Members MattACaster Posted March 6, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 I have a couple of things to point out about the sound that you are looking for from your snare. First, is the sound you are looking to get similar to something that you heard off a CD? If so, stop what your doing. You will never get a live drum to sound like a recording due to the EQing and processing that can/is done with recordings. Secondly, is your snare even capable of producing the tone you are after. You may need to do some research about different sized and materialed snares to see what you like best. Maybe your snare isn't able to produce the sound that you are looking for regardless of what you do. Maybe it's out of round, messed up bearing edge, etc, etc. Maybe it's a tuning issue, and you just need to spend some time dialing it in. The things about drums, especially higher end drums, is that they can sound amazing, but it's really easy to make them sound bad if you don't have the tuning skills. Just some thoughts.James The problem is that no matter what, it sounds bad. I've had 2 different drummer friends come over and tune that snare and it still sounds bad. Both of them have Export kits and their snares sound great. I just can't figure out why mine doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 The problem is that no matter what, it sounds bad. I've had 2 different drummer friends come over and tune that snare and it still sounds bad. Both of them have Export kits and their snares sound great. I just can't figure out why mine doesn't. That's a clue right there. If they have identical snares, and you can't get yours to sound that way, odds are your snare is damaged. The other thing is that (and please forgive me if I'm out of bounds here) you have to be able to rim-shot your snare at any volume to get that cutting yet fat sound out of your snare. Right now, I'm using a 4 x 14 Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare on one kit, and a 3 x 13 Pearl steel piccolo snare on the other. Tuned medium tension on the batter and medium-low on the reso (for ghost notes), I can cut through steel with either, yet be delicate enough for ballad work. Just some thoughts. I hope I'm not stepping on toes. That's not my intention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted March 6, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 That's a clue right there. If they have identical snares, and you can't get yours to sound that way, odds are your snare is damaged. The other thing is that (and please forgive me if I'm out of bounds here) you have to be able to rim-shot your snare at any volume to get that cutting yet fat sound out of your snare. Right now, I'm using a 4 x 14 Yamaha Maple Custom Absolute snare on one kit, and a 3 x 13 Pearl steel piccolo snare on the other. Tuned medium tension on the batter and medium-low on the reso (for ghost notes), I can cut through steel with either, yet be delicate enough for ballad work. Just some thoughts. I hope I'm not stepping on toes. That's not my intention. Not at all. I've only had my set a year so any suggestions are very appreciated. My snare actually does a couple weird things that kind of make me think something is wrong with it. 1.) I can only tighten most of the lugs on the batter side so far before I just can't turn them anymore but the head isn't really tuned all that high. All but two or three of them do this. 2.) The snare wire seem to randomly loosen while I play which can lead to the throw-off... well... throwing off with in the middle of play. 3.) The throw off take a lot of effort to put in the upright position even when the strainer isn't tightened against the head. Maybe I got a dud snare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 Pull the heads off, give the edges the light test.Check the tension rods to see that they're all tooled the same. You still might have the wrong screws though.If it passes, start with new heads and try again. Use the Professor sound method if you aren't sure what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted March 6, 2007 Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 Not at all. I've only had my set a year so any suggestions are very appreciated. My snare actually does a couple weird things that kind of make me think something is wrong with it.1.) I can only tighten most of the lugs on the batter side so far before I just can't turn them anymore but the head isn't really tuned all that high. All but two or three of them do this. 2.) The snare wire seem to randomly loosen while I play which can lead to the throw-off... well... throwing off with in the middle of play.3.) The throw off take a lot of effort to put in the upright position even when the strainer isn't tightened against the head.Maybe I got a dud snare? Hmmm...sounds to me like it would need major work. I get the impression that the throw off mechanism is bent somehow, which would account for the difficulty in 'turning it on'. Also (like 1001gear said) you may possibly have some cross threaded lugs. I agree that it's time to take the heads off and check the shell for bearing edge damage and also check for out-of-round condition. Take perpendicular measurements and if they're off by more than 1/4 of an inch, you may want to consider getting a new snare. If the shell is ok, then you could always replace the lugs and throw off. My two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted March 6, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 6, 2007 Hmmm...sounds to me like it would need major work. I get the impression that the throw off mechanism is bent somehow, which would account for the difficulty in 'turning it on'. Also (like 1001gear said) you may possibly have some cross threaded lugs. I agree that it's time to take the heads off and check the shell for bearing edge damage and also check for out-of-round condition. Take perpendicular measurements and if they're off by more than 1/4 of an inch, you may want to consider getting a new snare. If the shell is ok, then you could always replace the lugs and throw off.My two cents. Thanks for the advice. I'll take it all apart tonight and take a closer look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the DW Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 I just thought of something. Regarding not being able to tighten some of the tension rods past a certain point, could it be that the rods are too long? Maybe they are 'bottoming out' before you can get a decent tension going. Maybe all you need are shorter tension rods? Just a random thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jacoe99 Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Not at all. I've only had my set a year so any suggestions are very appreciated. My