Remo black suede x snare head

Fall4now

New Member
I just purchased this head .Fact is all black suede with exception for my snare.I chose the black x suede. And it totally changed the pitch of my maple 5.5 /14 RMV bapeva snare.It went from a killer snare to a floor tom.Lol, I have it cranked .Any advice or experience greatly appreciated.
 
For a studio session a few weeks ago, I used an Ambassador Black Suede Snare Side head with a Coated Powerstroke 3 batter. I wanted a low, dark sound and achieved it easily with that combination. The gist: The Black Suede series is reserved and dry. Trying to brighten it up is contrary to its character. If you want a crisp, cutting, articulate snare presence, select a different head.
 
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I got my snare side on Saturday & will have it on my drum next week. I'll do a full review here for all to read.
 
For a studio session a few weeks ago, I used an Ambassador Black Suede Snare Side head with a Coated Powerstroke 3 batter. I wanted a low, dark sound and achieved it easily with that combination. The gist: The Black Suede series is reserved and dry. Trying to brighten it up is contrary to its character. If you want a crisp, cutting, articulate snare presence, select a different head.
No I get that, that is exactly why I ordered the head. But it had zero brightness "So I thought as you mentioned "I was hoping to not have to swap out snare and have something I could use for several genres. In a live setting that is.I have my side snare for anything bright and pingy.I just wasn't sure if it was better suited for a say deeper snare. I am gonna leave it..Thanks for input, I got it dialed in and it is actually perfectly fine.Plus I know if i ever pop a head on floor.I can swap side snare to main.Do a quick adjustment and get 808s out if my snare to replace my floor.lol
 
I used an Ambassador Black Suede Snare Side head with a Coated Powerstroke 3 batter. I wanted a low, dark sound and achieved it easily with that combination.
My combo is the Black Suede snare side with an Evans ebony coated hydraulic on the batter.
It'll be so low you'll think you're listening to a snom... :LOL:
 
I got my snare side on Saturday & will have it on my drum next week. I'll do a full review here for all to read.
My combo is the Black Suede snare side with an Evans ebony coated hydraulic on the batter.
It'll be so low you'll think you're listening to a snom... :LOL:
Time to eat some crow...

I don't have the ability to do videos that would do this snare side head justice, so I'll just do a write up.

I thought this thing was going to affect the snare a lot differently than they did. Like making it sound tubby in some way.
Nope...

The drum is a 14x6 Gretsch Catalina Club with a mahogany shell. Some upgrades have been done like a die cast batter hoop, DW mag throw-off & Pure Sound wires. The shell has been teak oiled on the inside & there's no wrap. Just ebony stain.

The head does make the snares not have the sustain they once did, so the sound is much more crispy. Like just on the edge of being choked. I have an Evans Hydraulic batter head on this drum, so the overtones are not there anyway. I'd imagine a more open head will affect how this snare side reacts, but I was going for the darker-than-dark sound here.

Upon tuning it down, the sound got really loose and sloppy. Probably the result of 2 thick heads giving it a very small range of sounding good. High & combat ready is the placement for this set up. I do like the suede head as a whole, and would recommend getting one for a certain snare you'd like to sound different than any other.

I will mess with it even more now that I've had time to try it out.
 
Time to eat some crow...

I don't have the ability to do videos that would do this snare side head justice, so I'll just do a write up.

I thought this thing was going to affect the snare a lot differently than they did. Like making it sound tubby in some way.
Nope...

The drum is a 14x6 Gretsch Catalina Club with a mahogany shell. Some upgrades have been done like a die cast batter hoop, DW mag throw-off & Pure Sound wires. The shell has been teak oiled on the inside & there's no wrap. Just ebony stain.

The head does make the snares not have the sustain they once did, so the sound is much more crispy. Like just on the edge of being choked. I have an Evans Hydraulic batter head on this drum, so the overtones are not there anyway. I'd imagine a more open head will affect how this snare side reacts, but I was going for the darker-than-dark sound here.

Upon tuning it down, the sound got really loose and sloppy. Probably the result of 2 thick heads giving it a very small range of sounding good. High & combat ready is the placement for this set up. I do like the suede head as a whole, and would recommend getting one for a certain snare you'd like to sound different than any other.

I will mess with it even more now that I've had time to try it out.
I used it for some studio work a few months ago. I tuned fairly low, and while my snare got a little boxy, the reduced wire response and very dark tone were ideal effects for that application. I don't consider the Black Suede Snare Side an all-purpose head. It's too extreme, though it's an interesting option when you want a noir presence.
 
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