I don't understand the hate. Or the desire to have a non-matching snare. Furthermore, I don't buy it.
No one ever puts into words what exactly they DON'T like about the stock snare. Its always just "garbage", or "not my sound", or "I just don't like it".
Adjectives fly when describing bad sounding toms or kick. Flat, boxy, cardboard boxes, Tupperware, too sharp, plastic-y, boingy, no attack, too much attack, the list goes on.
The snare, IMO, is the easiest drum to make sound right. I have played some pretty awful gear since I started in 91. The snare is never the problem. Obviously I don't share the same sentiment about stock snares.
With all the different heads, snare wire thickness and material options, and tuning ranges a snare can do, I just don't see it. I'm calling BS, or even snare drum snobbery. A different snare won't make anyone a better or worse player.
This thought came about in another thread where someone was looking for a stock Gretsch snare. All the replies ignored the question and immediately went to "it's garbage". No explanation as to why, just that it's garbage.
So I ask, without using the word garbage, can anyone describe in real terms as to why stock snares are bad? I don't think they really are.
Simply put, most stock snares above entry level aren't bad. Most are good/great, from intermediate and higher-up kits, and even *some* entry-level ones. I think it's become a thing to
assume stock snares are terrible because, for so many years, and mostly with beginner's kits, they were. There's more to a snare drum than with the others- strainer, beds (or lack of, on some cheap kits' snares), wires, etc, so lack of attention to detail on those, combined with the fact that it's the loudest drum on the kit, really make sonic issues stand way out.
It's pretty simple. When you buy a kit, the one drum with the highest probability of not sounding the way you want is the snare. Who buys a complete drum set for the snare drum? So the most logical thing to do is replace it with a snare that sounds right.
I always assumed the reference to "garbage" stock snares was with regards to less expensive kits, which often can still have great sounding toms and bass drums.
All snare's don't sound the same. Buy the one that makes you want to play.
Agreed- with experienced players, the stock snare often doesn't give you want you want, but often, and especially with drummers who have learned how to tune & maintain their instrument, it's high-enough quality that it's fine. Those who want metal when the stock is wood or vice-versa, or simply a different wood or metal, have a reason to change it that's not based on quality.
My personal experiences: I liked my '91 Tama Rockstar steel stock snare that admittedly had a bit of a funky Alex Van Halen ring to it (which I addressed in, I think, a recent metal snares thread) that I kinda liked- suitable for the noisy rock bands I was in at the time- but made it not very versatile. I found a great deal some years later on a 5.5x14 10-lug Legend maple snare (probably discontinued, new/old stock) which was my first long-term up-close introduction to a high-quality drum. It sounded fantastic, so I used it for years. I also used a Pearl 3.5x13 brass piccolo for certain other musical situations.
Once I bought my next kit a dozen years later, Pacific CX (my gig kit for years, now a rehearsal kit), even with the stock heads, I tuned up the 5x14 8-lug snare and was pleasantly surprised that it sounded the same as the Legend drum, so I used it for a while. Had to upgrade the batter side rim because the thin (likely 1.6mm) stock rim didn't give me great cross-stick sound. A 2.3mm Gibraltar rim resulted in that stock snare giving me everything the Legend did (even with its die-cast rims), so several years later, I sold the Legend on eBay.
I briefly had a Sonor 3003 kit (maple/basswood) because I got a
great deal on it used, and the 5x14 stock snare sounded pretty good. I sold the kit after a few months because I got a great offer, and I wasn't into the basswood, and I'd kinda bought it with intent to resell it anyway. But if I had plans to use it, I don't think I'd have felt the need to replace the snare. (I did play 1 gig with the kit and loaned it to an uncle for another, and the stock snare sounded fine.)
My next and current gig kit is a Mapex Pro M maple kit, and the 8-lug stock snare sounds just as great as the Pacific and Legend snares. It's my gig snare in most venues.
I do sometimes use a 6x14 10-lug Ahead COB snare because I wanted another metal snare (not because the maple stock snare is lacking, but just to have one in the arsenal) and I prefer brass over other metals. I got a fantastic deal- around $100, because, oddly, there's an allen-wrench-adjustable something-or-other inside each end of the tube lugs, accessible only from inside the drum unless you remove it altogether (it's down inside its... um, what's that part of a lug called, that goes through the shell- mounting post?), and one of them was loose so the lug screw receiver would spin and not allow the lug to tension very much. I think the seller thought it was broken, as did I when I got it home and discovered this. I called Big Bang Distribution to order a replacement, and the rep talked me through checking it- sure enough, it was just loose. The beast is
loud (yet sweet-sounding), so I use it for outdoor gigs. But I digress...
I also just recently sold a Yamaha SD-246 (8 lug entry-level- I forget if it came with a kit or in student snare kits) that sounded great- as good as any pro-level steel snare I've heard. I only sold it because I also have a vintage Tama Imperialstar (steel, 10 lugs, die-cast hoops and fancier strainer) that sounds just as good and is more durable. I haven't yet gigged with it yet because, ironically, one of the lugs' mount posts broke, and I haven't found a suitable replacement part.
So, the only stock snare I felt I
needed to replace was that '91 Rockstar steel snare. None of my subsequent stock snares have been "garbage"- they have been great, rivaling pro level drums. Price isn't always an indicator; I love Tama still, but the Starclassic Performer birch snare at the store I worked at in '05 left a lot to be desired. It sounded boxy and cheap. All the aforementioned snares sounded better, even the Sonor maple/basswood.