Just 1 more snare ahead or black magic or BOB

braincramp

Gold Member
The more I read here about the Black Beauty the more I want one , however just can't see paying 500+ for 1 drum.. So what is my best option The Black Magic,Pork's BOB, Ahead Black on brass or something entirely different like maybe a used Tama trackmaster..I really dont want to spent much more then 300... I really like all the snares that I have and I may be chasing my tail here but feel I'm still looking for thee one snare that I just cant do without... I went through this with cymbals rotating for the past couple years and have gotten to the point where I really don't think I can improve my cymbal set-up...
 
The knock offs, from what I gather, are wonderful. I do have a Pearl Sensitone Elite Brass, (under 300 USD) that sounds about the same as a BB. There will always be slight variations between drums, but nothing huge. It's all about how you head, tune, and especially hit the drum anyway.
Just about any brass drum will sound frighteningly close to the same size BB given the same heads/ tuning/ touch.
I would recommend the 6.5" depth over the 5" depth though.
It's not magic, it's just a brass drum.
 
The knock offs, from what I gather, are wonderful. I do have a Pearl Sensitone Elite Brass, (under 300 USD) that sounds about the same as a BB. There will always be slight variations between drums, but nothing huge. It's all about how you head, tune, and especially hit the drum anyway.
Just about any brass drum will sound frighteningly close to the same size BB given the same heads/ tuning/ touch.
I would recommend the 6.5" depth over the 5" depth though.
It's not magic, it's just a brass drum.

I do have a 5" brass shell for my Pearl free floater its 6 1/2" total and I really like it however I prefer my walnut stave I got thats made for the FF over the brass shell. So wow chances are the sound difference wont be huge then from the brass FF to a BB knockoff?
 
I have a Pearl Sensitone like Larry. Mine's a 6.5x14. I don't think it matters all that much which BB knock off you choose (although I like the Ahead with its S-Hoops) since they all sound pretty dang good. I've never owned a BB, though, so I can't speak to how close they are but for $230, my Pearl is pretty sweet!
 
I have the Ahead. Awesome snare, if you like those sort of things.....​
I, however, do not subscribe to the one snare mentality. Or one that I just can't do without. I own 7 right now. I could give "any" of them up. right now, no big deal. I could still get by with 6.​
The snare I play the most, right now, my Omar Hakim.​
 
I don't know. I kinda' subscribe to the one drum mentality though. They've all been steel, or the Ludwig aluminums (Supras, Acros). My current being the Tama Masterclass steel. I would think if you needed more than one, if you have a metal one, get a wood one, then you can say you definitely have a different sound. Although I think the difference would be really subtle.
 
I've heard "inferior" seamed brass shelled drums that sounded just fantastic. Brass is just a great snare drum material. Come to think of it, a complete set of brass drums would just melt your face I bet...
I don't own one, but it seems to me that the Black Magic, if it shares the exact same brass alloy as the BB, would be the best choice of the knock offs. If it is a different alloy then I don't know...
 
The more I read here about the Black Beauty the more I want one , however just can't see paying 500+ for 1 drum.. So what is my best option The Black Magic,Pork's BOB, Ahead Black on brass or something entirely different like maybe a used Tama trackmaster..

I own a BB....IMHO, it actually is everything it's cracked up to be....I LOVE that drum. I can't speak for Ahead or the Pork Pie (never tried them), but I did have a tinker around on the Black Magic at a local store recently. In short, I liked the drum....not totally dissimilar to the BB, but the die cast hoops and (I'm guessing) the seemed shell did seem to dry it out a shade........nice indeed, but to my ear, didn't seem as sharp and cutting as the BB.

A nice, workable drum? Yes.......But personally I'd never trade my BB for a knock off. It's worth noting that I do have a romantic attachment to Luddy snares though, so there is no doubt a high degree of bias to my taste in snare drums.

As for the US$500 price tag??? Pffft.....I invite you to come out to Oz for a visit. We'll spend a week scouring drum stores and I'll guarantee that after a week of checking out our "list prices", you'll determine that 500 US dollars is but a drop in the ocean. A 14 x 6.5 BB in this drumming backwater will set you back around $1000 to $1200 Aussie dollars (current cross rate = 98 US cents to 1 Aussie dollar....yep, it just don't add up!!). My Yankee drumming brothers are holding all the chips when it comes to price. :)
 
I own a BB....IMHO, it actually is everything it's cracked up to be....I LOVE that drum. I can't speak for Ahead or the Pork Pie (never tried them), but I did have a tinker around on the Black Magic at a local store recently. In short, I liked the drum....not totally dissimilar to the BB, but the die cast hoops and (I'm guessing) the seemed shell did seem to dry it out a shade........nice indeed, but to my ear, didn't seem as sharp and cutting as the BB.

