What would you do to this drum?

[zambizzi]

I bought a Pork Pie 7"x13" Brass Patina snare last night...it's a pretty amazing drum - I'm quite impressed. It's got balls, for sure. TONS of low-end but a nice crack. The depth does rob you of a little bit of articulation but it still sounds fantastic. It sustains like crazy! As I started to tune it, when the heads were tuned low - I realized this thing would make an amazingly loud, deep, fat tom...it really sings.

http://porkpiedrums.com/products/snares/brasspatina.htm

It's not *perfect* yet, however. It came w/ 20-strand brass wires, I'd like a higher stand count, I think...and maybe to dry it out a bit. Of course it rings quite a bit but I don't want to dampen it too much...I *like* some ring and won't use moongel, rings, or any other dampening accessories.

I might try to find some 24-strand wires and was thinking about putting a genera dry and hazy on it - any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[basscase]

I would cut it in half and make two piccolo snares out of it. LOL!

 

[Ironcobra]

A Remo CS black dot will bring out the low end power of the drum. The Hazy 300's and 200's have worked well for me as well. Personally, I would go for a smaller strand count on a metal drum, I prefer the higher counts on wood drums.

 

[zambizzi]

Ha! If I cut it in half it wouldn't weigh nearly 10 lbs. either, good idea.

I like the higher snare strand counts on brass snares to even out the ring...so I hear as much snare as I do drum. On my black beauty it gives me that "splat" sound...an indescribable fat-ass crack!

 

[Steady Freddy]

I think you're headed in the right direction with a wider wire. I'd put a hazy diplomat on the bottom and that will shorten up the sustain, but still let the drum sing out.

Check out the Puresound Super 30s wires. Good stuff.

 

[KarlCrafton]

You have the wires figured out, so....

Remo makes a low collar Ambassador snare side head, and it gives a drier & shorter sound compared to the "regular" hazy Ambassador snare side.

Having used the low collar for a couple years and going back to the "regular" head, I could hear a big difference.
The sound of the low collar head is shorter by far.
Very crisp for great articulation if you want a lot of that quality.

The Coated CS snare head is cool in that you can get the fat, flatter sound in the center, but off center, you can get some ring and more character out of the drum (without moon gel or tape that'd be maybe needed on a non-dot head).

Evans dot heads (top and bottom) are a bit more "contained" sounding than the Remo dot heads to my ears when I was trying out a bunch of different heads, so one might sound better to you (I like the Remo's sound better myself).

There's also the Evans Genera Dry heads...

Looks like a pretty cool snare.

Have fun with it!

 

[zambizzi]

I think you're headed in the right direction with a wider wire. I'd put a hazy diplomat on the bottom and that will shorten up the sustain, but still let the drum sing out.

Check out the Puresound Super 30s wires. Good stuff.

Thanks Freddy - I've got a watch on some PS 30-strand on eBay and might pull the trigger. I actually put a Genera Dry/Hazy 300 combo on it last night and it evened it right out but didn't rob any of the tone or sensitivity...it sounds great! Rim shots make the heads of nearby, low-flying birds explode.

More wires and I think I'll be money w/ this snare - it's a beauty!

 

[zambizzi]

Thanks Karl, I'll keep my eye on the low-collars!

 

[shoedaddy]

Good call on the Genera Dry. I almost always use that as my snare batter head.

 

[zambizzi]

Ya know, I normally don't like the Genera Dry batters...to me they're *too* dry, especially on wood snares. However, this snare is the perfect example of how great these heads can be, on the right drum.