15" snares

Andy

Andy

Honorary Member
We produced a 15" snare as an R&D piece a while back, & we were so pleased with the unique ability in this size, we decided to include it in our new Tour series snare lineup. We're producing the first production example right now, & it's in zebrano. 15" certainly allows you to go for a super fat sound, but we found to get the best out of the size, a fair degree of brightness is necessary to compliment low frequency performance - hence zebrano.

Anyhow, just interested in how many of you have a 15" snare, or have experience of using one. Is there even a requirement? It's a very specific vibe for sure, but they can do stuff a 14" just can't replicate, no matter how clever we are at low fundamental stuff.
 
Can't say that I've ever actually played a 15" snare but I have long lusted after one. I just love the idea of a snare that still has a nice low tone even at a higher tension.

Not really the same thing but I imagine it has to be similar to the way I tune my 24x14 bass drum nice and tight.

Andy, if you ever need some American R&D hit me up. I'll even write a full review of the product in Spanish with nonsensical made up phrases punctuating the paragraphs. I'd like to see Ludwig do THAT!
 
I had a Ludwig school festival or concert model,that was 15x6.5 for a while in the early 70's,and it was fat,fat fat.Two rows of small classic lugs,8 top and bottom.I liked it,and regret selling it as it did have a decent,but not great tuning range.

I got a good offer for it,and since more cymbals are better to a 16 year old,it was gone.I could kick myself now.

Ludwig is also offering one of the new supralite models in 15",which was well recieved on other drum forums.

Pics or vid please Andy.:)

Steve B
 
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Red Menace said:
Andy, if you ever need some American R&D hit me up.
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I'll add you to the list. You're currently number 337 ;)

tamadrm said:
I liked it,and regret selling it as it did have a decent,but not great tuning range.


Pics or vid please Andy.:)

Steve B
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Pictures up hopefully at the end of next month :)

Tuning range was one of the big challenges with this drum. To create something that offered super low end grunt, yet is fully useable as a main snare within a standard sound landscape. Box ticked! ;)

GRUNTERSDAD said:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/pearl-sensitone-premium-mahogany-baritone-snare-drum


I found one.......................
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Nice find Grunt, although I suspect that will be a little underwhelming. 5" deep really doesn't get you there with a 15" snare. As a 15", it's essentially a piccolo, & unless the shell is something exceptional in terms of resonance, it's likely a bit flat.
 
Are head options limited with a 15" size? I'm used to 12-14" snares, so 15" is a bit of an oddball. I quickly looked at Evans website and under their snare batter section, they don't even offer an option for 15".
 
Super size me.....I just can't spread my legs that wide and would need to start using 17 " hats and a 28 " kick,so count me out
 
Tommy_D said:
Are head options limited with a 15" size? I'm used to 12-14" snares, so 15" is a bit of an oddball. I quickly looked at Evans website and under their snare batter section, they don't even offer an option for 15".
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Evans G1 coated, G2 coated, J1 etched, G12 coated, G14 coated batter heads. Hazy 300 resonant heads. Puresound custom wires. All available in 15"

Captain Bash said:
Super size me.....I just can't spread my legs that wide and would need to start using 17 " hats and a 28 " kick,so count me out
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Hahaha - sure, not for everyone, but surprisingly not that bulky between the legs for many. Hardly any difference in outside diameter compared to a regular 14" snare with Yamaha wood hoops for example.

v.zarate said:
never knew they made 15" snares.
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Very few do, & we wouldn't either, unless there was something different about it's abilities that yo'll struggle to get from a 14".

Les Ismore said:
How bout a 14 12/16" shell with 15" hoops/heads?
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As you well know Les, that's exactly the size of shell used. Your sneaky multiplication of fractions doesn't fool me ;) ;) ;)
 
Tommy_D said:
Are head options limited with a 15" size? I'm used to 12-14" snares, so 15" is a bit of an oddball. I quickly looked at Evans website and under their snare batter section, they don't even offer an option for 15".
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To me that's the only real issue with 15" snares; head choices.

