Im looking for a new snare drum, but im fairly new to Drumming so i need some help. Im lookin to spend between 50 and 150 for a snare, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciative. I have a Rogers set from the 80s, R360. Im lookin to buy on ebay. So whatever advice u guys got is good. Thanx.
-Ian

Look for a snare that is part of a high end kit... For instance a Tama Starclassic Maple or Starclassic Peformer snare. Lots of players have their own preferred snare and as such they will just get rid of the snare that comes with their kit. Old Ludwig or Gretsch snares are always a good bet too.

Are you looking for metal or wood? You could probably build your own Keller-shell wood snare for about that much.

get this:

http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=020

I had one of these in copper some years ago. I was happy with it's performance. they have a nice "ringy" tone.

I sold it to a friend whom seemed to really love it. I have many other snares and I had stopped playing drums.

They come with thin heads... You will probably want to play around with better heads to make it work for you.

Take Luck,

I love my Pork Pie snare. You can probably find a good one on eBay for around $150 or even less. If you're buying second-hand, be sure to check the mounting hoop and rims for any flaws. A little hard to check when it's an eBay auction, but nevertheless it is important.

Almost any metal Ludwig snare is good.
Or Floating Shell Brass Pearl, 6 1/2 X 14", but about $50.00 over your $150.00 mark.

Metal Rogers snare drums are great.

I agree about the Pork Pie snares. I have two that I bought new and they get used on most of the live gigs I play. I've used them on a WHOLE BUNCH of sessions and they record well, too. They are an excellent company owned by a very smart and pleasant man who still has an active involvement in building the drums. They are one of the better values in high-end drums currently on the market. The make a wide range of drums out of a wide range of materials, so just about anything you could want is available. Some of these drums come in at around $150 new at GC, so I imagine that one might be obatinable on the used market within your price range.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Oh man. Looks like I dropped the ball.

In thirding the opinions above, I suppose I should mention that I am a Pork Pie endorsee. So, naturally, if you can get your hands on a Pork Pie snare, you will looooooove it. I got my custom kit (including a 5x14 snare) in July and I am absolutely thrilled with it. Bill Detamore is a great guy and a stellar business owner.

I recently recorded with the kit at Sonic Iguana in Lafayette, IN and Mass Georgini, the engineer/owner, said he was impressed that the drums sounded so good. He said we spent far less time just getting sounds than he was used to. The only thing that needed a little tweaking was the floor tom, and that went relatively quickly.

I was thinking more on the "bargain hunting" end with my previous post. I actually checked on eBay to see if there were any cheap Pork Pie snares floating around but I didn't see any, that's why I recommended the Tama or Ludwig, since those are *always* available on eBay, and they're not too shabby for what you pay.

Anything you buy new in your price range is going to be a steaming pile of shit. Might as well play a Folgers can.

Stick to eBay, and stick to discarded snares from packaged sets. Search for Pearl MMX or BRX (masters series) snares and you should very easily find one used for under two bills.