Snare Spotlight: Tama Bell Brass 

Glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks for the kind words and support! Please do share the channel with your drummer friends. Cheers!

We're so glad to hear it! Knowing why/how this stuff works can open a lot of doors when it comes to experimenting with sounds and approaches. Cheers!

Thanks so much for the kind words! We really have a blast doing this series. We'd be open to the possibility of providing overviews with our opinions and recommendations for full setups if there are certain manufacturers that are interested in doing such things. Let Tama (or any other manufacturers) know what you're interested in seeing their products featured on Sounds Like a Drum!

Thanks! We've been singling out the drums for the spotlight series so that the focus is really on them rather without the distraction of other drums, though that may be an option in the future. Thanks again for watching!

Hi Michael! Thanks so much for watching and for commenting. We avoid referencing any specific dial settings (we don't use any of these devices for tuning) because it removes the educational experience from tuning and often becomes a crutch for drummers (using an abstract quantitative measurement rather than your ears as the primary source of feedback). With all of the variables in drums, sizes, rooms, and certainly subjective opinion, we want to lead viewers in the direction rather than prescribing some form of specific tension/pitch/etc. Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks again! -Ben

Absolutely! My name is Cody Rahn and I'm a freelance drummer/percussionist/etc. here in NYC. Glad you're enjoying the content! It's been a lot of fun sharing all this info that's accumulated over the years :)

Yes, the 1980 BB has different hardware as well

Exactly, his buddy tried to tell him it’s an 80’s BB with different hardware, but the badge is a dead give away.

Yep, I agree as any vintage Tama enthusiast will tell you. I know the OG models had the T badge.

It sure is a beauty in sound and aesthetics!

Nik Drown Same

Right on man! Yeah, you’d have a heart attack if you knew what the owner of this one paid for it.... WITH the bell brass hoops 😎

Yeah, there are people that don't even know what they have. A few weeks ago I ran into Rogers Dynasonic in ads for 500 euros

Thanks for tuning in and subscribing, Marko! Be sure to share the channel with your fellow drummers.

Haha! In fact, Cody was playing Crazy Army, which Electric Wheelchair references 🤓

@@SoundsLikeADrum 😆 whoops! Good to know; been out of the drumline game for a couple decades now. Appreciate your breadth of knowledge! The 16” bass drum tuning vid was especially helpful with my bop kit (currently my only kit despite covering a variety of gigs/genres).

All good! We're both a little jealous of your drumline experience (neither of us ever marched). Glad you dug the episode about 16" bass drums. Cheers! -Ben

Nice! Great guys too.

There's nothing quite like it.

Let Tama know (tweet at them, Instagram them, Facebook message them) that you’d like to see us do a feature on the drum and let’s make it happen.

Thanks so much! It's worth experimenting with, though it depends so much on how easily choked the drum is, which often depends on additional factors such as the hardware and shell thickness.

Cranking the bottom head is useful for all snares honestly. These days it is the first thing I do when tuning any share with any head.

Paul- It really depends on your preferred overall sound though. If you're going for a bit more depth/body, cranking the snare side will prevent the resonance that is necessary to create that bigger sound.

Thanks! Let Tama know that you’d like to see the drum feature here.

Sounds Like A Drum I have one of the reissues they released in 2014. If you guys can't locate one, let me know!

Tama doesn’t offer the rosewood any longer. Like the bell brass it is a legendary drum

Definitely on the bucket-list of snares we'd like to get our hands on, but so far no luck! :) Cheers!

Description updated. Thanks for watching!

While you're not wrong, these kinds of drums really shine when they are hit *hard*. They are extremely sensitive at low volume, and their tone and resonance really doesn't come into play until you are really pushing them with larger (I would say 5b or bigger) sticks. Also for these reasons and more, they are notoriously tricky to record, as they can come across much "thinner" than they sound when you are in the room with them.

