Drummers!! Please recommend snare wires.

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Coco
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Drummers!! Please recommend snare wires.

Post by Coco » Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:58 am

Looking for recommendations on snare wires. I tried pure sounds (16 strand) and it sounded like crap, at least with my snare. It is a 14" x 8" big-ass Ayotte, and made it sound really boxy. I have never tried really wide ones like a 42 strand. Any certain brands I should look at? Are they all basically the same whether made by Pearl, Yamaha, ect? Thanks.
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vsr600
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Post by vsr600 » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:38 am

I like 20 or 24 strand wires on my 14"x8" Tama Superstar. They are all about the same quality wise - bad. I find though the ones made by tama for their starclassic snares are a little better and seem to last longer. The pure sound wires are usually great (and expensive), try a set of 20 strand puresounds. Also don't tighten them so much that it chokes the head and make sure you tune the bottom head if you don't want boxy.

ckeene
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Post by ckeene » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:39 am

The Noble and Cooley ones are my favorite. They have a design so that where the strings attach, they don't raise the profile of the snares on the head, which allows for better contact.

Coco
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Post by Coco » Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:57 am

vsr600 wrote:I like 20 or 24 strand wires on my 14"x8" Tama Superstar. They are all about the same quality wise - bad. I find though the ones made by tama for their starclassic snares are a little better and seem to last longer. The pure sound wires are usually great (and expensive), try a set of 20 strand puresounds. Also don't tighten them so much that it chokes the head and make sure you tune the bottom head if you don't want boxy.
How do you like the Superstar snare? I have always wanted one. I had an old Superstar kit that I would still use if the toms were traditional size and not power toms. I have been thinking of getting an old 14" x 7" superstar. I just hijacked my own thread!

I should try a wider pure sound on my 14" x 8" Tama Artwood, since it is a bit brighter than the Ayotte I have. Both are 18 ply maple.

Regarding bottom skin tuning, I usually tune it the same as the top and I have always done it this way and never really experimented with bottom skin tuning.
Last edited by Coco on Mon Mar 06, 2006 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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vsr600
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Post by vsr600 » Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:07 am

I love the 1983ish 14x8 Tama Superstar, but I'm also a huge fan of Dave Grohl and that's what he used throughout most of Nirvana. The only problem with them is that the lugs tend to break easy, this is actually my second one because of that. The lugs are replaceable with modern Tama lugs though.
As far as tuning the bottom head, in theory I think they should be the same. But in practice however it usually sounds better for me with the bottom head tuned pretty high....

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