A year ago, I needed to upgrade my snare and I was pretty constrained in terms of price. After looking at the options, I went with the Yamaha Stage Custom Birch and I absolutely made the right choice. Sound and quality for what it costs is fantastic. Glad it's included here.
I have the Ludwig supralite 5,5 x 14! I bought that snare because I heard someone playing it without seeing it. The sound was powerful and cutting. Honestly, the last 3 recording session I did, the engineer took that snare! Awesome snare for the price. Mention to the yam birch snare! Awesome video again DCP!
Nice video! True that they aren’t just beginner instruments, it’s also for the budget minded. Like if you play some pubs where your $300 snare drum is the most expensive item in there. :-) You can also definitely get a nice sound out of the drums, but as you say, after some playing tension rods can back out, snare strainer can loosen and other fun things. You can learn to quick tune and adjust on the fly, but maybe that isn’t for everyone. Owning and gigging a lot with a Pearl Decade Maple snare drum, that Yamaha Stage Custom seems pretty darn good! Thanks for the video, as always informative and entertaining.
My first snare was a steel Yamaha that some online retailers will sell for $99 at different times. I put a UV1 on it and it sounds as good as any of my other snares.
Picked up a Yamaha Stage Custom kit that came with the snare. You can easily get pro-level sounds out of the snare (and entire set). Only real negative is the cheap and finicky nature of the throw-off.
Great snares listed here!! I have a Stage Custom snare which came with my kit and it may be the best snare drum included with a shell pack under $1,000, it's not common to see a shell that awesome with 10 lugs in a shell pack. The Supralite reminds me a lot of my Supraphonic, and I'm also especially impressed with the MPX snare, glad to see these getting more recognition over time.
Man, I've had the Supralite 6.5x14 for 10 years and it has been a total work horse for me. Throw off eventually gave out so had to replace that, but man, but put some good heads and it'll rip! The Canopus Vintage snare wires are the chef's kiss for sure.
I absolutely adore my Luddy Supralite. Put a die cast hoop on the batter side with a regular ol coated Remo ambassador and off to the races. Hits way above its price point. Liked it so much I got the 8" depth as well. Great video by the way. You don't have to spend huge $ to get a killer snare sound.
Same, was at gc and bought a 6.5 on the spot becuase of the sound. Added die cast, sabian 40strand wires and some evans heads. Thing is a gig monster. cuts through loud rock music amazingly
A couple of these budget snares sounded good to me. *The Mapex Hybrid & PDP Concept* are the 2 I'd go for. (might even add that Hybrid to my collection if I was to spot it with ca$h on hand).
Heck, my Percussion Plus floating-snare, 6.5, 10 lug is my favorite snare. I'd put it up against my Super-Sensitive or Dynasonic any day. I probly got it at a pawn shop for less than a hundred bucks 30 years ago. I think I'll add a dead spider. That sounded awesome dude!
Pretty sure that "Percussion Plus" snaredrum was also sold together with super cheap drumsets from other brands in the 1990's, such as "Linko" and "Action". The latter was my first drumset, and it had the exact same snare :) Out of these, I would go for the Yamaha. Couldn't believe the price when I heard it.
Thanks for this great video. Please do new/ updated videos on cheaper different metal snares. The budget friendly aluminium, brass & bronze snare drums that sound as good as expensive snares.
I always add Hendrix sleeved washers to keep my entire kit in tune but I use two lug locks right where I hit my snare because I only play rim shot. Mif you haven't heard of Hendrix Sleeved Washers check them out because they work really well and come in cool colors.
It's difficult with the whole price thing, mainly because the prices can change without notice from our vendors. The links in the description will bring you right to the product page with the most up to date pricing.
Ludwig and PDP are for me the winners. I'm surprised of how awefull the Tama looks and sounds. It screams cheap louder than the Export, which btw, not that bad. Not good either. Mapex what a nice surprise
I have a Supralite and it’s become my Nr. 1 Snare. It’s competing against a Supraphonic and a Prolite Brass, which are excellent but I duno… there’s something about the Supralite that I adore. Maybe it’s the steel shell after all
Tama sounded the cheapest, imo. And looked cheap too. Are those seams down the middle of the lugs? Tbh, i don't think the black finish on the hardware helps
Ludwig and Yamaha were my two favorite, Tama was my least at least in this tuning because I like a higher tuning so who knows what everything sounds like (except ludwig I've seen it tuned high) in that range
They purposely tuned down all those snare drums with loosened snares & played simple riffs on 'em. Cant make cheap snares sound as good as 2 grand snares.