@@mqpiffle100 yeah, that totally makes sense! It’s definitely an incredibly nice Drum. It’s just nice to know that you can get similar sounds without the huge price tag

Personally, I've only hit the Gretsch drum at the Winter NAMM show (a very difficult environment to have a decent evaluative listening experience) so I really couldn't say. Not sure if Cody has spent any time with them. -Ben

kelesis666 The Gretch BB shells are roto cast like the newer re issue Tama shells so they aren’t the same animal as the OG sand cast shells.

jon r No snare can compete with a cast bronze shell. Different universes.

Black beauty, at least the ones contemporary to this drum, is a totally different animal. The black beauty would sound wimpy and thin by comparison.

That's a possibility in the future but we don't have immediate access to one and have a long list of vintage drums we want to cover first. Thanks!

Episode 1 over our series essentially doubles as a snare spotlight for the LM400 with my 14x5" 70's Supraphonic but it's probably worth doing a feature on the LM402 as well. Maybe Ludwig would like to do some collaborating with us...

If in doubt, you can always play your snare louder and your hihats softer as well. Self-mixing is super important.

They sure do sell for a pretty penny now! Especially if they've got the matching hoops. Still, a patient and watchful eye will see a deal pop up every once in a while.

Sounds Like A Drum Oh yeah definitely. I've seen the ones from the 80's going for close to $5000. It's insane .I do remember years ago ,I came across a tama rockstar on Ebay that came with a 6.5x14 bell brass. But it was being sold by a kids parent that had no clue what that snare was worth lol

Not yet, we have quite a list of drums we're hoping to get to though :) -Cody

H'mm I'm not sure

pharcydebug The DW is a completely different type of shell. The DW is made of sheet metal that is rolled and welded with the bearing edge rolled to a specific shape. The Tama shell is sand cast into a solid shell with the bearing edge machined like a wood shell has.

@@Assimilator702 Cheers for the info Joe, finally got the snare where I want it now

pharcydebug Which snare do you have?

@@Assimilator702 dw collector's brass, 3mm shell (6.5)

Mike Gerbitz you’re absolutely right, sorry for the poor wording - the intent was to differentiate from the newer Starclassic reissue stuff. This is certainly a 90’s, not 80’s. Sorry about that!

yup INdeed!

Plus, the late 90’s run had the bell brass hoops as well. I had a chance to buy one, with said hoops, for $800 back in the day!!! Finally talked my wife at the time, into letting me get it, went back to the store and it was GONE!!! Ughhh!!! Still kicking myself in the butt for that one!!! Then missed another one, the Lars Ulrich Bell Brass signature model, on Craigslist for $650!!! One day, I’m still hoping!!!

drumfanatik316 you’re right and this one has them too, they are just bent from heavy use and wouldn’t tune up evenly so we swapped them out for this video for the sake of sound :) those things are freakin’ amazing though!

@@drumfanatik316 Yes, you sure get one someday. Honestly, it sounds brilliant. I own the one with bell brass hoops. Man it screm but versatile. Good luck

Technically Tama is the only one with a “Bell Brass” snare, as that’s the branding rather than the material. Cast bell bronze shells are quite costly to manufacture and one of the leading suppliers recently decided to stop producing drum shells so, unfortunately, prices are likely to go up even on non-Tama cast bronze snares. We had a drum from Offbeat Drum Co. a short while back that was incredible ( featured here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jeeNSBcem7o.html ) but again, she’ll availability is quite hard to come by right now.

Duluth Bronze Castings can make cast shells and hoops to your specs. There’s also a company in Turkey that does this, although the name escapes me at the moment. I have a Duluth shell inside a pearl, free floater assembly with hex rods. It gives darkness and articulation.

