A lot of folks are using the Evans HD dry heads, as mentioned several times already. My experience confirms that if you want a dry snare sound these really do work. They record really well too. If your only complaint about your snare is it has too much ring, I'd definitely try using one of these heads before I bought a new drum. Besides, if you decide to buy a new drum you'll want to buy one of these heads for it anyhow.

I've used the Remo Pinstripe heads on snares and toms. My experience has been they focus the tone of the drum, emphasizing a certain note (perhaps emphasizing the ringing you hear). They make the drum sound deeper in pitch. Also, I found that they have almost no sensitivity, by that I mean there is little variation in tone when you hit them soft or hard. If you are playing heavy metal with lots of Journey fills they may work great, but other than that I would avoid them.

Another neat snare trick I've learned is: tune your snare drum up fairly tight, making sure all the lugs are tuned evenly. Then, detune just one lug slowly. Hit the drum while you do this and listen. You should hear the pitch drop, the snare will sound "fatter" and drier. The head should still have some response and not feel flabby, so you can still play all your fancy rolls and pickup notes.

how can you have a snare with no holes in the side? surely it'd just rip itself apart on the first hit, as the air would have nowhere to go?!

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Well now I'm starting to doubt myself. I'm not going into the crawlspace to dig the thing up, but I'd be pretty surprised if there was a hole in the side. I did break a few bottom heads, but only after leaving it on way too long. I did go through a lot of snares, though, as the springy things were forever popping off.

The whole concept of the "free-floating" snare drum is that the tuning shit isn't mounted to anything. They span from the top rim to the bottom rim.

Also, the snares extend beyond the lower rim off the sides. Really tight sound, when configured correctly, which was a bitch. In fact, after the first two or three, I started buying the normal snares that sit within the rim, as they were way cheaper. Except for recording.

Jon Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 7:59 am Post subject:

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how can you have a snare with no holes in the side? surely it'd just rip itself apart on the first hit, as the air would have nowhere to go?!

I own one of the 5" deep "free floating" snares and this has yet to be a problem. However, I've heard from multiple people that the 3 1/2" deep version destroyes snares and snare side heads in the time it takes to get a good rehearsal in. The only one of these 3 1/2" snares i have heard in person had a slight "Harrrmmp" sound immediately following the intial attack. My first thought was to attiribute that to air lock, but I guess it could be any number of things.

Contrary to popular belief the hole in a drum shell is to allow the heads to expand and contract due to temperature change. It has nothing to do with the actual playing of the instrument.
As far as the overtones issue. I have tried every head on the market and the head I use most often is a Remo Powerstroke. It offers dampening without taking away from the overall performance of the drum. The Evans dampened heads are just too much for me. I have also had some luck with plain old Genera heads as well. Nothing beats taking the time to find out what tuning works to control the overtones and get them to mesh with the overall snare sound. It's all a matter of personal preference; hell the guy from Korn wants to beat on a tin can.

Fellbrick wrote:I have tried every head on the market and the head I use most often is a Remo Powerstroke. It offers dampening without taking away from the overall performance of the drum. The Evans dampened heads are just too much for me...It's all a matter of personal preference.

Technically, the material Evans uses is a few micrometers thicker than the Remos. If your talking about dampened heads, the powerstroke is a totally viable option -- no doubt about it. The only thing I feel the Evans version offers (that Remo clearly doesn't) is consistency. The things are "electronically tuned" at the factory for fuck's sake.

At the drum shop we used to demonstrate the quality of a head by taking it out of the box and tapping it slightly with your finger before putting it on a drum. If it resonates uniformly on its own, then the it should (theoretically) sound good on a drum with minimal effort. I realize, of course, other factors come into play when you put it on a drum, but the old advice holds true "the best sound starts with the best source" not excluding a decent bearing edge.

I always tap my heads prior to purchase, even if the dude working there gives me an odd look. Sometimes I actually try to figure out which head would be in tune with my drum! I think I've given myself away as an Evans fan, but I do still prefer a good ol' ambassador on my snare -- it just feels right.

Tim