This is what the US government wants me to buy with my stimulus money.... they didn’t state it explicitly in the bill, but I know in my heart that it’s true.
Lol, I was watching one of their reviews of the Tama Walnut/Birch kits yesterday. My wife said, “what are you doing.” My reply, “spending my $1200 check...and a portion of yours.”
I own an older version of the Beech snare and I can assure you this drum can do anything. It is much fuller sounding than any other 13 I have played. It will work as a main or side snare.
I used to have a Yamaha absolute maple 13x5.5" . I ended up selling it because I play rock music. I found the drum would choke at high volumes. Being smaller in diameter it just wouldn't produce as much sound pressure. These drums sound good though!
You got the like the second the video started! That brass snare is simply amazing, it gives you all sounds and feels you ever need even during a full gig, from fat 80s rock ballads to funk and jazz. So basically you get three or more snares in one. So versatile, so well thought. Brilliant instrument.
Just when I was against smaller snares until a friend showed this video and I have to say I'm impressed. I will definitely be getting one to add to my collection.
both sound phenomenal, brass got more pop but the beech has something special. Last time i saw Benny in a clinic it was in a really small stage, the mix was 50/50, real drum vs PA, one tuned flat dead and the main was cranked, it sounded like a shotgun blast, could not believed it was a 13. Benny's the man !!!
He’s also one of the best tuners so he could make any drum sound good with his tuning and playing ability but I agree he always has the best snare sound along with the rest of his kit. They are always tuned to perfection.
great vid! love your shootouts. I'd appreciate it if we could hear examples without the room mics as well. the room sounds great in these vids but featuring it heavily might make it harder to discern how much of the awesomeness of the sound comes from the drums themselves, and how much comes from the drum. thanks again for all the great vids!
I laughed out loud after seeing those roughly carved pieces of plywood the dampening material sits on ... Had expected something more "technological" regarding this detail. Don't get me wrong - both snares sound great, I love Sonor and the work you do at DCP with reviewing those instruments. Internal dampeners are great, especially these one quite look like an innovation ... but can't help about the plywood, still looks kind of DIY (which is nothing bad at all). It's actually good to see that the design is simplified on the right end of production and that some details have this handmade vibe on them ...
i usually don´t "buy" the old things as a new "enhancement" but owning the first version of the snare (beech) i can tell that adding the muffler systems and chancging the "rubber "inlay for the bubinga one is a very samrt move/addition,. Have in count that not only the mufflers eliminate the need for moongels or other muffler devices on the heads, but also the mass off the monorails and the internal muffler holders help to control the overtones a little bit, wich in my case i did by changing the triple flanged hoops for a pair of die cast ones (i had some tama at hand). Now i really want to try/buy the Brass one badly. If anyone doubts a bit of this two snares, just try the beech one, and i guantee you it will surprise you beyond the expectations you may have for the shell size. By far one of the most versatile, and wider tuning ranged snare i have tried/have.
These snares sound great! I was dying with laughter at the sheep sounds, I used to play golf in the Scottish mountains or in England walking the fairways with lots of sheep barrrrrrr! Great snares 🐑🐏🐑🐑🐑 5 sheep out of 5! 😂
Revisiting this video to find a snare I'm happy with, and both of these sounded spectacular. I didn't care for the Beech until you cranked it up. And, that crisp "crack" that I look for in ANY snare was their on both. And, the dampening system with the brass, made that one sound even better. So many snares these days are losing qualities that make it a snare, and it sounds like you're opening a new can of Mott's apple sauce than it does a snare. Both of these sound incredible. Sonor and the new Tama Star line are amazing. I've just got to figure out which kidney I don't need....
I love your videos! And these snares are realy nice. I´m a Yamaha fan...but this one is just something you might wanna have. I know Benny from our studie time back in 2000. He´s just a nice guy with a lot of humor and great Ideas. Good drummer, good snare. It´s allways worth to think about things again and work on getting things better! - Love your channal and your shop!