The hoops that pair with this drum were damaged and there have been quite a few other priorities to cover. If a manufacturer is willing to send us some hoops to use, we’ll make it happen but we’ve been quite busy as of late. -Ben

I have this snare with the bell brass hoops. They're really sharp and bright sounding. I actually prefer the vintage Tama PC diecast hoops. That's what the first run of the bell brass came with. They are different from other diecast hoops as they are made from iron not zinc. They give a slightly warmer tone and mellow out the sharpness, which I prefer.

Which model drum is it and what wires are you using? Are the wires in good condition? It's possible that the snare side is choking the shell at the higher tension and you have a limited sweet spot where the wires will work well with the given snare side tension. To start out, we'd recommend going back to episodes 1 and 2 of our series but we're happy to help however we can.

Canon 5D Mark IV and a Canon 6D with occasional GoPro footage added in. All lenses are Canon L series.

loos very good for dslr footage. I mean dslrs can look great but i woulda guessed c100 mk2. looks awesome

Thanks! Good lighting makes a big difference. We may bump up to the C200 mkII in the future if we can justify it with some brand and/or viewer support for some slow motion and higher resolution imagery. Cheers!

Derek The Gretch are ROTO CAST and not sand cast like the early Tama shells. However after owning the Gretch for 6 months it is absolutely an amazong mustnown snare. Roto casting makes the metal more consistent. The magic of the legendary Tama BB snares is all the nooks and crannies that make the metal weaker but also impart the unique resonant qualities. The differences recorded on a srudio might be noticable but live in person I doubt anyone would notice.

@@Assimilator702 Do you no if the Gretsch USA bell brass is also roto cast ? and Is it in fact made in USA? lol I heard the other ones made were Korean or something and not very consistent in shape / thickness when analyzed.

@@BlueHouseSoundStudio You’ll never get a straight answer where it’s made. More than likely Taiwan or possibly China. I would bet everything I have it’s rotocast as it’s virtually identical to the newer Tama. Sand cast stopped with the first run of the Tama Starphonic shells according to people that know all the details of cast shells.

@@Assimilator702 thank you for the info! I still feel like I would put my money on the gretsch over the anniversary Tama... I played one in a studio session and did not like it... Tamas modern hardware I also find... “funky”... I don’t see anyone talking about how or why the anniversary bell brass has that smooth satin finish to the shell and that Rosie tint to it... it’s confusing.

@@BlueHouseSoundStudio If you look at various pictures of B8 Bronze it can look anywhere between the color of the newer Tama 40th shells and the Gretch Bell Brass. When I first received by Gretch BA k in April I was concerned with the color as it actually looks closer to the color of actual BRASS and not Bronze. I did a search and found some Sabian B8 splashes and they were the same color as the Gretch shell which is obviously machined to a fine finish and more than likely coated for protection. And it’s funny you say you don’t like Tama hardware as I believe it’s the best hardware on the market specifically the Linear Strainer and butt plate. The Gretch Lightning Throwoff and the fish body butt plate are HORENDOUS and the engineer that designed them should be brought out back and shot. Yes I hate the hardware that much. Being so used to Tama strainers and how easy it is to change wires I was confused how anyone at Gretch thought this system is up to today’s high standards. LUCKILY the Tama Linear Throwoff fits on the butt plate side with only a slight squeeze in the vice. The Gretch Lightning Thowoff now becomes the butt plate essentially giving you a side to side throwoff and the quick release if needed. I’ll either leave it as is or make an adapter for the Tama butt plate. However the hole pattern Gretch chose will make a very large plate necessary. I highly recommend getting one of these snares though since the sound is spectacular and they’re only $1000 street price IF you can find one. I don’t think Gretch makes many of these snares as no one has one in stock. For a few months now the Gretch cast snares are difficult to come by. I was lucky in April to find in at SW when they had 3 in stock. The other 2 sold within a week. Grab one if you can.

Hmmm, I don’t think so but you’d really have to ask someone at Tama about the inspiration there.

@@SoundsLikeADrum Slp is a low budget version of BB if you tune it mid or higher. in low tuning slp fails. But if you tune it up then you can feel the taste.

