Snare Drums - A/B Comparison

longgun

Gold Member
Hey guys, this is a short demo / comparison of four of my snares......just to get an idea of the different sounds from each snare.

The snares are as follows:

1 - 14 x 5 Ludwig Supraphonic with tube lugs

2 - 14 x 6.5 Ludwig Black Magic

3 - 14 x 6.5 Bearing Edge Custom snare

4 - 14 x 8 DW Performance Steel snare


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cZ7fhoWJxHs


Will get some of my other snares up soon - only have four stands...


Let me know which one you like the best.........would love to hear some comments from you guys.....
 
Very cool idea. I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions. 1) Set all the drums up the same way ( heads, wires, tuning, etc) so we can get an accurate sense of the sonic differences. 2) Have one snare in the room at one time, so we don't get sympathetic vibrations/sounds from the other.
 
Very cool idea. I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions. 1) Set all the drums up the same way ( heads, wires, tuning, etc) so we can get an accurate sense of the sonic differences. 2) Have one snare in the room at one time, so we don't get sympathetic vibrations/sounds from the other.
The sympathetic resonances I can hear past, but I agree with the even tuning, as it helps you nail down what each drum brings to the party. May I also suggest having the camera an equal distance from each drum, as I'm picking up room & proximity variations.

Liking the idea of the A-B demo though. It's both useful & entertaining. Some nice drums there too :)
 
A/B demos are great! Thanks for posting the video - good comments so far... These demos take a lot of time - tweaking the drums, recording, etc. But they can be really informative.
 
I agree with the sentiments above. I love A/B vids! And while it takes a TON of time to try to get the snare drums as close in tuning/heads/snares etc, it is critical to being able to get a fair comparison.

I will say this though. When you did your rolls from one snare to the next at the end, it sounded awesome Now if only I could get 4 different snares set up on my kit to do that. :)

Thanks for sharing. Make some more. Even if you can't get them set up the same. I love this stuff.

If possible, as the comments above mention, try to keep the camera the same distance from each snare drum and go from snare drum to snare drum with as close to tuning as possible for all.
 
I don't really have much to add that everyone has not already said above. The internet really needs more of these great videos. Many people don't have a decent local music store to make these kinds of comparisons (or they just don't like braving into the war zone that is Guitar Center). Keep up the good work!
 
Very cool idea. I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions. 1) Set all the drums up the same way ( heads, wires, tuning, etc) so we can get an accurate sense of the sonic differences. 2) Have one snare in the room at one time, so we don't get sympathetic vibrations/sounds from the other.

....Thanks....great suggestions.....I threw this together rather quickly.....3 of them did have the same head and similar tunings, have to get a new head for the bearing edge snare.

I wanted to have them all (four of them) side by side, just to get a better A/B idea.....I'll probably turn the snares off on the other snares to reduce the sympathetic vibrations.
 
The sympathetic resonances I can hear past, but I agree with the even tuning, as it helps you nail down what each drum brings to the party. May I also suggest having the camera an equal distance from each drum, as I'm picking up room & proximity variations.

Liking the idea of the A-B demo though. It's both useful & entertaining. Some nice drums there too :)

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions......think I may sit down and retune all of thes tonight as well as order a couple new heads....then try it again.

Didn't think about the distance being an issue, but it only makes sense......going to have to enlist one of my sons as the cameraman and have him follow along.....
 
I'm personally not as bothered by the tuning. Not every snare is meant to be tuned the same. That being said, move the camera just in front in the middle, that would probably be the best you can do. If you happen to get some less muffled heads that let us hear more ring... :)
The Ludwigs sound best, especially the Supra.
 
That Supra sounded nice... My pet peeve is when snares are tensioned up too tight. They tend to sound the same when the heads are like a table top - medium tension is where you can hear more differences between drums...
 
Nice job and some tweaking may help but all,in all good job. Now for my money the Bearing Edge drum and the DW drum had snares too tight to the point of choking the drum. The second drum, the Luddy Black Magic sounded so much better to me than the others.
 
Nice job and some tweaking may help but all,in all good job. Now for my money the Bearing Edge drum and the DW drum had snares too tight to the point of choking the drum. The second drum, the Luddy Black Magic sounded so much better to me than the others.

Yeah, the BM was the most open, and probably my favorite by itself, but I've been using a 5" Supra a lot lately for a funkier style, and it works better. The BM has too much fullness and character, haha.
 
