The new Pearl Sensitone Heritage Alloy snares

IBitePrettyHard

Senior Member
At first, I thought Pearl was just rebranding their Sensitones by adding Heritage to the name. They look practically identical, except with standard lugs instead of tube lugs. But I just realized...

They're all seamless! (none of the previous Sensitones were seamless, except for the Aluminum IIRC)

Yes, even the Heritage Steel snare is seamless! A seamless steel snare that only costs $240. 😮

Their seamless Heritage brass 14x5" is $379, which is $320 less than a Ludwig Black Beauty. $320 less!

I wonder if they'll sound different than the previous generation of Sensitones, being that they aren't welded.


There still aren't any good demos of the new Sensitone Heritage snares, other than the official Pearl promo videos, which I always take with a grain of salt.

Is this a big deal or no?

UPDATE: It appears that Sweetwater (where I read that they were seamless) made a mistake on their end. Only the Aluminum is seamless.

UPDATE #2:

 
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Unfortunately, there's nothing on Pearl's website about any Sensitone being seamless other than the aluminum. :( I think this IS just a very slight re-branding to correspond with/justify the change in lugs.
 
Unfortunately, there's nothing on Pearl's website about any Sensitone being seamless other than the aluminum. :( I think this IS just a very slight re-branding to correspond with/justify the change in lugs.
It's odd that it isn't on their site because every Heritage snare says seamless on Sweetwater.

"The Sensitone Heritage Alloy steel snare drum features a 1mm seamless beaded shell..."

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-heritage-alloy-snare-drum-14-by-5-inch-steel
 
It's odd that it isn't on their site because every Heritage snare says seamless on Sweetwater.

"The Sensitone Heritage Alloy steel snare drum features a 1mm seamless beaded shell..."

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-heritage-alloy-snare-drum-14-by-5-inch-steel

Their Aluminum shells have been seamless for a long time from what I recall...... I think that is a Sweetwater mis-print on the Steel is my guess.

You can see below they still list the Aluminum as seamless.. . but the steel, brass and bronze they do not : https://pearldrum.com/products/snares/sensitone/heritage-alloy-aluminum
 
Online retailers, including Sweetwater, 99.9% just copy and paste product descriptions from the manufacturer. Loads of descriptions you read on those sites have little inaccuracies because there’s no budget for anyone to verify each of those details. Something like this where one version may have a technical difference from otherwise similar versions…
 
Their seamless Heritage brass 14x5" is $379, which is $320 less than a Ludwig Black Beauty. $320 less!
well you don’t buy a black beauty because it’s a seamless brass drum, you get it because it’s a black beauty, there is more to a drum than its construction
 
At first, I thought Pearl was just rebranding their Sensitones by adding Heritage to the name. They look practically identical, except with standard lugs instead of tube lugs. But I just realized...

They're all seamless! (none of the previous Sensitones were seamless, except for the Aluminum IIRC)

Yes, even the Heritage Steel snare is seamless! A seamless steel snare that only costs $240. 😮

Their seamless Heritage brass 14x5" is $379, which is $320 less than a Ludwig Black Beauty. $320 less!

I wonder if they'll sound different than the previous generation of Sensitones, being that they aren't welded.

There still aren't any good demos of the new Sensitone Heritage snares, other than the official Pearl promo videos, which I always take with a grain of salt.

Is this a big deal or no?
DCP descriptions omits "seamless" in their description in the brass model.
 
It looks like the seamless thing was fake news. Sweetwater messed up on their website.

This is a screenshot from the DCP video of the Sensitone Steel. That looks like a seam to me. :(

VqVoAyt.png
 
Seam or no seam, Sensitone snares are amazing drums. They're no longer quite the incredible value they once were, as their price has caught up to and grown with the rest of the industry, but they are flawlessly built and sound great.
 
I'm still not sure I really hear a big difference between a seamless and with a seam, do you?
 
well you don’t buy a black beauty because it’s a seamless brass drum, you get it because it’s a black beauty, there is more to a drum than its construction
It sounds like you’re saying the badge, and the bragging rights to go with it, are just as important as the construction of the shell. Yes?
 
They sound identical to the previous Sensitones. That's not a bad thing, they sounded great before, but it would've been nice to see something new with this Heritage line.

It's basically just a name change. And they added stainless steel tension rods, according to Shane. Although it looked like those tension rods had chrome on them.

Is that even a thing? All the stainless steel tension rods I've seen have been without chrome.
 
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It sounds like you’re saying the badge, and the bragging rights to go with it, are just as important as the construction of the shell. Yes?
sounds like i’m saying history, hardware and legacy is just as important as wether a shell is welded or spun. but you go ahead and buy the pearl if that’s your thing.
 
They sound identical to the previous Sensitones. That's not a bad thing, they sounded great before, but it would've been nice to see something new with this Heritage line.

It's basically just a name change. And they added stainless steel tension rods, according to Shane. Although it looked like those tension rods had chrome on them.

Is that even a thing? All the stainless steel tension rods I've seen have been without chrome.
you sure it’s not polished stainless? they should look quite similar
 
Brilliant marketing move by Pearl. Personally, I never liked the look of the tube style lug casings. The original ones looked so much better.
 
And, hopefully, those seams don't protrude up into the bearing edges, causing a bump or rough spot. I'm sorry, but I wish the flatness and roundness of Pearl metal shells was of a higher standard, regardless of line or price.
 
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