new to me Ludwig snares

ron s

Senior Member
I picked up a couple of Ludwig snares- A 90's era classic maple that almost matches my Super Classic 20/12/13/16 set, and a new (discontinued) Club Date SE 6.5 in WMP.

The maple snare was tough to get tuned to where I liked it, but with some help (thanks Kamak), and time it sounds very good. I don't know if it is this particular drum, but it had a weird ring to it. I may try a Ludwig head and see if I like it. I bought it used with an Aquarian single ply coated head on it.

The Club Date sounds wayyyy better than it should for the price. I really like the WMP wrap, very classy. Local drum shop said the Ludwig rep even said these were sort of a best kept secret as a great snare that not too many consider,
I used this at rehearsal last week and I was happy with the sound. Cracking rim shots, ghost notes and accents come through well. Fat backbeat sounds and it seems louder that my 5.5 Acrolite.

Here are some pics:

I am considering getting a 20/12/14 Club date SE in the WMP before they are all gone. Local drum shop can still order one and will give me a decent deal on it. Heard a lot of good things and love the look.
 

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It's amazing how the 'cheap' Ludwig snares manage to sound so great! The Supralite line is also fantastic, and everything's under $200.

On the Classic Maple, if you can't dampen or tune the ring out, try an Evans 'dry' head. It has small holes in it that allow the drum to breathe (better) and stop vibrating the heads as much. They're not dead heads, but they're great for solving that occasional ringing/howling snare that just doesn't want to tune into shape.

Bermuda
 
Beautiful setup!


Also make sure your CM is round, and that it doesn't have lacquer bubbles coming up and over the bearing edge (like mine).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMcAm4ala_c

My guess is that Ludwig subbed some of their shells out to a high-school shop class for finishing. The workmanship on mine was piss poor despite sounding good.
 
I played with the tuning on the CM and settled on a higher than med tune that leaves just a bit of the ring (overtone) that sounds good. If I tune the batter down to med range, I need to use a moongel to dampen the overtone.

The Club Date had just the right amount of overtone, and I would expect it would sound maybe a bit better with new heads and snares, The stock reso has no markings on it, the stock batter is "Ludwig by Evans". The coating seems to be wearing off very quickly. I don't normally use Evans, so not sure if this is normal, or if this is like the Remo Chinese heads- lesser quality??

Very pleased with both drums, maybe a bot more with the Club Date since it cost less and sounds very good.
 
The recent "Ludwig by Evans" heads are really cheap heads, made neither by Ludwig or Evans, so don't blame them. :) They shouldn't be confused with a head that Evans USA actually did make for Ludwig maybe 15 years ago... they came in a blue & white box. Seems odd, because Ludwig has been making their own heads forever.

Bermuda
 
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