Remo Snare Side Comparisons

Mr.L

Mr.L

Senior Member
So here's the deal.
I need to get a new snare side head, on my Ludwig BM StainlessSteel Snare. I'm gonna go with Remo, so my three choices are:

Diplomat Snare Side
Ambassador Snare Side
Emperor Snare Side

Just wondering if anyone could describe the sound qualities these heads have. I'm gonna check out Remo's website, but I'm curious about peoples' firsthand experiences with them.
 
I've always gone for a medium weight snare head and that's the 3mil Ambassador or Evans Hazy 300. This head should work well for any genre of music. If I'm playing a venue of mostly jazz, I might put on a 2 mil head for a bit greater snare sensitivity, but it's usually not a requirement. The 2 mil heads are very thin and not very durable. I never used a 5mil snare head, I really never saw the use unless you're in a marching band or you want more durability and increase sustain.

Dennis
 
I've tried all three. The Diplomat gave a great snare response, but kind of a papery sound to the drum. By that I mean I heard lots of snare but not so much drum. The Ambassador is my favorite, just because it seems to provide a good balance of responsiveness with the tone I want to hear from the drum. The Emperor wasn't a whole lot different than the Ambassador in terms of snare response, but gave the drum a tone I didn't prefer. Hard to describe drum sounds sometimes, but boxy is the closest I can come to describing it.

Thing is, they all sounded fine, it's just a matter of preference.

Hope that helps.
 
Sorry if I'm nagging...

Does anyone have sound samples? I've found sound samples of the Dips and Ambs but not the Emps, so if anyone's got anything I'd be grateful!
 
Sound samples aren't very sonically accurate unless they are well recorded, the snare is the same one used on all samples and they were recorded in a the same environment. Snare side heads are very inexpensive, get two or three and find out first hand what works well for you and your snare.

Dennis
 
audiotech said:
Sound samples aren't very sonically accurate unless they are well recorded, the snare is the same one used on all samples and they were recorded in a the same environment. Snare side heads are very inexpensive, get two or three and find out first hand what works well for you and your snare.

Dennis
Click to expand...

Haha... gotta admit I saw this coming...
I think I'm gonna go with the emperor. I like the idea of a snare side that is just a wee bit thicker than the ambassador. Thanks everyone!
 
The Emp SS is OK. If you mainly play hard, it's fine, and you probably won't hear a huge difference. Pretty much the same sensitivity, but IMO, it works better with more tension on it.

The Remo SS I use is an Ambassador No Collar. SA-0314-TD. It's listed under the marching heads, but it's regular Ambassador weight.

It looks like the Ludwig snare side, but it's a beefier sound (tested side by side, on 2 of the same drums).
I've used this head for many years now, and I love the sound.

http://remo.com/portal/products/3/9/84/308/ss_clear.html
 
KarlCrafton said:
The Emp SS is OK. If you mainly play hard, it's fine, and you probably won't hear a huge difference. Pretty much the same sensitivity, but IMO, it works better with more tension on it.

The Remo SS I use is an Ambassador No Collar. SA-0314-TD. It's listed under the marching heads, but it's regular Ambassador weight.

It looks like the Ludwig snare side, but it's a beefier sound (tested side by side, on 2 of the same drums).
I've used this head for many years now, and I love the sound.

http://remo.com/portal/products/3/9/84/308/ss_clear.html
Click to expand...

+1 on this - and thanks for the recommendation, BTW. This solved the low-butt issue on my Black Beauty *and* it sounds better than a regular SS Amb.
 
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