cheap snares can sound real good. I was in a band one time and another bandmate was also a drummer. For whatever reason he had a snare in his car. It was cheap, no name and all metal. It had an Ambassador head on it that was old and on the beat up side. We were palying out one night and toward the end of the night, I noticed a small tear on my Clear CS Blackdot. I asked him if he still had his snare in the car. He said yeah and went and got it. I was thinking how bad it was going to sound and worried about not having enough time to get it right. Well, he brought it in and I put on the stand and smacked it twice and it had a loud pop with a little ring. I said where the hell did you get this thing? He said.. oh, at the pawn shop for $25. It sounded just as good as the Tama steel snare that I just plopped on the floor. So yeah, a cheap snare can be a good buy. Even if you replace the heads and put new snares on it, it is still a fraction of what a good snare would cost.