Come on O'Lugs we love your argument man! Don't succumb to BS.

BTW there is nothing wrong with debate. No great resolution or outcome ever came sans debate. It just seems the rules of debate need to be a little more respected here, i.e., no cheap shots!

The lowly Acrolite and its cousin the Supra and the Premier metal drums all came from the great idea that Bill Ludwig had to mass produce metal snares. We all know where that idea ended up. That idea came about because his friend had a metal shell snare with volume and articulation that he had previously not heard. Bill bought that old drum and made a facsimile of his own.

Now we have metal snare drums whose thin shells resonate in a most wonderful and peculiar way... far different than their wood counterparts. That resonance, with its ability to pick up even the slightest ghost note (something a wood snare is unable to do in the same way) is why we love the aluminum, brass or Ludaloy material.

Simply put, a drummer playing ratamacues can hear the two "ruff" ghost notes he's playing more clearly and precisely than on a wooden shell drum. I have tried to tune my wood shell snares to pick up the pianissmo notes of paradiddles played at 160 but they don't do as well as metal snares. I just don't get the articulation I’m after.

So I think the debate boils down to music style/genre. If you're playing phat Blues you don't want an Acrolite but a six lug low-tuned Pioneer to bring out the fat feel in the back beat. If you're playing Swiss army triplets in a 140 tempo snare solo, you want the Acrolite. Don't you all agree? Thats why the Acro wins out even over its more lovely wood competitors at 10X the price, its just more articulate by nature.

Hmm.... funny the two snares just mentioned are cheapo Ludwigs? Why is that ?

-kellyj

I never said the SM57 was the best mic in the world. I said the Acrolite is the SM57 of drums. Thousands made and always sound good and can be used in most any situation. Obviously some people hear what they want to hear regardless of what is actually said/typed.

Yeah, exactly! Except I never said that you said that... But it's OK for lugnuts to proclaim the Acrolite the best snare drum in the world! f--k it... what's the use!

Man, I'm getting a lot of hostility and insult on this thread!

Ron

So now you're the resident historian and know it all arbiter... talk about pedantic BS!

RA,

When you say I'm the resident historian and know it all arbiter, what do you mean by that?

What do your comments have do do with Aluminum/Ludaloy metal shell Acrolites?

Most contributors on VDF know the progeny of American metal shell drums and are able to play paradiddles up to speed and understand that finely played ghost notes require an instrument with the resonant sensitivity of a beaded, thin metal shell. I'm simply re-stating what is already known here on VDF.

I think you will agree RA that metal shell snares, in particular the Ludwig lines and the finer Premier snares are more articulate than wood snares, don't you?

-kellyj

Ohhh ok, I see what you meant. My bad.

You guys are too cute.

-Adam

[COLOR="Magenta"]I would not agree, nor, I suspect, would the long list of master drummers who inspire and instruct my playing of music, virtually all of whom... with few exceptions... played and continue to play wood shell snares for the most part, from past technical masters such as Max Roach and Philly Joe Jones, to current inspirations such as Jack Dejohnette. Besides, there may be tonal qualities comparatively more important than the those you mention above.

Indeed, there is a vast disparity between the response and articulateness of a 14x5 Sonor Delite over a 5.5 Radio King in favor of the Sonor which may have a lot to do with bearing edges, though I suspect it's more complicated than that.[/COLOR]

Boils down to metal versus wood.

Quite simple actually. Thin shell metal shells resonate at a higher frequency leading to more articulation.

Doesn't mean metal is better, just more recorded. Wood is warmer, metal more articulate and cutting.

In jazz you want a warm woody tone so naturally a wood snare...

In drum lines, marching snare shells are heavy 10-12 ply maple shells that in combination with high tensioned heads produce a pop that cuts through the brass, even the grace notes on a high tensioned snare will cut through the brass just as a grace note on an Acrolite will cut through a guitar.

The shells are so thick on marching snares that they do not resonate but act as sound conduits, the same as a thin metal shell is more of a conduit chamber than a resonating shell..

-kelly

Well, I love to discuss things, but I don't need to appease anyone who's pining for an argument. I must admit that I fell into the trap (slight pun intended). :) Maybe Royal Ace is coming from some other perspective that I'm not understanding. I don't know what the deal is, there, but, yeah, I'm pretty into the design of the Acrolite and just felt like starting a discussion. Shoot me.

More good things about the Acrolite....

Whatever machining that needed to be put into place to make that complex of a shell, was likely a BIG investment for the company, initially. But, whatever the investment was, it certainly paid off quickly and soon became one of the best-selling snare drums of all time. It gave young drummers access to the same kind of professional-quality drum as the Supra -which is what most of the pros used/use. The way Ludwig cut-back on manufacturing costs was to omit the chrome and the fancier (and more numerous) "Imperial" lugs. But, that's it! Those are basically just cosmetic differences.

As time wore on, other companies had to come up with their own version of that basic shell design in order to compete with Ludwig's dominant design. So, yeah, nowadays, you see that several companies have snare drums that very much resemble Ludwig's beaded shell design.

To this day, I can't tell you how many times I see bands where the drummer is playing (________) drums -except the snare drum is a Supra! The shell design of the Acrolite/Supra/SS are the core of what a modern, evolved snare drum is. The Super Sensitive is the orchestral application of the same shell design, too. Three drums/One shell! Ludwig got the most from that initial investment for the tooling needed.

It's a very involved shell design. Also, earlier Acrolites incorporated the same professional throwoff (the P-83) as did the Supra -same baseball bat tone control, too...same badge, too....same rims..etc. Everything about the Acrolite was the same professional-level stuff as any other snare drum that Ludwig offered.

I can't remember the price, professional drum builder, Gary Noonan, quoted me once when I asked him (hypothetically) what it would cost me for him to build a drum that mirrored the Acrolite's design. He's one of the few people who would be able to do the metal work involved...although, I seem to remember that he didn't flange the bearing edge...I coud be wrong about that...anyway...needless to say, it was a lot of money! And HE will tell you how great the Ludwig shell design is from a drum builder's perspective.

The flanges and the bead are there to allow the extremely lightweight shell to be strong and stay round under tension. That's no cut-corner design.

So, don't be shy about loving an Acrolite (especially when the people who hate them aren't shy about hating them!). They might not be everyone's favorite, but it's the one snare drum out of my collection that I go to the most and play upon the most. I thought it was worth a discussion.

I think that about sums it up from my perspective.