I'm personally not as bothered by the tuning. Not every snare is meant to be tuned the same. That being said, move the camera just in front in the middle, that would probably be the best you can do. If you happen to get some less muffled heads that let us hear more ring... :)
The Ludwigs sound best, especially the Supra.

....Thanks for the comments.........going to try and tune them up relatively the smae, just for the sake of a comparison and also work on the camera angles...........always liked the more "muffled" sound a dry head provides....child of the 80's

That Supra sounded nice... My pet peeve is when snares are tensioned up too tight. They tend to sound the same when the heads are like a table top - medium tension is where you can hear more differences between drums...

Thanks.....mine are usually tuned pretty tight....not like a marching snare, but just enough to provide a good crack

Nice job and some tweaking may help but all,in all good job. Now for my money the Bearing Edge drum and the DW drum had snares too tight to the point of choking the drum. The second drum, the Luddy Black Magic sounded so much better to me than the others.

Thanks..........I think the choking sound may have been due to the camera mic / angle.....they definitely don't sound choked in real life.........yep, for the price, the BM is one hell of a snare.

Yeah, the BM was the most open, and probably my favorite by itself, but I've been using a 5" Supra a lot lately for a funkier style, and it works better. The BM has too much fullness and character, haha.


Thanks....it is a great drum.......still prefer the supra.....but only slightly
 
A/B demos are great! Thanks for posting the video - good comments so far... These demos take a lot of time - tweaking the drums, recording, etc. But they can be really informative.


Your Welcome...Thanks for the comments.....going to do some tweaks and try it again soon


I agree with the sentiments above. I love A/B vids! And while it takes a TON of time to try to get the snare drums as close in tuning/heads/snares etc, it is critical to being able to get a fair comparison.

I will say this though. When you did your rolls from one snare to the next at the end, it sounded awesome Now if only I could get 4 different snares set up on my kit to do that. :)

Thanks for sharing. Make some more. Even if you can't get them set up the same. I love this stuff.

If possible, as the comments above mention, try to keep the camera the same distance from each snare drum and go from snare drum to snare drum with as close to tuning as possible for all.


Thanks....going to do another one soon....hopefully this weekend, as time is hard to come by nowadays


I don't really have much to add that everyone has not already said above. The internet really needs more of these great videos. Many people don't have a decent local music store to make these kinds of comparisons (or they just don't like braving into the war zone that is Guitar Center). Keep up the good work!

Thanks....always liked comparison vids myself so thought I'd give it a shot. Unfortunately, or fortunately, not sure which, the closest GC is a couple of hours away in Atlanta
 
I liked the Black Magic the best. It was tuned close to the way I tune, that's probably why. The others could probably get the same crisp sound. That's the only real way to compare them, same depth drums, tuned the same, same snare wire tension, with the same, non premuffled heads.

But thanks, I like comparison vids too.
 
Thanks for that! Even though tuned different etc. still quite useful. Overall sound I preferred the two Ludwigs, and even the Supra over the BB (even though I generally prefer a 6.5 over 5 depth).
Funny, I have a 5 x 14 Supra, and it always appears a little sharp and less throaty to me live (say relative to my 6.5 snare), but on recordings the Supra always sounds much better. I guess reason why its one of the most recorded drums.
 
I liked the Black Magic the best. It was tuned close to the way I tune, that's probably why. The others could probably get the same crisp sound. That's the only real way to compare them, same depth drums, tuned the same, same snare wire tension, with the same, non premuffled heads.

But thanks, I like comparison vids too.

Thanks for the comments....kind of surprises me that a lot of guys like that one the best.......it was the cheapest (least expensive) one.......great snare though

Thanks for that! Even though tuned different etc. still quite useful. Overall sound I preferred the two Ludwigs, and even the Supra over the BB (even though I generally prefer a 6.5 over 5 depth).
Funny, I have a 5 x 14 Supra, and it always appears a little sharp and less throaty to me live (say relative to my 6.5 snare), but on recordings the Supra always sounds much better. I guess reason why its one of the most recorded drums.

I wish it was a Black Beauty.....its a Black Magic....Ludwigs cheaper substitute.....great snare
 
Wow!

That was really cool.

I'd like to put in a request though. Could you play them with snares disengaged also? Its nice to hear drums both ways!

Looking forward to the next installment.

Oh, some nice gear there too!

Thanks.
 
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