How to choose myself a snare.

HBCast

Junior Member
So i'm going to buy a new drumkit , and i can say that i pretty much chose the kit , which is the Tama Starclassic Performer B/B , and i'll probbably get it in a Dark Cherry fade finish.

the thing is , that i'm having a hard time choosing a snare.

I got recommendations for so many different good snares and i play a few good ones but , maybe i'm not proffesional enough - sometimes i can bearly hear any difference between some snare (the good ones.). and i just don't know what to choose.

My budget is around 3,000 USD , though i can make it bigger with some begging to my parents haha (i'm 15)

So please can anyone help and tell me how do i make the right choice?
 
You know, the Starclassic B/B snares aren't a bad place to start either. Why not get a matching snare for your kit?

But usually if you had a wood one, and a metal one, between those you can cover alot of ground with just a change in material. I have, aluminum, brass, and maple snares, but the aluminum usually gets the nod for any work that I do. But I like the look of a complete kit with a matching snare as a good starting point. Or if you can't do that, a Ludwig Supraphonic or Acrolite will never sound out-of-place for whatever you do.
 
I'll chime in for the Ludwig Supra also. I've never heard a snare that I like better than my LM402. While it isn't the only good option out there, I've heard - and owned - plenty that sound worse. Just an excellent all-arounder. I'll never get rid of mine and it sees more action on my kit than any other snare I own.
 
The Worldmax Black Dawg has been a workhorse for me, and a favorite of producers I work with.

The Yamaha Brass Noveau (7x14) is a beast at lower tunings, as well as the Anton Fig custom.

Pearl makes excellent snares as well. If you get the free floating snare, you can get a a wood and metal shell, and have two drums at your disposal with one frame.

Obviously, you can't go wrong with the Ludwig Black Beauty or Supraphonic.

Get your hands on as many of those drums as you can before making a decision.
 
LM400 and LM402 are both so nice. I worry a little though, that at such a young age, starting out with the best might leave you no where to go but down- as in disappointed.

Maybe find something used and learn to tune and find your sound first? I am still learning to tune and finding my sound.
 
LM400 and LM402 are both so nice. I worry a little though, that at such a young age, starting out with the best might leave you no where to go but down- as in disappointed.

Maybe find something used and learn to tune and find your sound first? I am still learning to tune and finding my sound.

On the flipside to this line of thought though, I was lucky enough to be given one of my old man's spare 400's when I was just starting out. Owning that snare meant that I never had to suffer through the kind of cheap generic steel snares that came with my early kits and never had to rush in order to upgrade one of the most prominant voices on a drum kit. If anything, having that snare and good cymbals from the outset taught me to differientiate between quality sounds and those that didn't measure up, sooner rather than later.

Tuning must be learned as a matter of course anyway. A Supra is as good as any other drum to learn on.....may even be better given that 99 times out of 100, a bad sounding Supra is a fault of the tuner and not the drum. I agree there is no need for a beginner to leap right into a 5 thousand dollar drum kit.....but a used Supra and some used pro level cymbals can be a staple on any kit and will both likely still be with you in years to come. I wouldn't necessarily consider it an item that needs to be earned through rite of passage.
 
LM400 and LM402 are both so nice. I worry a little though ...
On the flipside to this line of thought though ... a used Supra and some used pro level cymbals can be a staple on any kit and will both likely still be with you in years to come. I wouldn't necessarily consider it an item that needs to be earned through rite of passage.
400s and 402s are very nice drums, but the real beauty is that they're not at all rare finds on the used market and are very affordable - even new they're not ridiculous. Great snare to build a kit around and a great snare to start the collection off with and that won't ever need to be flipped. All Jules' other reasons ring true with me as well.
 
Every time I've replaced a snare it's because I was tired of the one I was using. Does your kit come with a b/b snare? I'd first see how you go with that one. If/when you get tired of it go get a brass drum.

I have 5 snares... every time I swap one... I end up putting my black beauty back on the stand lol. The rest of them are wood... I think I must be a metal guy. Or I need some nicer wood snares.
 
So please can anyone help and tell me how do i make the right choice?

Don't get hung up on making the "right choice". Music is art, and everybody has their preferences. Do what's right for you and your ears.

With that said, you can't go "wrong" with a Supraphonic, and the Tama B/B snares are nice as well. Actually, there are MANY nice snares out there. If you get a chance to play on a bunch of them side-by-side-by-side, that's the best scenario, as you can start eliminating drums you don't want, and can focus on the qualities you DO want.
 
LM400 and LM402 are both so nice. I worry a little though, that at such a young age, starting out with the best might leave you no where to go but down- as in disappointed.

17 here. Doing enough research and discussion helped me figure out what I wanted from a drum and get that. Unfortunately I don't think the OP wants to wait a year or two lurking around drum forums learning about this stuff by osmosis :). But, I did learn what I wanted, and I bought it- a stave snare. It taught me to take care of my gear since, you know, $500 snare, and it has done anything but quell my desire for more drums. There are always more voices to find.

I would recommend that the OP get something he is really excited about so he can take care of it and learn to treat equipment properly (not saying he doesn't already but it always helps to learn respect for your instrument if you don't already have it).

On topic, actually, what do you want from your drum? I can't recommend stave snares enough for any louder-volume stuff, but you might want a ply snare right now so when you get a stave you can appreciate the difference!
 
If you're going for a single snare, get the extremely versatile Ludwig Supraphonic. If you need a full scale of different snare sounds, get a shallow (3"-5") brass snare and a deeper (5,5"-8") maple snare.
 
As someone pointed out you could also go with a Ludwig Acrolite. The used prices on those things are ridiculous in the US - if that's where you're from? Probably the best value for money you can find.

I have one and I love it. Pretty much similar to a Supra in every way, except looks.
 
An Acrolite or a Supra are a great place to start, and a great place to end! If you have one (or both), you will never need anything else, except maybe a maple 5" for variety.
 
I live in Israel and i'm not sure i can get a Ludwig Snare in a good price , i need to check out some stuff.
can you guys give me recommendations for good snares that match my kit that are from companies like
yamaha , tama , mapex , gretsch..
How do you think a Tama Starphonic Aluminium 6x14 will work out for me?
 
I'm 36. I've played music for 30 years at this point, but didn't pick up the drums until a few years ago.

When I got my first kit the shells for the rest of the kit was the first things I saved on. I want a US custom in the future, but I picked up a Cataline maple, which is a very inexpensive kit. I spent my money mainly on cymbals, hardware and some nice snares.

Though there is a difference in quality with the toms and bass drum it certainly doesn't reflect the price difference.

I don't think I'd shell out thousands of $ unless I was sure what I wanted based on experience.


Snares are a personal taste thing. A bunch of the more popular ones are based on very similar designs and materials where each barnd usually has a slightly different way to do it. Then come the heads, tuning and snares, who all make a huge difference.

If you want specific recommendations, you'd have to describe or give examples of the type of sound you're after, being aware that on a lot of recordings the snares are heavily processed.
 
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