken in by now based on my previous experience. ( Yam brass, DW Edge, etc)
FYI, when I purchaced the drum the worn batter had been torqued so much over time that it had pulled the head out of the hoop.
On this Yamaha snare drum , is the drum famous for pulling the head out of a rim? What has been you experience with your snare.

gearup said:

I recently purchased a 1979 snare , crome finish 14 x 6? Does your drum have snare adjustments and throw off that extends on both sides of the drum? Mine has knobs on both ends of the strainer that adjust the tension of the snares. Its kinda sensitive but , what I seem to have a problem with is the tension rods loosening up during a gig. I play the batter head fairly tight so I really notice when the head starts to loosen a bit. It seems like the head keeps stretching? The new head that I installed should be broken in by now based on my previous experience. ( Yam brass, DW Edge, etc)
FYI, when I purchaced the drum the worn batter had been torqued so much over time that it had pulled the head out of the hoop.
On this Yamaha snare drum , is the drum famous for pulling the head out of a rim? What has been you experience with your snare.

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If I understand your question correctly, (the loosening lug tension one), I wonder if maybe you are playing the rim a bit when you hit. Some drummers (myself being one of them), love to catch the tip of the rim as you hit the main snare beat, and come off of it during ghosting or subtler stuff... I have played on a good many snares and after bashing way at them all snares tend to looes at least a bit. Keep a key handy and re-torque in between songs, change your tequnique, or look into a product that reduces lug un-tensioning, (lug-lok or something similar). One thing to keep in mind is that the inserts for the tuning lugs may be worn and may be the cause of the dropped tuning...

As for the head pulling through, (and I'm not too sure if I understand you correctly), strip the drum to the shell and check your bearing edges. If they are damaged, ie: warped, dinged, etc..., have it repaired. Bearing edges can really make or break the sound of any drum so they are priority #1. Next, check your hoops and make sure they are not warped or damaged.. if they are, replace them. Next, install NEW heads onto the shell and tension evenly, using the two-key method, until you reach the desired pitch for the bottom then top heads.. examine the drum at this point and look for any sort of problem that may affect the performance of the drum.. it should sound good at this point. Finally, re-install the strainer system and set to where you like it.. then play!


Hope this helps...

figure_02 said:

I am looking for a tight, snappy, quick snare with great response. It have to have some versatility, but I am so tired of your standard 14x5,5" mapleshell. Opinions?

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I recently picked up a second-hand DW maple Collectors snare for a side-snare.. 5x12... That thing is a freakin monster! I have it tight and dry, (REMO Renissance RA head), and it is great for subtle stuff, but when I spank it it barks! It's so good in fact, that I now use it as main in smaller places. I'm looking at a 13" Craviotto for the next one (insert evil grin here).

Theres lots of great ones, but to me you've just described a Peal Chad smith to the tee.

gearup said:

I recently purchased a 1979 snare , crome finish 14 x 6? Does your drum have snare adjustments and throw off that extends on both sides of the drum? Mine has knobs on both ends of the strainer that adjust the tension of the snares. Its kinda sensitive but , what I seem to have a problem with is the tension rods loosening up during a gig. I play the batter head fairly tight so I really notice when the head starts to loosen a bit. It seems like the head keeps stretching? The new head that I installed should be broken in by now based on my previous experience. ( Yam brass, DW Edge, etc)
FYI, when I purchaced the drum the worn batter had been torqued so much over time that it had pulled the head out of the hoop.
On this Yamaha snare drum , is the drum famous for pulling the head out of a rim? What has been you experience with your snare.

Click to expand...

I just installed Tight Screws brand tension rods (on my whole kit--"I just went for it").
These will solve any rod loosening problem you have.
I had a problem with 3 lugs on a 6.5 Ludwig Hammered Chrome snare, and it seemed like these would solve the problem. They did.

I didn't have a problem with any lugs on the rest of my drums--like stuff going out at a gig--but I figured what the heck, try it on the whole thing.
I KNEW if they worked cool on the snare, I'd just end up doing the kit anyway .

Not only do they work great, but I have not had to TOUCH the tuning on ANY drum since I got them tuned and tweeked to my liking.

I put them on about 3 weeks ago, and have done a bunch of playing on the drums at home, and one gig (pack up, transport, set up, play the show, tear down, transport, set up again...) so far.

