DW's $4000 True Cast Bell Bronze snare!

Heads up!

“Golden Boy” might go on sale due to payment for a second more needed kit.

Let us know - that sucker is a beauty and that's same size as my primary snare so I know for a fact that's a winner :-D
 

My opinion: It's a gorgeous drum! A work of art! .....but it sounds terrible. In fact, I think it's the worst sounding bell brass snare I've ever heard. I'm not even kidding.

The tone is all upper midrange, no bottom end to speak of, and has no real "crack" either, despite having an aggressive sound and lots of volume.

How is that even possible? DW managed to fit all the worst frequencies --and none of the good frequencies-- into one snare drum. And it's $4,000!

But that's just my opinion... (flame suit on)
The owners of the DW company drive really expensive cars so you need to pay so they can keep them :)
 
I saw the price and didn't even bother watching the video. Even if it sounded amazing. Why not spend a fraction of that on another top tier snare that sounds even better? And what do you think you could resell this for? 2k? 2.5 maybe?
 
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Not worth the price tag (by some distance) going by that video.
 
Don't worry fellas, you can get an Acrolite far cheaper and will probably cause far less b****ing on drum forums.
 
I've heard several Gretsch Bell Brass snares and they all sound awesome. Also 75% of the dollar amount John Good seems to think his is worth. I know the DW we're discussing is bronze not brass but that's just a difference in the addition of zinc or tin to the copper. Still to my ears the Gretsch sounds way better than the DW.

Gretsch Bell Brass snares are also bronze, not brass. Bell Brass/Bronze is the name of a specific alloy of bronze.
 
For $4000 bucks you'd think it would have an adjustable butt plate?
 
Gretsch Bell Brass snares are also bronze, not brass. Bell Brass/Bronze is the name of a specific alloy of bronze.

Bronze and brass are both alloys of copper. Bronze is copper and tin, brass is copper and zinc. One cannot be an alloy of the other.

I just learned something. Thanks.

No you didn't, unless taking in of mis-information is learning.
 
Bronze and brass are both alloys of copper. Bronze is copper and tin, brass is copper and zinc. One cannot be an alloy of the other.



No you didn't, unless taking in of mis-information is learning.
Bell bronze makes the best bells-so the tympani player who also plays bells told me. She said they make brass and bronze bells but bell bronze is best sounding and the purest form of bronze. Bell bronze make the best bells with a higher content of tin 20% or so-the rest copper. The higher tin makes it harder apparently-it magically makes best sounding bells. Brass will corrode I don't think bronze will?? I don't know if that same terminology applies to drums? I'm always wary of gimmicky drum notions. Like alloys of "stainless steel" encompasses a big range in metals with anti-corrosive properties.
 
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Bronze and brass are both alloys of copper. Bronze is copper and tin, brass is copper and zinc. One cannot be an alloy of the other.



No you didn't, unless taking in of mis-information is learning.
Thanks. That's what I always thought as I stated earlier in this post, but sometimes my thinking gets me in trouble. I thought maybe mpthomson indicated a marketing ploy of bell brass actually being bronze. You never know what a marketer will say to sell a product. Thanks for reaffirming my knowledge of brass vs bronze.
 
Gretsch Bell Brass snares are also bronze, not brass. Bell Brass/Bronze is the name of a specific alloy of bronze.
I own a Brooklyn Bell Brass and assumed it was actually Bell Bronze. So I sent the question to Gretsch thru Facebook, the answer I got was it is in fact a Cast Brass shell. I wanted it to be Bronze but it sounded awesome and I figured I'm not missing out on too much. They both have very similar characteristics.
 
Bell bronze makes the best bells-so the tympani player who also plays bells told me. She said they make brass and bronze bells but bell bronze is best sounding and the purest form of bronze. Bell bronze make the best bells with a higher content of tin 20% or so-the rest copper. The higher tin makes it harder apparently-it magically makes best sounding bells. Brass will corrode I don't think bronze will?? I don't know if that same terminology applies to drums? I'm always wary of gimmicky drum notions. Like alloys of "stainless steel" encompasses a big range in metals with anti-corrosive properties.
So we have :

Brass
Bronze
Bell brass
Bell bronze

- clear as a bell!
 
So we have :

Brass
Bronze
Bell brass
Bell bronze

- clear as a bell!

The last two are really just terms. Yes they make bells out of bronze and brass, but it's still just a formulation of bronze or brass. It's like saying drum wood, car metal, sidewalk concrete.

If I take bell bronze and make a cymbal out of it, does it magically become cymbal bronze?
 
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