If you like fairly straightforward one or two-ply coated heads you have pretty much unlimited options, but many specialty snare heads aren't available in 15" sizes.

I used to own a 1920s 4x15" Leedy NOB snare and I ran a Remo Renaissance Ambassador over a Renaissance snare side and it sounded great.
 
I'm trying to imagine it....yea....that's it...lol. I imagine the sound it would make to be suited to a big ol' power ballad song, made to be really whooped, rather than finessed. But I never played one so I don't know. Sounds like it would be the backbeat of doom.
 
Winston_Wolf said:
To me that's the only real issue with 15" snares; head choices.

If you like fairly straightforward one or two-ply coated heads you have pretty much unlimited options, but many specialty snare heads aren't available in 15" sizes.

I used to own a 1920s 4x15" Leedy NOB snare and I ran a Remo Renaissance Ambassador over a Renaissance snare side and it sounded great.
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I agree, there's limited choices if you want to use a dedicated speciality snare head, but as someone who designs instruments such that speciality heads are mostly redundant anyhow, I'm fine with it :)

larryace said:
I'm trying to imagine it....yea....that's it...lol. I imagine the sound it would make to be suited to a big ol' power ballad song, made to be really whooped, rather than finessed. But I never played one so I don't know. Sounds like it would be the backbeat of doom.
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We put some energy into getting these snares right up there in terms of sensitivity as well as tuning range. Of course, their party trick is big & "phat", but done right, they're every bit a satisfying general purpose drum.

We don't anticipate making many of these Larry (not that we make many of anything really), but as a useful & distinctive addition to the arsenal, they're great! We haven't done this because it's quirky, in the same way we didn't do 12" deep Origin bass drums because they're quirky. We've done this because they genuinely have something of value to offer.
 
Years ago I found a 15 x 10 or 12" Ludwig field drum at a yard sale. The woman who was selling it was a member of an all woman drum corps during World War II. She knew her stuff. The drum itself has a faded green sparkle wrap and the bearing edges were a little rough from sitting in the attic with calf skins on it. Once we got the edges worked out and replaced the strainer and snares that baby projected! The tuning range wasn't all that wide but it was a great snare! I used it on several recordings and the engineers loved it. The nice thing about it was the ability to loosen the snares and use the thing as a tom.15" is a great diameter for a snare.

I've got a Mapex 15" floor tom and it is one of my favorite jazz drums. It has more body thatn a 14" but it's more controlled than a 16 or 18. For some reason the odd sizes are in their own league. I can't wait to hear yours Andy.
 
markdrum said:
Years ago I found a 15 x 10 or 12" Ludwig field drum at a yard sale. The woman who was selling it was a member of an all woman drum corps during World War II. She knew her stuff. The drum itself has a faded green sparkle wrap and the bearing edges were a little rough from sitting in the attic with calf skins on it. Once we got the edges worked out and replaced the strainer and snares that baby projected! The tuning range wasn't all that wide but it was a great snare! I used it on several recordings and the engineers loved it. The nice thing about it was the ability to loosen the snares and use the thing as a tom.15" is a great diameter for a snare.
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Tuning range is obviously biased towards the lower registers, but correctly designed, you can get some great toneful upper tuning performance too. It's actually quite a difficult design balance. If you make the drum too generic, it becomes - well - generic :( The trick is to keep it's unique characteristics whilst expanding playability as much as possible.
 
A search of you tube will bring up vintage Ludwig BB snares that were 15"x4" They are just incredible sounding drums, and I have been toying with the idea for some time. They seem best with a 4" or 4.5" depth.
 
mandrew said:
A search of you tube will bring up vintage Ludwig BB snares that were 15"x4" They are just incredible sounding drums, and I have been toying with the idea for some time. They seem best with a 4" or 4.5" depth.
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The metal shell 15" snares sound great in shallow sizes, if not a little one dimensional. We've gone much deeper with the stave shell. Partially because we can engineer out errant high overtones synonymous with many deeper shell drums, & partially because we want to engage as much lower register shell tone as possible.
 
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