Snare drum throw-off problems..??

Alexanderaxel

Junior Member
Hi all! "New" to the forum here although I used to post under a different account years ago! Well I just bought a mint condition mapex black panther Sledgehammer snare drum. The big brass beauty. I love everything about it, save one huge problem.

When the snares are tensioned to the point where they start to sound GOOD, you can't get a good no snares sound. And when I loosen the snares so that they don't come in contact with the head when the snares are off, well when I turn the snares on there not enough snare and it's way too lose and muddy and crappy.

Basically, you either feet a great snare sound, but must totally avoid throwing the snares off, or you get a good no snares tom sound, but must avoid using the snares altogether. This is extremely frustrating because I love the drum to bits but I can a only use half of it at once!

Has anyone ever had this problem before, and have the sledgehammer that can speak on the issue? Is it every sledgehammer that does this? And if so, it seems like a MAJOR oversight on mapex's part. Why wouldn't they simply allow the throwoff to raise/lower the snares an extra half of a centimeter so they you don't get unwanted contact (or lack of contact).

Anyway thanks for reading my novel here, I really hope someone can help me figure this out!
 
Hi, and welcome Alex. Mapex makes great snare drums. There are many things that can affect snare performance. Your problem is probably something minor. Perhaps there are one or two wires on your snare that are stretched out which means that you need to replace the snares. Sometimes the snare wires are not centered properly on the drum. Things like this are most often the cause of poor snare drum performance along with tuning of course.
Bob Gatzen has several videos on YouTube where he talks specifically about snare drum tuning. Here is just one of them. I urge you to watch some of Bob's videos and experiment with your drum until you solve the issue.
http://youtu.be/Qxm3QunDjUs
 
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Thanks for the reply! I'm headed in to the local guitarcenter in a few here, just to play some other sledgehammers. I suppose we'll know if it was just faulty wires... It's very very possible. It just seemed to wierd to me that mapex would make such blatant mistake on some of their nicest drums.

As for Gatzen-- thanks! I totally forgot about his videos... I used to follow them to the word for tuning all my drums years ago... He's great!
 
I think that your problem is with your snares. I bought a Sledgehammer when they first came out and I've never had any problems with getting any sound that I want out of it. The only problem that I've had with mine is not overpwering evryone else. I love that thing!
 
your snare resonant head might be too loose or your strainer is set too tight.
Just some suggestions.
 
your snare resonant head might be too loose or your strainer is set too tight.
Just some suggestions.

That's what I was going to suggest as much more likely. If your resonant head is too loose, you might overtighten the strainer to choke it off & compensate, which of course makes it hard to get enough 'headroom' to turn the snares off. Of course, not being there, I can't tell you whether that's the issue, but if you haven't cranked the reso.... try it.
 
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