Rosewood snare!

[slingerlandfreak]

I am searching for deep low end snare sound and love the sound of Brady Jarrah block snares, especially 13x7, but it is in this moment too much money for me, so i look for alternative options.
What do you guys think about rosewood snares ?
How do they sound compared to Brady Jarrah ?
I found one site where i can buy rosewood stave shell to build my own custom snare
http://www.stdrums.de/

[shwoz]

i believe that wood is more of a mahogany type.
anyone else have some input?

[Solaris]

Jarrah has heaps of high end as well. I have a 14x5 Brady 10 ply Jarrah snare and I love it. I have it tuned medium to high all the time, though I have experimented with tuning it low and works really well as a fat back-beat type snare.

One of my friends has a Metro (which are another boutique Australian drum manufacturer) 14x9 Jarrah block snare and I have to say it is the fattest thing I've ever heard. HUGE tuning range, you can crank it right up and it still has balls the size of monster trucks.

I'd wait and see if you could pick one up second hand for cheap.

[Deathmetalconga]

Originally Posted by Solaris

Jarrah has heaps of high end as well. I have a 14x5 Brady 10 ply Jarrah snare and I love it. I have it tuned medium to high all the time, though I have experimented with tuning it low and works really well as a fat back-beat type snare.

One of my friends has a Metro (which are another boutique Australian drum manufacturer) 14x9 Jarrah block snare and I have to say it is the fattest thing I've ever heard. HUGE tuning range, you can crank it right up and it still has balls the size of monster trucks.

I'd wait and see if you could pick one up second hand for cheap.

The construction method matters a lot. Block and ply drums have a much bigger sound than ply, all other things being equal.

[Aeolian]

Found some interesting information on the net. There is a standard called Janka hardness. Mostly used for measuring how easily dented flooring is. Here are some interesting relative comparisons.

White Pine 380
Douglas Fir 660
Honduran Mahogany 800
Cocobolo 1136
Red Oak 1290
Rock Maple 1450
Sweet Birch 1470
Rosewood 1780
Purpleheart 1860
Jarrah 1910
Bubinga 1980
Sydney Blue Gum 2023
Brazilian Koa 2160
Ebony 3220
Lignum vitae 4500

So, Purpleheart, Jarrah and Bubinga are all pretty close. I don't know what species of Gum is used in the Gretsch shells, but all the ones I found were harder than maple or birch, which are pretty close to each other all things considered. I have seen many comments about the "softer" gumwood in classic Gretsch shells rounding out the sound compared to an all maple shell. But it would seem that the actuality is closer to having a layer of the much more cork sniffy Bubinga or Jarrah.