Is PDP snare of Pearl snare better? Need advice

[enricoaeria]

I am looking to buy a snare. I need advice. is the pearl ultracast or the pdp SX acrylic snare drum better?

 

[marcdadrummer]

there's practically TONS of awesome snares out there in the market. Why only limit urself with the two???

i personally have left the wood zone and transferred myself to metal snares...

 

[weckl-x]

'Better'? There is no absolute 'better'. What kinda music are you playing? Generally speaking, I think the Ultracast would be more versatile for multiple applications. I would attribute that to the alu shell. Although alu can be pretty dry (my acrolites tell me that), but the cast shell of the UC snare should yield some mean resonance. I find that alu shells can be tuned to sound either metallic, woody, and in between.

No personal experience with acrylics. I've always thought that if I had one, I'd put feathers in it to see them jump around when I play it. Heh.

On a side note, the Ultracast is Pearl's attempt at copying the Noble & Cooley Alloy Classic Cast Aluminium snare.

Unlike most metal drums, the Alloy Classic is built of cast aluminum, not rolled sheet metal, or sliced from tubing. This process renders a more porous shell, and the resulting sound is denser. It has much more character than most metal snares. By tuning the heads high, you can still realize the "crack" or "pop" of a metal drum, but at looser tunings the sound of the drum can approximate the warmness of a wood shell.

http://www.indoorstorm.com/Noble_Cooley_Alloy_Classic_Snare_Black_6x14-p-535.html

 

[enricoaeria]

wat ther snare would u guys recommend. i have a budget though of about 700. so wit that in mind wat would u guys recommend

 

[alvyn]

wat ther snare would u guys recommend. i have a budget though of about 700. so wit that in mind wat would u guys recommend

$700 for a snare drum budget is pretty decent already. what kind of sound are you looking for? any particular preference to material? (maple, oak, steel, brass etc etc)

for $700, you could probably pick out a black panther from nigel. If my memory doesn't fail me, he quoted me slightly more than $750 for a 14x5.5 black panther maple snare last time. head down to swee lee and check out the pearl chad smith signature snare. it's a metal snare, and its relatively cheap. pretty versatile and amazing snare imo - great crack, great sensitivity.

alternatively, head down to yamaha and check out their oak snares. $600+ can get you a 14x6 oak snare that sounds killer when tuned properly.

you could look at the pearl free floaters as well (at swee lee). those might be a bit pricier, but its a good investment because the resonance is superior compared to other snares, and the biggest selling point IMO is that you can change multiple shells by purchasing and changing it. not sure of the price though.