You walk into a room where someone is playing and the snare sound grabs your ears it's so sweet. You hear a recording and the snare sounds so good it's all you're listening to. You sit down behind your kit and play and you get lost in the music and the sound of your instrument because this is exactly what a snare should sound like. Holy moley! all three were the same snare!
Was it metal or wood?
You can own many snares built with many materials/constructions but there is that ONE. Wood . . . or . . . metal?
DW Collector's NOB
Karl
2015 Yamaha Live Oak Custom Black Shadow Burst
22x18, 16, 14, 12, 10
DW Collectors Nickel over Brass 6.5 x 14
Tama Starphonic Bubinga 6 x 14
Tama Starclassic B/B Performer Natural White Oak 7 x 14
Mapex Black Panther Blade 5.5 x 14
Yamaha Loud Series Musashi Black 7x14
Sakae Polished Steel 6.5 x 14
Q Drum Co Brushed Aluminum Plate Series 6.5 x 14
Zildjian K And K Light Cymbals
Remo Heads
Tama Iron Cobra Power Glide Pedal
DW5000 Hardware
Vic Firth Sticks
I love my Pearl Chad Smith Sig steel snare & it's become my main one.
I recently got the Mapex Armory Exterminator (Birch/Walnut) and that sounds great too. I thought it'd be a more mellow sound, but I took it to band practice & the guys complained because it was so much louder that the steel one! Who'd have thought it?!
Mapex Armory - Photon Blue
Mapex VXB kit - Transparent Black
Mapex & Pearl snares
Paiste Alpha & RUDE cymbals
Remo & Vater
supraphonic
(400)
Tama Swingstar 3 piece 1993 (refinished wine red)
Ludwig Breakbeats (Azure Sparkle)
1964 Ludwig Supra
Old no-name Luan 12x8 tom/snare (refinished wine red)
Mapex MPX 14"x5.5" snare (refinished in gloss black)
Pearl Vision 14"x14" ft/snare (refinished wine red)
Aquarian heads
14" Sabian HHX Stage Hats
15" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Hats
18" Meinl Vintage Trash Crash
18" Wuhan China
18" Thin Zildjian Crash
18" Thin Zildjian Crash with rivets
19" Meinl Extra Dry Thin Crash
22" Istanbul Mehmet Legend Dark Ride
23" Matt Bettis Dry Ride
Wood, and if I had to pick a specific one, probably birch.
Both. I have had great wood snares and I have had great metal snares. One is not better than the other.
Metal for me. Sometimes I get crazy and buy a wood snare, but then I tend to just sell it.
Mapex Saturn 6 pc
14x6 mapex stainless steel snare
Zildjian,Paiste, Meinl
DW5000 td4 double pedal
I prefer metal snares (copper and brass specifically) because they are more versatile, IMHO. They can be made to almost sound like a wood snare if required. Conversely, it is real hard to get a wooden snare to have that unique metal ping if that should be required for some reason.
I have a Supra I love, a Jazz Festival that can't be beat for a certain vintage sound, and a gretsch maple that is great. Love em all for different applications. One is no better than the other - you're correct.
But, you can't pick both in this thread. Everybody leans - what's your preference?
If it can only be one, for me it's a Supraphonic, the most versatile snare drum ever, IMO. So, metal.
+1 on the Supra, it is an excellent workhorse snare drum ... and so light and easy to carry around to boot ...
When I was younger, I used the steel snare that my mom bought for me for school band for my first kit. I don't even remember what brand it was. But I knew it well, and how to tune it to get the best sound out of it. It was a good snare, and I think you could have put pieces of cardboard on it, and it would still sound good. When I started drumming again, I bought a Ludwig Element kit, and it had a wood snare. I had to start all over again. It took a while, but when I finally found the sweet spot for it, and it sang. But to me it still sounded dry compared to steel. When I bought my Mapex Armory, it came with the stock steel Tomahawk. I am in love with this snare. Low to high tuning, there just isn't a place where it doesn't sound good. But I usually prefer to stay in the mid to high range. I guess you could say that I prefer steel. I know that my experience with wood snares is on the lower quality end of the spectrum, but steel just seems to sound better to me.
Mapex Drums / Ludwig Hardware / Sabian Cymbals / Tama Pedals & Hardware / Remo and Aquarian
Heads /
Vic Firth Sticks
I only have 3 snares; a 12x4 Maple Lil' Squealer, 14x6.5 steel Tama (old Swingstar) and the 14x5.5 PDP Maple Concept. I prefer the sound and feel of the Maple PDP best, but I actually use the old Tama steel more. It seems to fit in better sound wise with the different kits I gig with and the music we play. If I use my PDP kit, then I play the PDP snare.
I'm thinking about buying a used Acrolite or Black Galaxy. I can get a used student model for $100, and they seem like a pretty good snare.
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
Metal snare for me, I like the sound and the attack!
Is that a phantom? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it.
Back to the topic at hand. All of the snares that I currently own are metal. 2 are brass, one is aluminum. The aluminum drum gets played the least. I keep telling myself that the next one will be wood, but I always seem to find better deals on metal snares.
Mmm... Saturns.
I am a dedicated "metal" snare guy...............I have several snares, but my Supra and BB are what I use the most
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