For many years in my drumming journey, I have often heard drummers new and well seasoned lament their gear. “If only I had more money, I could buy a [x/y/z] snare and then I could really sound good.” While I appreciate and understand wanting nice gear, as we all do, it really is like nails on a chalk board to me. I recently had a discussion with a drummer pal of mine, where I heard words to the same effect. He has a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch 14×5.5 snare that came with him Stage Custom kit. I listened as he went on about how he wanted a Ludwig Black Beauty or a DW Collectors Series or a Tama Bell Bronze Snare.
After a while, I asked him what was wrong with his snare, or at least, what he was hoping to get from it that he couldn’t. He wanted a powerful coliseum rock snare drum that was thick and full bodied like his favorite 80s hair metal bands. We went over tuning on both drum heads, which heads he had on, what snare wires, the tension setting for the wires, what hoops, and on and on. He was reluctant to really answer at first, but then we started getting into the meat of it. He had the stock hoops on which are of course 1.6 mm triple flange steel hoops. Very ringy and light. The drum shell is birch in a standard thickness, and at a depth of 5.5, you won’t be getting a great deal of body from the shell. He still had the stock reso side on the drum, and stock 24 strand steel wires. He had an Evans Genera HD Dry head on the batter side. Reso was tuned low, and batter was tuned high. Wire tension was also very tight to the head. I am sure you are probably thinking about what I was thinking. That probably will not work out for you.
The point of that story is to say this. Money does not make you. It doesn’t magically make you a better player. Quality gear is great because it is better suited to do the job and makes your desired sound easier to achieve and maintain. With some work, a little know how, and a few dollars spent in the right places, you can find good deals on decent snare drums and soup them up, like a car, to be much better than it was designed to be. Upgrading certain parts of your cheaper snare can really open up your options! Another major player in the game is tuning! Quality drum heads and good tuning can solve a great deal of issues right out of the gate. Don’t ignore that resonant head! The reso head is a huge part of your snare sound, and honesty, any 2 headed drum!
I have never been in a position of having great wealth, so I have always had to save, find the right deals, and then upgrade certain things to make it sound great. Today, I have two snare drums, and I paid $100 for each of them, brand new, shipped to my house. My first one, that I have dubbed “Midnight”, is an all maple Mapex MPX 14×8 snare drum. It came with stock 1.6 triple flange hoops, junk drumheads, and a basic snare wire. I ordered 2.4mm Stick Saver style matching black hoops from Drum Factory Direct (just as heavy as die cast hoops, while still being triple flange), and Puresound Custom Steel 24 snare wires, an Evans 300 Hazy Snare Reso head, and an Evans Power Center Reverse Dot batter head. All told, I spent about $200 for the snare and all upgrades. It now sounds like snares 2 to three times what I paid. I also bought an OCDP 13×7 Chestnut Ash/Maple snare drum. The OCDP is a $220 snare drum and comes with Die Cast hoops, a thick maple shell (with an ash veneer on the outside for the finish). I eyeballed this snare for a year and a half and then caught it on sale for $99. I bought new heads for it, and bought puresound custom steel wires for it as well, and it has become a beast, and a favorite among engineers and sound techs across the nation.
Never let anyone make you feel bad for having what you have. If you have an instrument, and you do what you can to fix it up and maintain it, bare your soul for the world to see. It’s nice to have quality gear, and there is nothing wrong with wanting nice stuff, but remember at the end of the day, gear is simply a tool to help you express your musical voice, but the real power comes from you! Even if you are beating on a couch, table, car steering wheel, your legs, a cardboard box, coffee cans, or plastic buckets. You are the artist and the music comes from you! (PS, lug locks are a great investment for those cheap snares as well! Dont get caught tuning after every song!)
– Chris McKinney