House of Drumming.com

Hey guys...

Lately I´ve been into snare sounds a lot... Maybe ´cause I´m waiting for my Supra to arrive next week?
Let´s say that you have to choose just 3 snares to cover all your bases... Which ones would you pick? And let´s hear why!

1. A 5 inch solid shell.
2. A 6.5 wood or aluminum drum.(Fat Back)
3. A 12 x 5 black beauty. I know they don't make one...

1. 5" deep wood shell (stave, solid, ply, whatever as long as it's quality)
2. 6.5" or 6" deep metal shell (Again, whatever is quality. I love Copper!!)
5. Some sort of Aux snare like Gretsch mentioned. 12" is good.


You can reverse the depths for material, but the principle applies unilaterally. A great wood snare, a great metal snare and something unique - you're good to go.

What about a piccolo?
That´s a kind of flavor pretty handy to have around...

I don't even have 3 snares yet. lol

A nice wood snare and a nice metal snare should do the trick.

I have your typical Gretsch brass snare and a George Way Studio.(Just ordered a Longo walnut snare.) Something small on the side would be cool, but that could be anything, not necessarily a snare either.

Julián Fernández wrote:What about a piccolo?
That´s a kind of flavor pretty handy to have around...

True, but you said only 3 snares to cover all and piccolo's are a very narrow sound application. I have a couple, but if I was going into a studio or such and could only bring 3 snares, those would be on the last to my considered list.

I consider piccolo's to be under the "specialty" or "auxiliary" snare category, they have a very narrow sound range and are exactly what they are and nothing more.

YamahaPlayer wrote:

Julián Fernández wrote:What about a piccolo?
That´s a kind of flavor pretty handy to have around...

True, but you said only 3 snares to cover all and piccolo's are a very narrow sound application. I have a couple, but if I was going into a studio or such and could only bring 3 snares, those would be on the last to my considered list.

I consider piccolo's to be under the "specialty" or "auxiliary" snare category, they have a very narrow sound range and are exactly what they are and nothing more.

Vinnie and Weckl were almost going for a Gadd sound with their brass piccolos of the grand ole 80's. Never did care for it much though...

3 snares to rule them.


sorry, it reminded me of Lord of the Rings...

My 3 favs are

my new 6.5x14 Black Beauty
my 6.5x14 Yamaha Maple Custom (NOT absolute) pre'94
and my 5x14 DW Craviotto from 2001.

Not much i cant cover with these puppies. I have a 10" Stage Custom from 2000, but in all honesty, if i put a splash cymbal on the Craviotto when its tuned a bit high, noy many people can tell the difference.

Only three? That's tough, but not impossible. One snare to rule them all would be extremely hard. For me at least.

With three, I'd go with one dry metal (Aluminum), one ringy metal (Brass) and a middle of the road wood, (Birch).

That would cover just about everything, along with the right heads, tuning, muffling, etc.


1. Ludwig LM400 Supra-Phonic Aluminum 5x14

2. Ludwig Black Beauty or Black Magic Brass 6.5x14

3. Yamaha Steve Gadd Birch 5.5x14