I just took mine out of its case and it’s turned blotchy, only played it twice and handled with the supplied gloves, stored in the studio in its case and it does this, are you aware of this and maybe you should check yours.
Ok I just checked and sadly yes it is looking a little odd, streaks and some blotches in areas and the shell does appear to be darker. Mine is stored in it's case also in a temperature controlled environment.
I know what you mean, in a full band situation the tones make this drum come alive but as I use some form of dampening I try and give the best of both worlds.
The higher tuning is my preferred choice but all these limited edition type snares are just gimmicks. When the DW Romanian River Oak kit came out I bought one. It’s a beautifully crafted kit buuuut so are my 90’s era Ludwig Super Classics. If you were to get 3 medium priced snares with 3 expensive AF snares and then put a blindfold on nobody would be able to tell the difference. These are all just a way of these drum manufacturers to get people to spend their money by making them think they’re getting something that’s going to sound amazing but it sounds just like any other well made drum.
