Looking to purchase a new Snare Drum - thick 80's rock sound

[Sopranos]

I am looking to buy a new snare and would like some advice of some snare options that I should check out.

I'm going for that Def Leopard/Journey rock style of a pretty thick/dry sounding snare with still a decent crack. Ideally I don't want too much overtone as playing in a bedroom is already a challenge with the resonating effect.... and, I don't want to kill the snare tone with too much dampening either. Therefore, I would like to buy a quality snare where I don't have to moongel it to death.

Any advice on which snares to check out would be greatly appreciated!

TIA.

[drumhammerer]

my self made keller 7X14 10 ply maple snare gets that sound perfectly. With a Remo emperor x it gets a real fat sound and is rather dry with almost no overtones. However any quality deep maple or even birch snare will get you that sound. Stay away from the cheaper ones, because they tend to have alot more overtones and excessive ringing. Check out e-bay for some old Tama superstar birch snares, or maybe an old 8X14 Ludwig coliseum, as alot of those 80's players used those drums, although after High n Dry, all of Def Leppard's drums were programmed on their albums. Another possibility is the now discontinued Pearl Vinnie Paul snare. I've seen that one go for as little as 200$ on e-bay, and that's about as cheap as your gonna find a quality maple snare. Another way to get that sound is to use a clear Remo CS black dot head. Eric Carr from Kiss always used that head back in the 80's, and I think Steve Smith may have used it at one time too.

DH has it down ....sounds about right.

I recently scored an older (1969) Ludwig Challenger snare drum, 10x15 ...need I say more?!? :-) The great thing is this though ....I can use this on more songs than NOT actually! It doesn't have the articulation that my Acrolite does (5x14), but the BIG PHAT back-beat can NOT be stopped!! :-)

Also, ...look at trying any older maple snare from any manufacturer, anything from a 6.5" or deeper, and put a CLEAR head on it ...sounds dumb, but ....look at some old Pat Benatar videos ....Myron Grombacher used a 8x14 Ludwig snare (pretty sure) and you see him using a freaking Pinstripe on it! So...experiment, and have fun!

Remember,.... A LOT of Def Leppard stuff was augmented by electronics (snare sound) ...

[DrumEatDrum]

As others have said, you want a deep wood snare then.

Steve Smith used an 8" deep wood snare much of his time with Journey.

[gmrakich]

14x6.5 DW edge with remo vintage ambassador batter.
14x 6.5 Pork Pie Big Black with coated emperor.
Both big, fat 80's sound. I use both.

[Sopranos]

Thanks for the replies and great advice!

Would any of the Ludwigs Supras be able to capture that kind of sound or would it be too "tinny" because its metal?

[cornelius]

Eames 7x14 15 ply Master Model snare.

http://www.eamesdrumshells.com/

[DrumEatDrum]

Originally Posted by Sopranos

Thanks for the replies and great advice!

Would any of the Ludwigs Supras be able to capture that kind of sound or would it be to "tinny" because its metal?

Trying tuning it low, with either a thicker head, or a tiny bit of muffling, and see how it works.

Keep in mind, a big part of the "huge' sound of the 80s was in how the drums were mixed in the studio.

As mentioned, electronics also had a lot to do with it. On Def Leppards "Pyromania" album, the snare drum is a drum machine. By the mid 80's, many drummers were triggering sounds off their snare drum, or the engineer would use the drum track recorded to trigger other sounds and replace the sound on the tape.

[slingerlandfreak]

Premier Black Shadow 14x8, very nice, loud and powerfull,in the same time sensitive, wonderfull birch clear snare sound!!

[gwbaker]

A drum which would give you two options would be the Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute in the 7"X14" shell. It does possess significant overtones when used with an Ambassador but when you change to an Evans EC you get the 'down low'...dry tone fairly overtone free. It still will have a pretty cracking rim shot. I use this as one my snare set ups on my MCA kit for just the tone you've described.

[drumhammerer]

Originally Posted by Sopranos

Thanks for the replies and great advice!

Would any of the Ludwigs Supras be able to capture that kind of sound or would it be too "tinny" because its metal?

Yes, that's a good one too, although not as common in the 80's. Listen to Quiet Riot's "metal health". Frankie Banali used a 6.5 supra on that entire album, and on most of QR's albums. I actually use that drum more for my rock stuff than the maple drum. It takes a little more work to get that fat 80's sound because of it's inherent dryness and higher pitch, but just throw a coated emperor on there and tune it mid-range.

[T.Underhill]

The Vinnie Paul snare is now just 200 bucks on musiciansfriend. Check it out!