Looking for a new snare.

RAMI said:
Oh well, it was worth a shot. Not sure why it does that for some people. I hate making people download my tunes just to listen to them. Oh well, it be what it be.
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No biggie for me dude...

Nazareth is great man....I've always liked 'em...I saw a vid of their guitar player about a year ago still gigging in Europe, just guessing, he's like 70...It was a little shitty-looking bar, but still, I can't imagine being that old & still rockin' like that...He was playing an ESP LP copy through a JCM800 I think...

Sorry to hi-jack your thread dude.....
 
minerman said:
No biggie for me dude...

Nazareth is great man....I've always liked 'em...I saw a vid of their guitar player about a year ago still gigging in Europe, just guessing, he's like 70...It was a little shitty-looking bar, but still, I can't imagine being that old & still rockin' like that...He was playing an ESP LP copy through a JCM800 I think...

Sorry to hi-jack your thread dude.....
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No man, my threads love being hi-jacked, just shooting the shit. :cool:

Yeah, Nazareth. They were really big in Montreal when I was growing up. "Hair of the Dog" played all the time, everywhere. I can't believe "Razamanaz" came out in 1973. Christ, the music scene was so alive, awesome, and diverse in the 70's.
 
Hey RAMI...

Not sure what exact sound you are after...as you know, it's very subjective anyway AFA what makes a good "Rock" snare, etc...
...but AFA good snares in general, I picked up a couple of new Taye snares 2-3 years ago that were quite inexpensive at the time (I think I paid maybe about $125 or for each of them) but they are on par with like $300-$400 snares.
The guy said that Taye at the time wasn't as big a name on its own, but that they were making snares for name-brand drums for many years already, so they had a good build rep and they were starting to break out with their own name.

They are both Studio Maple models, both all-maple shells.
One is a 13"x5" 8-lug, and the other is a 14"x6" 10-lug.

Anyway, just tossing it out there.

Here's what my two look like...the 14x6 is this same color as this one, and my 13x5 is a burgundy/purple.
Really nice quality build, and they sound great.

Taye Drums SM1305S GA 5" x 13"Dia Maple Snare Drum | eBay
 
miroslav said:
Hey RAMI...

Not sure what exact sound you are after...as you know, it's very subjective anyway AFA what makes a good "Rock" snare, etc...
...but AFA good snares in general, I picked up a couple of new Taye snares 2-3 years ago that were quite inexpensive at the time (I think I paid maybe about $125 or for each of them) but they are on par with like $300-$400 snares.
The guy said that Taye at the time wasn't as big a name on its own, but that they were making snares for name-brand drums for many years already, so they had a good build rep and they were starting to break out with their own name.

They are both Studio Maple models, both all-maple shells.
One is a 13"x5" 8-lug, and the other is a 14"x6" 10-lug.

Anyway, just tossing it out there.

Here's what my two look like...the 14x6 is this same color as this one, and my 13x5 is a burgundy/purple.
Really nice quality build, and they sound great.

Taye Drums SM1305S GA 5" x 13"Dia Maple Snare Drum | eBay
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Thanx a lot, Miro. Those look interesting. If I'm going to buy a new snare, though, I'm pretty sure I need to get a Supraphonic. I have 3 pretty good snares right now, one metal, one wood, and one fibreglass. I'm salivating over a 6.5" Supraphonic. If I get something else, even a pretty good one at a pretty good deal, I'll still feel incomplete. It's like if you had a Strat and a Tele, and you really really wanted a Les Paul. A really good Ibanez or Epiphone just wouldn't tickle you no matter what the deal was. I hope that was a good analogy. I don't know how you guitar-player types think. :D




OK, if anyone's still listening, I spent all day tuning my snare. I think I'm closer to what I'm looking for. Still going to get that Supra, but that shouldn't mean I shouldn't be able to get something useable out of this Sonar.

Let me know how this sounds. I can post it without music if anyone wants to hear it with just the drum kit:

Sadie
 
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It sounds good but I think I liked the 2nd one more.
This one felt a bit dirty in a way and your recordings all have a rather clean feeling to them for me.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
It sounds good but I think I liked the 2nd one more.
This one felt a bit dirty in a way and your recordings all have a rather clean feeling to them for me.
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It's not a snare sound I'd use a lot. But if you dig out your White Album and listen to the original, it's got a lot of "tsssh" on that snare, too.
 
I think it's an okay snare sound. I like the bottom mic in it, but it sounds a little boxy. I'm not hearing the depth in it. You're on the right track though.