A nice, workable drum? Yes.......But personally I'd never trade my BB for a knock off. It's worth noting that I do have a romantic attachment to Luddy snares though, so there is no doubt a high degree of bias to my taste in snare drums.

As for the US$500 price tag??? Pffft.....I invite you to come out to Oz for a visit. We'll spend a week scouring drum stores and I'll guarantee that after a week of checking out our "list prices", you'll determine that 500 US dollars is but a drop in the ocean. A 14 x 6.5 BB in this drumming backwater will set you back around $1000 to $1200 Aussie dollars (current cross rate = 98 US cents to 1 Aussie dollar....yep, it just don't add up!!). My Yankee drumming brothers are holding all the chips when it comes to price. :)

I threw 500 out there not as much for the price of a BB but as a price I currently refuse to pay for a snare drum...but wow you guys have been a great help thanks.... It looks price will end up deciding for me.. and my intrest is now peeked to check out an Omar snare I hear alot of good stuff about them including this link though I've always preferred the 14" size.
 
I threw 500 out there not as much for the price of a BB but as a price I currently refuse to pay for a snare drum...but wow you guys have been a great help thanks.... It looks price will end up deciding for me.. and my intrest is now peeked to check out an Omar snare I hear alot of good stuff about them including this link though I've always preferred the 14" size.

I think price is a good thing to go by as long as you won't longingly look back at 'the one that got away'.

Not one player here has sad anything disparaging about some of the BB knockoffs. I own a 5.5 x 14 Yamaha Paul Leim snare and it's a great BB knockoff. Check out Paul Leim gushing on You Tube about it. All of these drums will be satisfying drums to play.

The other side of it is getting down to a player's personal experiences and as I read on another forum, the psychological aspect of owning the drum you choose. If you think you'll always be longing for a Black Beauty, then save your pennies and enjoy what you own until you can afford the top-o-the-line Luddie.

I'll tell you what I did. I had a hankering for a Black Beauty myself. I live in the Southern California area and decided to combine a trip taking my daughter to an event she was attending with a trip to Todd Trent's drum shop in Ontario, California about an hour away. I brought my Paul Leim model with me with the intent of buying a new batter head for it and installing it while in the shop.

Totally worthwhile trip. The shop had a bunch of nice snare drums, wood and metal with plenty of brand new Ludwig snares (Supra 6.5 and 5 x14, Black Beauty 5 and 6.5 x 14, Black Magic 5 x 14). I bought the head (Remo CS Coated Underside Dot if it matters) and tuned up the Paul Leim snare. I tried to tune as closely to pitch to the snare I was test tapping against.
The short version of this story is that I came away hearing a more pleasing sound to my ears from my Paul Leim brass snare then the equivalent BB model (5 x 14). There were some variables. The Ludwig had a single ply Ludwig coated head (Luddies reso also) that is stock on these drums and I was playing a CS Dot head. Also the BB closest to mine was a 5 x 14. I also had Puresound 16 strand snare wires on mine (inquiring minds want to know).
However - I also came away with some other feelings. One being that I did see the 6.5 x 14 BB as able to get a closer sound than my Paul Leim. That's not being completely fair in assessment as their is an equivalent Paul Leim model in 6.5 size. I didn't have one of that size to compare so it could have gone either way if I did. I just new that my PL 5.5 x 14 sounded sweeter than the Ludwig of the same size.
I do believe a 6.5 x 14 BB is in my future. I'm just not chomping at the bit yet. I do know that I love my Acrolite and that when throwing any of these drums under a recording mike, you may start to hear differences that make a BB really work and others 'kind of' work - but I can't say that absolutely. I have no direct experience with it.

Side note: The drum that sounded best overall to me that day was a 6 or 6.5 x 14 George Way maple drum. I REALLY wanted to walk out of the store with that drum but....common sense won the day. :p

So to conclude this small novella: get the drum you feel makes sense of the choices that are listed. Replace the stock heads with your fav (Mine are Aquarian Texture Coated, Evans Coated Reverse Power Dot and Remo Coated CS Underside Dot) and tune it up in a good sounding room. I predict plenty of joy.

Jim
 
Sounds like I finally need a road trip to Dales drum shop, its about 1 1/2 hours away from me..ordered my 3007's there and the guy on the phone told me I should come by the shop I'm so close its suppose to be awesome a drummers paradise..there are a couple GC's and mom pop shops close but none with a big snare selection... after reading some postings one thing I did was dig out my old brass shell for my Pearl Free Floater slapped on a new G1 and spent some time tuning and was pretty amazed just how good this thing sounds, I've had the walnut stave shell in so long I was thinking of selling the brass shell... guess I'll keep'm both now... I to love my acrolite been using it at practice... best $79 I ever spent.
 
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