Anthony Decay The Gretch shells are roto cast so no they are a completely different animal. They’re great snares but NOT a replacement for a sand cast Bronze shell.

Can't say that we've had both in the same room at once so it would be tough to draw any sort of comparison between the two.

Sure! It's just pure curiosity and thought I might just hear from someone who has a grasp of the comparison, in the amazing community surrounding this channel. But thank you guys ever so much for replying so frequently!! It's not something you come to expect on most of RU-vid nowadays, you're really doing an amazing job.

Jens Harald The early Starphonic BB shells are sand cast and very rare. Most are roto cast and not the same thing. Still great snares though.

It's definitely a matter of style but we totally agree- these drums are something special!

David Suprenant You can find one for $6,000 if you’re lucky. A bit more if you’re not.

@@Assimilator702 wow,that's a lot of Dow.Owned a lot of snares in my life but never anything worth that kinda money.

David Suprenant Those early shells were actually boutique made by very small shops not huge factories. They were also sand cast and not roto cast which don’t have the resonant qualities of sand cast. Tama has gone back and forth between sand cast which is superior to roto cast through the years but I believe the last sand cast shells are the earliest runs of the Starphonic snares. Wether sand cast or roto cast they’re all expensive as that is not the type of shell that can be mass produced. Gretch has a Solid shell series and they’ve all been sold out for months now. Everywhere you look they’re back ordered and I have a feeling they’ll never be in stock and simply have to be special ordered if you want one. That DCP video from back in November did it. 2 months after that and no one had the drums in stock. I suggest the Gretch Solid Steel as it’s a very reasonable $650 and every bit as good as the more expensive solid shells.

If Sonor is down to send one, we’re down to create a badass video with it. Let Sonor know that you’d like to see the drum featured on our channel!

The hoops were damaged so we haven't been able to use them. Hopefully we'll get our hands on a fresh set in the future. -Ben

@@SoundsLikeADrum ah, gotcha. Thanks for replying! Your channel is incredible, every single video is something I've always wondered about - I'm gonna have to sink some major hours into watching them all hahaha

Indeed!

It has been discovered that the original in fact was only a 3 mm. It was either a typo, or Tama changed their minds after the 1980 catalog came out. I have a 1980 "raw finish" and that is a 3 mm. All the other raw finish Bell Brass's I have seen on the web have also been 3 mm. Terry Bissette and the rest of the Tama forum nerds can back this up. There MAYBE a few prototype's of a 5 mm raw finish out there if that. Elvin Jones would of owned one of them. Also, great video on this newer BB, Sounds Like A Drum!!

We’d love to if Canopus wants to support such a thing.

Sounds Like A Drum I got one. Live in Manhattan. When this virus is over feel free to use it for a review. There’s nothing like it!

He also doesn’t take this on the road but a lot of bands he plays with do have a tour crew.

@@SoundsLikeADrum Tried getting him on the show? He's definitely down to earth.

@@The_Other_Ghost For sure! He's a good friend of ours. We've decided that our Tuesday series isn't the best fit for inviting guests but that's something we'd like to to outside of the confines of the tutorial series in the future as time and support permits. Cheers! -Ben

And this one does too! They were somewhat damaged and in the process of getting repaired when we shot this, hence the swap out for standard diecast.

This one is certainly up there!

Check the first line of the video description... 😉

@@SoundsLikeADrum Ah... I only saw the title, then watched the video (too eager to dive in). Either way, you guys do awesome work. I've been playing for 35 years, and kind of fell into a specific way of tuning. But I've learned so much new stuff from your videos. The host is a pro all the way. Very good at describing/explaining things concisely. Hands down, best and most informative drum-related channel on RU-vid. Keep up the great work.

It was just a form of differentiation in branding. This is a lot more common than you might think.

And yet that’s the name. The truth is in the sound.

We actually covered that in the comments above though the first Tama Bell Brass snares were made in the early 1980's.