For me it's my 56-59 Radio king, damned if I can get decent sound out of it. A big disappointment, maybe I just can't tune snare drums? DOH

Stevo.

I'll definitely get fried for not knowing how to tune for saying this, but I hated the Ludwig Acrolite. Had both a Keystone and a Blue and Olive badge. Stalemate both times. Dry and flat and very little sensitivity both drums. Didn't like the Super Sensitive either. Now I have a bit of a Ludwig bias and it's prevented me from trying a Supra, which I probably still will do one day just because. On the other hand, I was messing with a Gretsch 4157 recently and it sounded great. They're known for being "boxy." But I love Gretsch snares (4160 is my favorite snare drum period) and disliked the Ludwigs I played. Most drummers would say the exact opposite. I think it all comes down to personal preference and a bunch of factors that get drums to their sweet spots more easily, no right or wrong.

I found over the years that the snare drums that I consistently didn't care much for was Gretsch. For some reason, I've never gotten a snare drum with a Gretsch kit that sounded as good as the other drums in the kit. I don't know why that is. The first one I ever really liked is the one I have now, 3-ply Jasper shell, 5.5x14, plays great. Go figure.

John

For me the hayman metalsonic. I've had 2 and got rid of both. I'm not saying they don't

work for other people but they both seemed like a bad budget version of the supraphonic

to me. Their wood snare drums on the other hand are excellent sounding drums.

Back in the 70's I played a Supra for a couple of years, apparently without having realised the high regard with which it would be held today.

Prior to that I had owned a Sound King and always regretted having traded it in. I eventually gladly replaced the Supra with a Dynasonic and I was a happy punter again.

But the snares that I were most disappointed with would have to be a succession of 70's Pearl steel shells... Given that I worked for the Pearl importer at the time I found it impossible to recommend these to any potential purchaser..

Cheers

John

I'm a Remo guy.

Before any estimation first I give at least one week for the new head to seat on the edges with kind of preliminary tuning.

Then we can slowly proceed to talk about final sound.

Every snare I own has its best selection of batter heads. Most sound great on Ambassadors, some were better on other heads (Vintage A).

For vintage drums I tune to my range first and then adapt to find the sweet spot of the drum, which is different in every single snare I had, even same model and manufacturer!

I had Supra from 79 which was tuned slightly different than 67, and

SS 70. All had same heads. I disliked SS only because of complicated wires system, not the sound and resonance!

My RB Gretsch 4157 could be disliked but I solved the boxy issue with installation of 42 strand wires and precised tuning.

And what doesn't sound good to your ears does not particularly means bad sound when miked.

Around '98 I picked up a DW while in the studio. I got a good deal because the matching snare had been sold previously so I picked out a Fibes (maple) snare. The strainer seemed to pull the snare wires horizontally, but not upwards enough, and I couldn't get it anywhere near usable. 2 Days later it was back in the store and swapped out for PJL maple snare that I still own and use. That's probably my only really bad experience. I don't just play on high end gear either and really like affordable COS snares ie: early 80's Swingstar, Premier 1036, Musicyo Slingerland snares or steel yammies. Any of these please me as much as an Acro (for example) and (with the exception of offshore Slingerlands) have usable/dependable throw-offs.

Gretsch COB 4160, drop-G badge, it came with a kit that I bought new in '82.

For some reason, it has an over-sized diameter; normal heads (Aquarian, Remo, Evans) are a struggle to put on. Its tone is perfect for New Orleans second line - rings like crazy.

I purchased a late model Acrolite, Black Galaxy finish, for cheap. Sounded terrible no matter what head combination I tried. The reason? The snare beds were off by almost 1 panel! Talk about poor QC! The parts were transferred to a Black Dawg BB shell and it's now a great sounding snare drum!

My recently purchased 1968 BR kit has a matching snare drum with very DEEP beds. Took some time to find the proper snare-side head (a Diplomat) to get things sorted out. Would still sound much better with more shallow beds!

-Mark

Mark!

Simply out of curiosity... do you have a Solid Shell BR Artist or the ply model BR Artist with those 1968 BR 80N's? I only ask as I have a 1968 Buddy Rich Artist in the BR collection, and it's the SS model... but the beds are what one might consider "normal" for today. Not overly deep, although I have seen those! I wonder if there were different criteria for the beds based on the build .. or .. maybe it was just the person that was cutting the beds that day!

Tommyp