My DW Collectors maple snare sounds dull to me...

SgtThump

Platinum Member
I landed a maple DW snare locally for a really good price (I believe it's the 10 and 6 before they started calling it that.) I first put an Evans Hazy whatever on the snare side and a reverse power dot on the batter side. I also installed the "Blaster" snares.

The drum was super dead sounding, which I mainly attribute to the reverse power dot batter head. I kept everything else the same, but put a Remo Ambassador on it. The sound is more open and improved, but it still sounds kinda dull and lifeless to me.

I like more ring in a snare and really liked a Pearl Chad Smith I had, an old Tama Imperialstar, and A cheapo maple snare that came with a Gretsch Catalina Maple kit. All of those sounded better to me than this DW.

The main differences I see is that two of the snares I liked were metal and the cheapo Gretsch snare was very thin maple.

My question is around making this DW maple snare sounding "livlier" or maybe understanding that I just don't like this particular style of snare (lots of maple plies.)

Thoughts? I'm considering selling it and going back to snares with more "ring", but I'm surprised I don't like this one more (because it's a DW.)

Hmmm...

Chris

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Was the ambassador head new? A coated head right? I steel wool the excess coating off on new heads, the coating seems so thick and I don't like what it does to the tone. Steel wooling off the excess coating makes the head sound right to me. Or try an old head that is still in good shape to test.
 
Was the ambassador head new? A coated head right? I steel wool the excess coating off on new heads, the coating seems so thick and I don't like what it does to the tone. Steel wooling off the excess coating makes the head sound right to me. Or try an old head that is still in good shape to test.

Howdy! Yeah, it was a brand new Ambassador head (single ply coated). I've put those on several snare drums and didn't notice this dead of a sound, but I understand what you're saying.

I'm fairly new to playing drums myself, but have been around them my whole life (been playing lead guitar in bands for 20+ years.) I think I may just be realizing that I don't like the warmer tones from a maple snare? Not real sure.

I know one mans "warmth" is another mans "dull." It could just be as simple as that, I suppose.
 
Try sealing the interior of the shell. Strip every thing off of the shell, then go down to your local hardware store and get a rattle can of clear lacquer or polyurethane and put a few coats on the inside, that will wake it up.
 
Try sealing the interior of the shell. Strip every thing off of the shell, then go down to your local hardware store and get a rattle can of clear lacquer or polyurethane and put a few coats on the inside, that will wake it up.

It is actually already laquered on the inside. Here are the specs from the DW site.

"The standard from which all other DW snare drums are measured, the Collector’s Series Maple is crafted from only the finest hand-selected North American Maple and customized in any California Custom Shop finish and drum hardware color option. Each 10-ply drum is fitted with a 6-ply reinforcement hoop and our famous 45-degree bearing edge for optimal resonance and attack. A lacquered interior adds brightness to a snare with a full tonal spectrum and plenty of body. The Collector’s Series Maple is the definitive workhorse wood snare drum to own."
 
I like more ring in a snare and really liked a Pearl Chad Smith I had, an old Tama Imperialstar, and A cheapo maple snare that came with a Gretsch Catalina Maple kit. All of those sounded better to me than this DW.

Thump.. it is most likely maybe a head issue and / or tuning. Crank up the reso head more than the batter. Turn off the snares and tap the head next to each tuning rod and make sure they are similar in tone.

Those snares sound just fine.
 
Thump.. it is most likely maybe a head issue and / or tuning. Crank up the reso head more than the batter. Turn off the snares and tap the head next to each tuning rod and make sure they are similar in tone.

Those snares sound just fine.

When I put the new heads on a few weeks ago, I tuned the snare and batter side to the same pitch. Since then, I think I've cranked up the batter side quite a bit more and didn't touch the snare side. Maybe that's the issue?

I'll have to experiment more with that. I'll report back after I do it! Thanks for the advice everyone.

Any other advice is appreciated too.
 
When I put the new heads on a few weeks ago, I tuned the snare and batter side to the same pitch. Since then, I think I've cranked up the batter side quite a bit more and didn't touch the snare side. Maybe that's the issue?
.

Yes. Quite possibly could be. REVERSE that. If that does'nt help. Dump the blaster for the original snares..... just to be sure.
 
Well Sarge,

You may be right that what is warm to some may seem dull to you.

You didn't really talk about your tuning and tension

I find that my maple snares (wood snares in general) sound better to me with medium/high to high tunings. You might get a little more ring out of it and definitely you'll get more pop.

Try that. I prefer my metal snares at medium tunings.
 
Is it a black or gold badge? I believe the black badge DWs are Keller shells. It's just my opinion, but I've owned both the Keller shell Collectors snare and the newer, DW made Collectors shell snares, and I was not overly impressed with the Keller model.