snare actually does a couple weird things that kind of make me think something is wrong with it. 1.) I can only tighten most of the lugs on the batter side so far before I just can't turn them anymore but the head isn't really tuned all that high. All but two or three of them do this. 2.) The snare wire seem to randomly loosen while I play which can lead to the throw-off... well... throwing off with in the middle of play. 3.) The throw off take a lot of effort to put in the upright position even when the strainer isn't tightened against the head. Maybe I got a dud snare? All those things happen on my snare drum as well...which is a garbage set of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jacoe99 Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Whats different about the free floating snare drum? Pictures anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members El Caballo Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 I have a 5x14 steel Sensitone and I like it. It's easy to make it sound good, as it'll tune low or high without complaint. The cast hoops do make a difference. It's a great drum, and the cheap price is just a bonus. I've never played the aluminum version, but I think the steel version costs the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted March 7, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Whats different about the free floating snare drum? Pictures anyone? The big deal about the free floating snare is that there is nothing drilled into the wood (or metal depending on which model). The shell "floats" between the rims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted March 7, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Well, I took a closer look at my snare last night and my rim isn't perfectly round. Not by much, but still. Anyway, I went to GC yesterday during lunch and it's still under warranty so I'm going to see what I can do about getting pearl to fix it. In the mean time, the sales guy was also showing me snare he had in stock and this caught my eyes and ears.... ddrum S4 Maple Snare Drum Anyone have an opinions on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Sure is purty looking. Ddrum has several lines that I'm not too familar with all the way from crappy low end, to very nice high end stuff. As for the free floaters, what I like about them conceptually is that you could buy several shells for one drum and change them out if you wanted to. So in other words, since the shell isn't attached to anything, you could swap out the steel shell for one gig, put a maple shell in there for the next one, and put a brass one in there for the next one. Cool concept from that standpoint. The rehearsal studio that my band uses has one set up, but unfortunately it sounds like ass. Bad heads beat to hell, totally screwed up tuning....if I had time to screw with it, I'd really like to get it more aligned to what I like in a snare drum. Instead, I just bring my own snare and start playing (we rent the place by the hour, so I don't want to futz with a snare for half an hour while the meter's running). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattACaster Posted March 7, 2007 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Sure is purty looking. Ddrum has several lines that I'm not too familar with all the way from crappy low end, to very nice high end stuff. As for the free floaters, what I like about them conceptually is that you could buy several shells for one drum and change them out if you wanted to. So in other words, since the shell isn't attached to anything, you could swap out the steel shell for one gig, put a maple shell in there for the next one, and put a brass one in there for the next one. Cool concept from that standpoint.The rehearsal studio that my band uses has one set up, but unfortunately it sounds like ass. Bad heads beat to hell, totally screwed up tuning....if I had time to screw with it, I'd really like to get it more aligned to what I like in a snare drum. Instead, I just bring my own snare and start playing (we rent the place by the hour, so I don't want to futz with a snare for half an hour while the meter's running). I believe that snare is part of the Dominion series which is one of their higher end sets. It's 13"x7" and I thought it sounded really nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted March 7, 2007 Members Share Posted March 7, 2007 Know what's weird? I have a 5.5x14" Yamaha aluminum snare that came with my Stage Custom kit, and I've gotten tons of compliments on the sound of it. I keep the bottom head about half a turn looser than the batter head, and the batter is pretty tight. With some medium snare tension, it gives a nice fat crack. Snare drums are like personalities... I don't think any two are the same, and with some finaglling, almost anyone drum can sound good. It's just a matter of what TYPE of sound you're looking for. That being said, have it checked out under warranty - it may not be worth the frustration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members El Caballo Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 Well, I took a closer look at my snare last night and my rim isn't perfectly round. Not by much, but still. That's your problem right there. The head will not seat correctly and you will never get it to sound worth a damn. I bet a correctly manufactured version of the same drum will fix your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Old Steve Posted March 8, 2007 Members Share Posted March 8, 2007 Know what's weird? I have a 5.5x14" Yamaha aluminum snare that came with my Stage Custom kit, and I've gotten tons of compliments on the sound of it. I keep the bottom head about half a turn looser than the batter head, and the batter is pretty tight. With some medium snare tension, it gives a nice fat crack.Snare drums are like personalities... I don't think any two are the same, and with some finaglling, almost anyone drum can sound good. It's just a matter of what TYPE of sound you're looking for. That being said, have it checked out under warranty - it may not be worth the frustration. Same here, my 6.5"x14" steel tama rockstar drum sounds pretty good with the right heads and tuning. I'm guessing that it's easier to mass produce steel (or any metal) shelled snare drums consistently than it is to mass produce lower end wood drums. Sounds like this one is out of round, which could very easily be causing problems. Hell, I've gotten REALLY crappy 6-lugs/side metal snare drums to sound decent. In addition, if they ARE out of round, you could probably correct the problem yourself, which really isn't an option with a wood drum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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