Here's a question: if you replace just the top hoop on the "flimsier" snares of this batch, how would this affect the final price? Outstanding video as usual.
Gibraltar do 2.3mm hoops for about £22. Pearl Superhoop 2 around £40. So would add 20%-40% off the cost. If the model already has 2.3mm hoops, then you're looking at diecast. Diecast hoops are more variable in price. Budget ones start at £40, but branded ones can be up to four times that.
I can’t tell the difference between them. I think out of them I’d probably go for the Yamaha or the PDP depending on $$$ it’s a shame there wasn’t a Stage Custom steel snare in there because that is my first choice of value snare. It’s also a shame Mapex don’t do the excellent Armory series anymore, I’ve got the Tomahawk and the Exterminator both are fantastic drums.
I got the yamaha stage custom in white, and the pearl export but its older with actual steel inside.. also a few other snares not in the video..thinking of getting a pearl utility maple, or a ludwig supralite soon though!
I liked the supralite the best I guess, but tbh they all kinda sounded the same. . . I really wish you guys would tune the snares up higher on these videos
pdp did not impress me. Pearl has never disappointed me.But for the average listener all sound the same. Therefor, Drumcenter should explain once how exactly they amplify, and EQ exactly a kit for a video.
Doesnt a 14 inch snare head work on the a 14 inch floor tom if you really need a spare? I thought the percussion plus was a joke untill i remembered how well a steel could be useful. They actually have steel 6.5 inch depth deep snares for good prices!
Surprised Tama look so cheap and sound cheap compared to all; even old one with spider, sound better. My set, throne and hardware is Tama so not hating on the brand..The PDP was best but some others shown, nice quality Snares. I thought had in mind next snare wanted but now rethinking…..🙄 Personally, think if about $400 up ok for cymbals then finance dream snare too, in whatever budget makes sense. Like one say though, the special snare stay at home. Great video!
Agree about the Tama. Thought it was the worst sound and the hardware looked the cheapest. And I have 2 Tama kits. No Tama snares though. Mine are Pearl, Mapex Black Panther and British Drum Company. I do think the Tama SLP snares are excellent though.
Get the best cymbals you can afford, then the snare. Cheap cymbals typically don't sound very good, and you have no real tuning options. If you buy a cheap snare, you can put new heads on it and have a wide variety of tuning options. Basically, you're not stuck with the sound like you are with cymbals.
@@AT-wl9yq Totally agree about cheap cymbals. Very expensive but lifetime investment so worth it. Have old steel Tama snare that came with 89 Tama kit and have great head and tuning, plus use gel tack for muffle and it sound fine to me. The fancy snare I wish for, on bottom of wish list right now.
@@jamesdennett196 I thought they were going for a rainbow esthetic but I looks like they ran down to Home Depot real quick and shit something out to pad their inventory.
@@drumcenternh Have you ever compared the sound quality of a youtube video like this with how the drum sounds when you're actually it? There could be a big difference that we're not able to hear just watching youtube.
True but the extra hardware can affect the overall cost. Case in point: an airline from back in the day was able to save several thousand dollars per year just by eliminating one olive from one of their in-flight dishes (I think it was a salad.)
I agree…but sadly, it’s not the cost per unit but rather the expected number of units to be produced that determine the budget for hardware and features. I can’t stand the 8-lugs either. Or 6-lug floor toms!😮
I bought the mapex one featured here, it's my Black Cutie. I am going to want to replace the hoops sometime down the line, but is a future project a bad thing?
You did not mention the 10 lug yamaha stage custom steel snare drum. Or the 8x14 poplar shell sound percussion lab ten tube lugs and a beautiful lacquer blue or red fade snare drum
Agree Ronald. I started with a Yamaha stage custom snare drum 18 months ago after a 50 year hiatus. Built around the snare with the SPL ( guitar center exclusive) Sequin Gold shell pack. ( couldn't afford those smooth honey amber Yamaha birch shells.) Sold the SPL snare that came with the set with a set of edrums and amp. I would dig that steel snare by Yamaha but would also dig that SPL 8" snare in turquoise blue fade. That new line of 4/6/8 snare does not come with the original SPL Velocity shell pak which is on sale for $379.00. DCP does a class act job on providing this information for us. That establishment is on my bucket list.