The Keller shell sounded boxy to me and the re-rings help dampen the shell's natural resonance. I've now got two DW maple Collector's series snares now. One is a 14X4.5 and one is a 14x6.5. Both are DW VLT (lower pitched) shells without re-rings. They are both very ringy and sound more along the lines of what you are looking for.
 
Is it a black or gold badge? I believe the black badge DWs are Keller shells. It's just my opinion, but I've owned both the Keller shell Collectors snare and the newer, DW made Collectors shell snares, and I was not overly impressed with the Keller model.

The Keller shell sounded boxy to me and the re-rings help dampen the shell's natural resonance. I've now got two DW maple Collector's series snares now. One is a 14X4.5 and one is a 14x6.5. Both are DW VLT (lower pitched) shells without re-rings. They are both very ringy and sound more along the lines of what you are looking for.

It's the black badge model. If I'm not mistaking, it's stamped 2005 inside.

Hmm....
 
Well Sarge,

You may be right that what is warm to some may seem dull to you.

You didn't really talk about your tuning and tension

I find that my maple snares (wood snares in general) sound better to me with medium/high to high tunings. You might get a little more ring out of it and definitely you'll get more pop.

Try that. I prefer my metal snares at medium tunings.

I know I already said this, but I'm fairly new to playing drums myself (about a year now), so I'm still learning my preferences. But so far, I like medium to high tuning much better than low and I would classify the way I have this tuned as medium/high.

I'll screw around a little more with tuning the heads and see what I come up with.
 
I know I already said this, but I'm fairly new to playing drums myself (about a year now), so I'm still learning my preferences. But so far, I like medium to high tuning much better than low and I would classify the way I have this tuned as medium/high.

I'll screw around a little more with tuning the heads and see what I come up with.

To get a ringier sound from the heads, I'd go with a one ply batter head. My two favs are the Evans Power Center (not reverse dot) and the Ambassador X (single ply, 20% thicker than an Ambassador). I personally think a one-ply batter head without a little reinforcement sounds too uncontrolled. Any light hazy reso head should work. Medium tension on your reso (say 80-84 on a drum dial for reference) and a fairly cranked batter (DD 88-92). This will give you a short, controlled attack with a nice ringy overtone,

That's always been my formula for an articulate musical snare. Some drums just tune up high better than others. Most metal drums will sound good using that combo. My DW VLTs sound awesome like that, On the flipside, my 14x5.5 Keller shell DW never could handle being cranked much. I just don't think you're going to get a ton of ring out of a 10 ply shell with 6 ply re-rings.
 
When I put the new heads on a few weeks ago, I tuned the snare and batter side to the same pitch. Since then, I think I've cranked up the batter side quite a bit more and didn't touch the snare side. Maybe that's the issue?

I'll have to experiment more with that. I'll report back after I do it! Thanks for the advice everyone.

Any other advice is appreciated too.

I've never played a DW snare that sounded dull or lifeless. It's either a bad head or incorrect tuning. I always tune my toms batter and resonant heads to approximately the same pitch, but I never do this with my snare drums. The snare head always happens to be much tighter than that of the drums batter head. The snare wires also have a lot to do with their sound and should be adjusted accordingly.

Dennis
 
Check out John Good's tuning demo online http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl9wgXSfxew
It's a good starting point. Just experiment with different tensions, generally when I go to drum shops and the drum sounds dull, it's usually because the bottom head hasn't been tensioned up enough yet - at the right tension it should give the drum body and sensitivity - something a DW 10+6 usually has in spades.
 
Having seen your video, it sounds like you want more "honk" out of your snare, which does not always happen with wood snares. It's usually more common with metal shells, but really, sometimes it's a crapshoot. I have heard that 12" snares are notorious honkers, so maybe look into one of those?
 
I know exactly what you mean by "dull" on that snare. I went through this drill once myself. I've gone through the story on here a bunch of times, so I'll give you the condensed version.

Came into some cash unexpectedly. Wanted a nice wood snare. Sold my old beat up '70s Slingerland 5.5x14 (BIG mistake). Special ordered a new DW Collectors. Thought about it hard, then ordered 10-ply, no rerings, no turret lugs (got the tubes), 6x14 in a satin ebony stain. A few months go by and I get it. Very excited. Took it to practice and started playing it. Over the next several weeks tried several different heads and even a cheap set of snares but just couldn't get it to wow me. Two months later I sold it.

It was just as you describe. Boxy and lifeless.

Played on a Mapex Meridian Birch at my drum shop recently. Best wood snare I've heard in years. Not even $150, that one. Still don't like it better than my LM402 or LB417, but it was really great. Very lively with crack for days. It could handle any volume effortlessly. The DW felt soft and indistinct no matter what I tried.

Know when to say when my friend.
 
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