What heads do you have on it?
 
Greg_L said:
I think it's an okay snare sound. I like the bottom mic in it, but it sounds a little boxy. I'm not hearing the depth in it. You're on the right track though.

What heads do you have on it?
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Yeah, I hear the boxiness, too. I can't seem to get rid of that unless I tune the snare up and that just brings me back too close to the sound I'm trying to get away from.

I went out and bought a Remo Power Stroke Emperor. Which is an Emperor with a black dot under the skin. Never used one before. I always use regular Emperor, no black dot. On the bottom I have an Ambassador bottom, which I've been using forever.

OK, here's what I did for this clip. It's just drums, no music. After every roll, it changes.

The first few seconds is no bottom mic.

After the first roll, bottom mic comes in.

After the second roll, I turn down the bottom mic a bit.

I was actually using this as my reference. You just need to listen to the first 3 seconds of this: https://youtu.be/go12mVC8M-s
 

Attachments

  • Sadie drums.mp3
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Just realized I forgot to clip the beginning. The drums don't come in for about 12 seconds on my mp3.
 
I think each section sounds pretty good on it's own. Maybe juggle the tuning between the top and bottom head. I think you could stand to get a little more snare buzz out of it.

Also, just my opinion, I don't like those heads with the dot in the middle. They are so dead they can't not sound boxy. I know they're old school, but I feel that I get a cleaner, more open sound with regular single or two ply heads with no dot.
 
Greg_L said:
I think each section sounds pretty good on it's own. Maybe juggle the tuning between the top and bottom head. I think you could stand to get a little more snare buzz out of it.

Also, just my opinion, I don't like those heads with the dot in the middle. They are so dead they can't not sound boxy. I know they're old school, but I feel that I get a cleaner, more open sound with regular single or two ply heads with no dot.
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I agree about Black Dots. If I didn't make myself clear, the black dots on these heads are under the skin, not on top where you hit it. They're not the old black dots. But either way, I think you're right. I thought it would give me a nice rock sound with less ring. But an Emperor is already so thick, that the black dot might be overkill. An Emperor is already 2 thin skins (Diplomats) stuck together. The black dot makes it 3 layers. I should have thought of it that way when I bought it. I was just thrilled thinking I won't need to worry about ringing.
 
So you think more snare buzz??? No problem there. I have the bottom mic 15db lower than the top mic, thinking it was too much. I definitely have a lot of room to turn it up.
 
I don't think it's a matter of turning it up, I think it can be adjusted or tuned for more buzz. Just a little.

The thing with ring (LOL) for me is I like a little snare ring. It vanishes in a full mix and it adds a lot of depth and tone and body to the snare sound so it's not just a dull, flat plop. Real high pitch ring is a nuisance, but if you get some of that midrangey shell resonance ring, it sounds really good to me.

I use those black dot heads on my old Rogers steel snare. It sounds about as you'd expect - super dead. The Emperor X. Super heavy dead head. It's the only kind of head that sounds worth a shit on that old thing.

But my other snares get single ply coated Ambassadors, and the bad boy Supraphonic gets a Powerstroke 3.
 
OK, I see what you mean about the snares. I might be going about it wrong, too as far as the bottom mic. All I did was high-pass it at 4k to get nothing but the snares.

Man, I almost bought a Powerstroke, then I saw the Emperor X. When I get a Supra I'll put a regular Emperor on it at first. It's what I've always used. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on one later tonight. I don't know why I'm spending so much time trying to get this Sonar to sound good, since I'm sure I'll stop using it as soon as I get the Ludwig. :D

But it's just a good challenge right now. If I can get this thing to sound decent, the Supra will be a breeze. :)
 
The beauty of the Supraphonic IMO is that it could very well make the rest of your snares obsolete. It will take any kind of tuning. It can go very low or piccolo tight. It will do anything. There's a good reason it's probably the most recorded snare in history, and it aint just because it's old. It's like a Les Paul or an SM57. It just does what it does really really good.
 
Cool. Looking forward to it. I saw a few on Ebay. I've never used Ebay for bidding and all that. I just look for a "Buy Now" button and go for it. My finger's getting itchy. I think I'll go for it tonight. I saw a couple of 6.5"ers.
 
I paid $325 for mine, I think. Brand new at a local drum shop. Maybe it was $375. Somewhere around there. And he threw in an old hard case. Just look for the best deal obviously. They're out there.
 
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