I wanna get one of these for the sole reason that there is a bubinga stripe. Literally did a full-on belly laugh when I heard him say that's what the type of wood is. Bubinga
I thought both of the drums sound better at the higher tuning with some dampening either the 🐑 or the felt. I think the beech snare probably has more variety to it, whereas, the brass shell really barks nicely. Can’t go wrong either way. Time to start saving up because they cost a lot of moola!!
The 50s Teardrop 😢 🥁 Lugs look killer 🤘🏻! An interesting and very smart dampening mechanism, they sound 👂🏻 great. I wish these snare drums came in standard 14" x 6.5" sizes as well because not everyone wants or needs a 13” piccolo snare drum. Sonor, it would be really nice if we could get the cool retro 50s Teardrop Lugs on the SQ2 kits as an option, I will take mine in Black Nickel.
Can you guys do a shootout of some popular 6.5" aluminum snares? Acrolite, supra, Yamaha RC, DW, Tama starphonic, ETC. It's an iconic snare setup and I'm curious how the common faves stack up side to side
To my ear, the drums are pretty controlled without the dampeners. For the limited sustain they have, you could use a little gel or drum tac. Save all the fancy engineering.
I found myself thinking the same thing. Perhaps the biggest advantage to the added dampening features is that they make it fast and easy to make adjustments on the fly (e.g. while playing).
that’s literally the point of the internal dampers... so you don’t have to use moo gel or tape or whatever. just flick a knob and bam, different sound. you don’t have remember to grab your little pack of sticky gels, you don’t have to worry about wind blowing away an e-ring, no rape residue, don’t have to wash off your gels, etc.
Hi, I'm only 3 years late on this conversation. Is it just me or do these 13 X 5.75 Beech snares of Sonor perform better than anything else when they're cranked up?
Lovely size and sounding drum. I emailed Noble and Cooley to ask them to make the 13x5 Alloy snare they made years back. They said they had no plans to make any. I hope this drum changes their mind.
I Like the sound, especially the mids and highs frequencies! The volumen, attack and tone is great, but i dont understand, is the position of the lugs. I think this bring unnecessary tension to the wood version in high pitch mode...But in overall sounds beautiful.
Which one of those killer things would be best suited for Jazz (lots of brushwork) and a bit of Funk / James Ingram stuff and so on, at low to mid volume without PA? The wood or the brass version? Which is „smoother“?
Beautiful drums. Definitely partial to the brass tho. It just sounds more versatile. Both are fantastic in their own way. Also, I couldn't stop laughing every time the sheep dampener was used. lol
I think it would have made more sense to stay on one drum at a time during the dampener demo portion, instead of switching back and forth, in order to get a sense of how the dampeners affect the drums, rather than how different the two drums are, which was already covered. Not a fan of Sonor's vintage lugs. I don't like using two lugs to do the job of one double-sided lug - extra mass, extra screws, all unnecessary - plus the lugs are unnecessarily long - they have to be staggered on an 8" deep tom. Anyway, I thought the beech shell sounded better at the low tuning, and the brass shell was better at the other tunings.
german myself i find it offensive that he caters to the richer people only. I believe it is fair to say, if you are really good you do not worship a drummer, so you wont pay extra for a branding, if you are really bad you dont pay more for a snare than you would for an entire kit. So who will buy it, a few tendentionally nationalistic german drummers that have too much money on their side, that are kinda good but not good enough to not need to be boosted by a VIP signature models mojo.. just a thought. Because even if you are fantastic and a VIP in montreux i guess.. there is a whole wide world of VIP drummers around the globe, hundreds of them.
The dampeners are useful, but cannot achieve that 70s fat snare drum sound you get using a drum head, because it doesn't lower the pitch of the drum like topping the drum with a drum head. The tone controls just control overtones and tighten up the sound a little, but to my ears, not significant enough to have 2 different kinds. I think its just marketing hype on Sonor's part.
