Snare Tuning / New Snare

W

Witterings

Silver Member
Hi All,
I've the standard snare that comes with the Mapex M series birch kit, I've tried everything from watching the video's for tuning etc and whils my snare sounds "OK" I'm still not overly happy with it.
I've changed the head and am using Remo Emporer but it just seems a bit lifeless still which is why I changed the head in the 1st place.
The top is tuned higher than the bottom and have adjusted the snares every which whey's possible.
At the moment with the recession I don't have the budget to just buy a better quality snare drum - - my question is how much difference might it make if I get some decent snares to put on this one and might it be worth my while ???
You touch some granted more quality snare drums and the response / immediate cut in of the snare is just so lovely and it really is a case of you can play less simply because of the sound, do you think it's possible to get close to that out of this one or just save the money until I can afford abetter quality snare drum altogether ??
Also how tight can you "crank it up", it's to the stage where it's quite hard to turn the key and I don't want to just destroy a head experimenting ??
Any suggestions / feedback much appreciated !!!
 
Witterings said:
I've changed the head and am using Remo Emporer but it just seems a bit lifeless still which is why I changed the head in the 1st place.
Click to expand...

I use emperors on my snares and have always been happy with them. Many guys feel that emps are too heavy for snares though and will use coated ambassadors (single ply). Might be worth a try if the drum feels 'lifeless'.
 
As the chap above said, dont forget about your resonant head.

I posted in a thread a few days ago about this, it was another M Birch snare in question then aswell.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56315

read the guys response for some ideas.

I dont think he changed the reso head but it does make a hell of a difference. The stock mapex resos I believe are of ambassador-ish thickness, if you put something like a hazy ambassador (2 mil thick), it will add a whole new level of response to the drum. Especially if its a highly cranked sound you are going for. I use an Emperor-X/Controlled sound, Hazy Ambassador combo on 3 of my snares and always recommend.

By the way - With regards to Remo Emperors - I recommend using an Emperor-X on the snare, as its the same thickness as a regular emp but has a reverse dot for a bit more control and attack!
 
It sounds like your heads may be too tight (especially your batter) you might be choking the drum. Trying dropping it to match the reso and adjust it either higher or lower in pitch from there. You also may need to change your reso head. They're noticeably thinner than batter heads so they'll lose their tuning capability quicker. And definitely get new snare wires, it's often overlooked but a good set of fresh wires will make a snare pop nicely. Generally when it comes to the stock wires you might get a good month or so out of them before they start buzzing randomly. Try some Puresound wires, they're pricier but in my opinion very much worth it.
 
I find some snares tend to choke when tuned to high. Try tuning the batter medium to medium high and the reso head tuned a fourth higher than the batter. You may have to try different combinations but I tend to get a good result with almost any snare tuned like this.
 
spantney said:
As the chap above said, dont forget about your resonant head.

I posted in a thread a few days ago about this, it was another M Birch snare in question then aswell.

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56315

read the guys response for some ideas.

I dont think he changed the reso head but it does make a hell of a difference. The stock mapex resos I believe are of ambassador-ish thickness, if you put something like a hazy ambassador (2 mil thick), it will add a whole new level of response to the drum. Especially if its a highly cranked sound you are going for. I use an Emperor-X/Controlled sound, Hazy Ambassador combo on 3 of my snares and always recommend.

By the way - With regards to Remo Emperors - I recommend using an Emperor-X on the snare, as its the same thickness as a regular emp but has a reverse dot for a bit more control and attack!
Click to expand...

Actually the Emperor X is two 10 mil plies plus a 5 mil black dot, which is 25 plys total, as opposed to a regular Emperor which is two 7 mil plies. I think Cannon Percussion sells black dots that you can self-apply though...

I didn't like two ply snare heads at all until I played the Vintage Emperor on my snare. Can't get over how good it sounds. I used a single ply with dot exclusively until I tried it. Just a thought.
 
