Tell me of your top snares Usul

application : None...none at all. I'm just curious

I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has tapped on an old snare-side reso head (don't worry, sacrifical) and found..damn! that's as crisp as an ice cold appletini with a tab of lemon-flavored-meth garnish

I've seen every once in a while those half-snare? brushey looking wires that are mounted like an internal muffler (complete the little wire turds as it sheds)

but I've only recently become aware of internal top-snares for pipe and drum type applications

so tell me about your thoughts/experiences with top snares
uses? dynamics? tone?
just seems kind of interesting
 
Last edited:
bro I just had mushroom flashback after reading this..

I've read this 5x times now and I still don't know what it means
 
bro I just had mushroom flashback after reading this..

I've read this 5x times now and I still don't know what it means

shrooms are a totally different head...totally (name the sitcom? not the shrooms just the totally different head - totally)
LOL sorry guys

internal batter-head snares

here's what the little brush half snare kind looks like
snr.png

from what I understand the pipe and drum ones (the ones used in bagpipe bands and like that) are called top snares and the mechanism looks like this

MedalistTopStrainer.jpg
 
here's a little better view of a premier snare drum with top and bottom snares
 

Attachments

  • hts400ebc_4_1466_detail.jpg
    hts400ebc_4_1466_detail.jpg
    63.2 KB · Views: 7
Early 1970's I'm marching in drumline playing snare. Premier. Gut snares top and bottom. That's what EVERY drumline either played or lusted after.
 
Early 1970's I'm marching in drumline playing snare. Premier. Gut snares top and bottom. That's what EVERY drumline either played or lusted after.
so what was the overall experience like?

just from mucking about on the bottom of the drum it seems... i'm not even sure if hyper-sensitive is the word because it seems, in a way dynamically INsensitive in that it felt almost dynamically compressed(now granted, I wasn't laying into it b/c even though it was an old snare head, I didn't see any reason to beat it up)
The snares reacted fully at any level, super-dry, super crisp- very snare-y even wayy down quiet at pppp

I noticed that black swamp has incorporated a top snare as an option on their concert snares
 
so what was the overall experience like?

just from mucking about on the bottom of the drum it seems... i'm not even sure if hyper-sensitive is the word because it seems, in a way dynamically INsensitive in that it felt almost dynamically compressed(now granted, I wasn't laying into it b/c even though it was an old snare head, I didn't see any reason to beat it up)
The snares reacted fully at any level, super-dry, super crisp- very snare-y even wayy down quiet at pppp

I noticed that black swamp has incorporated a top snare as an option on their concert snares
It was 50 years ago. I don't remember exactly. I do remember the sound was much more precise than the traditional Ludwig snares with wire snares we used before the Premier were purchased. We had to do a lot of practicing to get 6 snares to sound like one. We used Connecticut Halftime, Downfall of Paris, and Grandfather's Clock as our cadences.
 
Last edited:
I can barely tolerate the necessary evil of snares on the reso. The thought of actually making stck contact with snares under the batter head almost causes me physical pain.
 
I can barely tolerate the necessary evil of snares on the reso. The thought of actually making stck contact with snares under the batter head almost causes me physical pain.
just play toms?
we can put together a gofundme and get you a djembe........and a hacky sack 🤪
 
Last edited:
It was 50 years ago. I don't remember exactly. I do remember the sound was much more precise than the traditional Ludwig snares with wire snares we used before the Premier were purchased. We had to do a lot of practicing to get 6 snares to sound like one. We used Connecticut Halftime, Downfall of Paris, and Grandfather's Clock as our cadences.
I can see that - the wife has a pearl symphonic and , I kinda get the cable snares now -- surgical in a way

with that crisp decay it does seem like the margins for slopping into it (like with a big wet backbeat sound) would be really thin

anyway, thanks for the perspective...I didn't realize they existed (beyond the half-snare brushie kind on say cocktail kits) until pretty recently

who knows maybe I'll actually start drumming.
 
I don't like enough snaredrums to OWN 15 or 20. I like 13" snare drums and only then if they don't sound like an auxiliary drum. I like precious few 13" drums but of all the snaredrums that get me excited the FEW have been 13's. SO..my favorite now is the D.W. 5.5x13 3mm aluminum snare. I'm still considering taking anti-depressents due to my lack of owning a Brady 7x13 lemon gum block drum. Just because I typed this I may have to untop a sierra torpedo.
 
I can see that - the wife has a pearl symphonic and , I kinda get the cable snares now -- surgical in a way

with that crisp decay it does seem like the margins for slopping into it (like with a big wet backbeat sound) would be really thin

anyway, thanks for the perspective...I didn't realize they existed (beyond the half-snare brushie kind on say cocktail kits) until pretty recently

who knows maybe I'll actually start drumming.
Correct: Wet sure ain't a sound you're gonna get.
 
Back
Top