Merlin5
Gold Member
I'm quite interested in aluminium snare drums at the moment. I know there's still a lot of popularity with the Supraphonic and Acrolite which I've listened to a lot of on youtube. They both sound good to me and sometimes I think the Supra sounds better and sometimes the Acrolite.
But I've also listened to other aluminium snares. Yamaha, Tama SLP, and Dixon. They all have the same centre bead design of the Ludwigs that runs around the centre line of the shell. They all sound great, good bark on the rimshots, and I'm not sure they sound different to me from the Ludwigs. So what exactly is so special about the Ludwigs compared to other brand aluminium snares that should make me want to spend similar money as a brand new drum, plus take on the wear and tear, chrome pitting and not so great P85 of an old snare drum? In other words, would you say to me "no definitely get an Acro/Supra!"?
By the way, little story. I owned a Ludwig 400 in the 1980s which eventually got stolen. I bought it because it was the same that Gadd used. It was a 1967 model. I only just found out it was a Supraphonic! In the UK, it was always just called the Ludwig 400 so I had no idea it was actually an LM400 and had never heard of Supraphonic. I never played rimshots back then and tuned it low like Gadd did and added a damping ring, so never got to play and hear it the way I would like to today with higher tuning and rimshots.
But I've also listened to other aluminium snares. Yamaha, Tama SLP, and Dixon. They all have the same centre bead design of the Ludwigs that runs around the centre line of the shell. They all sound great, good bark on the rimshots, and I'm not sure they sound different to me from the Ludwigs. So what exactly is so special about the Ludwigs compared to other brand aluminium snares that should make me want to spend similar money as a brand new drum, plus take on the wear and tear, chrome pitting and not so great P85 of an old snare drum? In other words, would you say to me "no definitely get an Acro/Supra!"?
By the way, little story. I owned a Ludwig 400 in the 1980s which eventually got stolen. I bought it because it was the same that Gadd used. It was a 1967 model. I only just found out it was a Supraphonic! In the UK, it was always just called the Ludwig 400 so I had no idea it was actually an LM400 and had never heard of Supraphonic. I never played rimshots back then and tuned it low like Gadd did and added a damping ring, so never got to play and hear it the way I would like to today with higher tuning and rimshots.