Get a Puresound Blaster snare wire. I speak from experience here. My PDP snare sounded like absolute trash. Replaced the batter head with an Evans EC2 Reversed Dot, replaced the resonant head with an Evans Hazy 300, and replaced the snare wire with a Puresound Blaster. Topped it all off with with two moongels on the batter head and voila. It sounded like a $200-$300 snare drum.
 
Many thanks for all the replies everyone, think I'll certainly try all of those recommendations and see how I get on !!!!!
At least if I'm still not happy with the sound and end up upgrading the snare in the future I'll have decent skins / snares on my spare.
 
Personally I think it has nothing to do with your snare. Focus on tuning it properly and you can make that snare sound awesome. New heads will detune frequently in their initial stage. specially remos. but hang in there once you dial them in after a couple of days they will stay in tune for a while and sound awesome in the meanwhile.
Emperors are great snare heads. I've used them on occassion and they are great.
 
I've found out what it was, I'd put way too much dampner on the top and totally stangled the drum and sound it was making, I took some of it off and wow what a huge difference. All of a sudden I could really hear it instead of just being totally muffled but it also made me realise excatly how tight I'd done the top head and have now slackened it off and yet it's still got a really crisp and clear sound and the snares have totally come alive as well and now sounds lovely doing double stroke rolls etc which you almost couldn't hear before.
Cheers for all the input from everyone !!!!!
 
Witterings said:
Hi All,
I've the standard snare that comes with the Mapex M series birch kit, I've tried everything from watching the video's for tuning etc and whils my snare sounds "OK" I'm still not overly happy with it.
I've changed the head and am using Remo Emporer but it just seems a bit lifeless still which is why I changed the head in the 1st place.
The top is tuned higher than the bottom and have adjusted the snares every which whey's possible.
At the moment with the recession I don't have the budget to just buy a better quality snare drum - - my question is how much difference might it make if I get some decent snares to put on this one and might it be worth my while ???
You touch some granted more quality snare drums and the response / immediate cut in of the snare is just so lovely and it really is a case of you can play less simply because of the sound, do you think it's possible to get close to that out of this one or just save the money until I can afford abetter quality snare drum altogether ??
Also how tight can you "crank it up", it's to the stage where it's quite hard to turn the key and I don't want to just destroy a head experimenting ??
Any suggestions / feedback much appreciated !!!
Click to expand...

I use either a coated Ambassador or lately a coated Emperor and a hazy ambassador on my M Birch snare along with a 20 strand Puresound custom wire. To me birch snares are somewhat of a specialized sound but not a bad sound. I don't know if you use a drum dial but I use a 91 on the Emperor and 68 on the snare side of mine.
 
Witterings said:
Hi All,
The top is tuned higher than the bottom and have adjusted the snares every which whey's possible.
!!!
Click to expand...

I would try tuning the resonant ( snare side) tighter than the batter head. At any range that I tune my snares I always go with the snare side a bit higher and have done this for years now. When I tuned the snare side lower I always had to much of a low end thud character or a high pitch attack on top with some weird low end fuzz afterward. Never sounded right to me. Try starting over with both heads but tension the bottom head higher.

Just my .02
 
veggo32 said:
Personally I think it has nothing to do with your snare. Focus on tuning it properly and you can make that snare sound awesome. New heads will detune frequently in their initial stage. specially remos. but hang in there once you dial them in after a couple of days they will stay in tune for a while and sound awesome in the meanwhile.
Emperors are great snare heads. I've used them on occassion and they are great.
Click to expand...

This is good advice. Also, it takes me a good two weeks to dial in any new snare. Longer if it proves versatile...then you have a series of "settings" to work with, as is the case with my Starclassic Birch.

Also, it begs the question: What sound are you expecting to get out of it? What is it that you want the drum to give you? You may be asking it to produce something it was not designed for...

Blessings & Joy
 
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