I put the Tight Screws on already played in heads, (almost ready to be changed before I put them on) and they are really keeping the drums sounding great.

Tight Screws are a really great product, and I'm glad I spent the dough to get them on the whole kit.

I'm not saying that others should do their whole kit, but if there's a lug or two that give you a problem, they will work great and solve your troubles.
I'm just nuts, and will do crazy stuff like putting them on the whole kit....but then again, I don't think I'll have to do much re-tuning anymore.....

Anyone out there own a Ludwig Black Beauty or Supraphonic snare? Pros & Cons welcome.

2bsticks said:

Anyone out there own a Ludwig Black Beauty or Supraphonic snare? Pros & Cons welcome.

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Yes, I own 3 Black Beauties.
All 6.5 depth.

2 are Brass shells with tube lugs, and the Millenium strainer.
One is from about 2002, and the other is from about 2005...I can't remember off hand.

The Millenium strainer is smoother working (and it looks cool) than the standard strainer.
It also has drum key opperated string/strap clamping instead of the screwdriver bolts.
It's way more convenient, and worth the few extra bucks it adds to the price of the drum.

*Side note:
I also put straight hoops (Pearl, with the thick stick savers) on them for a more vintage look.
I only put the straight hoops on for the look of the drum.

They already sounded spectacular with the standard hoops.

The other is my first BB, in a Bronze shell from 1989. Imperial lugs, regular hoops, but I put a Millenium strainer on it a year or so ago.

Pros:
These drums are awesome live and recording drums.
They don't choke.
The sensitivity is spectacular from edge to center.
They sound great with a ton of different type/brand heads.
They look great.
They have been a drum that's been collectable since the 20's, & they hold their value.

Cons:
Unless you can't ever afford to get one, there aren't any con's--other than having to wait if there's a back order.

I owned a 6.5 Supraphonic back around 1988, but I sold it to get money for other needed gear. That's the only reason I sold it.
The Supraphonic is a great snare and a standard. Just the standard way it comes (no tube lugs or die cast hoops & the standard P-85 strainer) sounds great. The 5" drum is a pretty identifiable sound (to me at least). No other snare sounds just like it--even though it's been copied a million times.It was a standard snare back in the Motown days too.
The 6.5 is a classic as well...you've heard of John Bonham right?....
It's also on a million rap samples.....

Other great Ludwig snares:

The Hammered Chrome has a little different flavor than the standard Supraphonic--which is in a class all it's own.

The Bronze shell. This one is great because it's between a metal and wood sound.
It reeeallly records great, very quick to get a great sound out of it, with very little muffling required...more like, you can use muffling if you want to not because you have to.

You can crank it, and get that real quick crack, but with body, or you can tune it down to the fattest, wet snare sound you've ever heard--and the sensitivity is still great.

Ludwig's wood snares are very sensitive, and have a great sound too.
I have a Red Sparkle 6.5 (tube lugs, Millenium strainer) that is pretty dang cool, but I haven't recorded with it yet.
It's a real sweet drum, but I'm more of a metal shell snare guy, so it's not going to replace the BB's, but it's great addition to what I can go to for different situations.

Hope that helped.

Go get one right now!!!

I also HAVE to add the forgotten Ludwig ACROLITE aluminum shell snare.
The 5" and 6.5" shells are great sounding drums, with great sensitivity, and it records easily.

The 6.5 has only been around for about 10 years (a little longer maybe?), but the 5" is a drum I've had since 1975, and it still sounds great.
I dare to say it sounds better than the snares available in the mid-range or semi-pro kits these days.

It was originally one of the student models, because it has only 8 lugs, and no chrome finish, but it sounds way beter than to be just used as a "student" or "beginner" snare.

I saw one in a shop last week and it sounded great.

The 5" has 8 lugs, and the 6.5 has 10.

It's now only available in a Black finish, which has a sparkle/shimmer look that's pretty cool, & not cheap looking.

Even though I have those other snares, I still plan to add a 6.5 Acrolite.....after I get that 6.5 Hammered Bronze....

Thanks for the quick and detialed response. I appreciate it.

Re: What is your favorite type of snare drum?

Black Panther 14x5.5 Hammered Brass, I played one today, as well as many others and I am definitely going to buy one... it also had to be the most expensive one that I tryed out!