Ludwig Black Beauty

Robzildjian

Member
Hi drumming friends,

I have a ludwig black beauty 6.5 which is about 2 years old. I have only recently started to play it and it sounds absolutely great and is very precise and sharp sounding at low to med volumes. At high volumes tough it sounds slightly mushy and unclear. Any ideas what I should do? It has coated emporer batter, ambassador snare side on the bottom and pure sound snares. My dream set up. I have many snares and have not had a problem like this before.

Thoughts and guidance greatly appreciated from anyone who has experienced this.

Thanks

Rob
 
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I think you'll get better dynamic response from a 1-ply head, and with apologies to those who like Puresound wires... I find that my snares sound their best with $10 Pearl/Gibraltar wires. If I get a used snare with Puresounds, they get replaced immediately with cheap wires.

Bermuda
 
I also haven’t had much luck with Puresounds... Definitely medium weight heads and at higher tunings, make sure the snare side head is really tight. IME that brings out bottom end out of the drum...
 
Agreed with the tighter snare side, you'll get more dynamic range. With a medium tension, it just soaks up the harder strokes and doesn't kick back with whack, crack or smack... and that's a fack, Jack!!
 
I think you'll get better dynamic response from a 1-ply head, and with apologies to those who like Puresound wires... I find that my snares sound their best with $10 Pearl/Gibraltar wires. If I get a used snare with Puresounds, they get replaced immediately with cheap wires.

Bermuda

X2 on the head and snare wires. I found the Ludwig snare wires sounded great with the BB.
 
Yep. "Normal" snare wires are the way to go. Puresounds aren't as crisp and snappy.

Also, yeah, a coated one-ply batter head is the way to go. I put a coated Emperor on mine when I got it, thinking it was going to be the sound I wanted, but after a few gigs I went back to the coated Ambassador, and it sounded a WHOLE lot better!

Cheers on a great drum!
 
Also, yeah, a coated one-ply batter head is the way to go. I put a coated Emperor on mine when I got it, thinking it was going to be the sound I wanted, but after a few gigs I went back to the coated Ambassador, and it sounded a WHOLE lot better!

I didn't want to make this an Evans plug, but they're the exception when it comes to a 2-ply working on a snare. My absolute favorite snare head is the SuperTough, which is a coated 2-ply 7/7.5mil (the Emperor is 7/7mil), yet it's lively and bright. Don't know why it would be so different from the Remo, it just is. I use it on 9/10 snares, probably the only thing it doesn't want to do is delicate orchestral work.

Bermuda
 
Cheap snare wires sound? Well Cheap. I gotta box full of 'em. Quality drum, Quality heads cheap wires. huh? oh yeah! Evans heads on Ludwig metal Snares, no thanks.
 
The Ludwig L1929 and L1930 snare wires look identical to the Gibraltar 16/20 strand wires, with the exception of the "Ludwig" stamp.

Part of the sound of the BB/Supra is often described as "trashy", and it's one of the more endearing and sought after attributes. The P85 and jangly snare wires contribute to that particular facet in a big way.
 
Coated 2ply is perfect for low to medium tunings but will be choked up high. If you plan on running high tunings go back to 1ply. I happen to really like pure sounds. I'd try a head change before You scrap your wires.
 
All the snares I've had, a remo cs always sufficed, fairly tight standard wires, cranked bottom hazy and vary top tension accordingly.

I don't have a bb but I have had similar and the remo cs for me at least, makes everything sound good. I'm sure you know plenty about snares and how to set em up, maybe give the cs a try with some cheap wires
 
Ludwig stock heads and wires for me on my BB. Crank reso and good to go.
 
For me I use Remo ambassadors and stock wires and mine sounds lovely. Great body and sensitivity.

Feel that's a good base to play with as it's a very adapting snare. Wouldn't use a 2 ply batter head myself as you're somewhat limiting yourself- the snare has an internal muffler for that.
 
Same here but the Ludwig batter heads have gone the way of the Dodo bird.
I do have a nice stockpile of Ludwig medium coated and snare side heads, though.

Ludwig is still making their own 12/13/14" snare batters (med coated) and snare sides (and timpani and concert bass drum heads as well.)

Bermuda
 
Thanks for your thoughts on this. So the best sound to my ear was ambassador coated batter, ambassador hazy snare head, original ludwig wires. Not very ground breaking choices but I tried many options and this is it. The drum sounds fantastic. Often the old ways are the best I find.
 
What was the final touch was replacing snare chords for Mylar straps which have really improved the sharpness and taken away the slight mushiness. This has surprised me as I have always used quality chords but I guess the straps are thinner and hold the snares closer to the head.

Thanks for all the input guys. I have the snare sound I was looking for now.
 
Ambassador Coated is always my go-to when I need to replace a snare batter head.


Thanks for your thoughts on this. So the best sound to my ear was ambassador coated batter, ambassador hazy snare head, original ludwig wires. Not very ground breaking choices but I tried many options and this is it. The drum sounds fantastic. Often the old ways are the best I find.
 
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