Pearl Reference Snare Drum

I purchased my 14x6.5 reference a year and a half ago. I absolutely love this drum! However the bridge lugs with swivel function system is weak and for situations where high tension tuning is required the castings tend to break.... I just recently noticed cracking on ALL of the upper sections of the castings. On certain gigs, I use high tuning but nothing that I would call extreme. I was very disappointed that after spending $ 520.00 that this would be an issue. Pearl did a wonderful job on every other aspect of the drum, but I think they tried to cut costs or something by using cheap castings. If they could "beef up" this lug system then there would be absolutely No Issues with this drum. All in all the sounds available from these snares are amazing; the rim shots are just beautiful!!

I got the 14 by 6.5 version of this 20-ply Birch/Maple snare and I have to say it is quite dynamic sounding. It's applications are definitely more for rock/pop/metal and live stuff. The snare is sensitive enough that you don't have to hit it very hard to get it going. The sound range isn't incredibly wide on the snare, but the focused crack that this snare gives is uncanny. If you need it to get louder you don't have to hit much harder. But the "crack" hits both the high and low register pretty well with almost no mid-range "Boom," and "Crack," at the same time. The stroke rolls and accents, while controlling volume is a little difficult, are equally as defined and the responsiveness of the snare is super quick. The hardware is nice. They put good snare wires on the bottom. The lock on the snare strainer is easy to use: just click the button on or off. Like Pearl sez, the snares will not come undone no matter how hard you play unless you unlock them. The winding hardware for tighting the snares is pretty good too. All you need to do is twist the knob. The snare drum also comes with Emperor Coated head on the top and an Ambassador on the bottom. I'm not sure if I can recommend this for Jazz drummers, I play with 7A sticks and it seems like it might be too much but 14X5 model probably isn't as loud. If you use brushes they work well on this snare. All-in-all, I got mine for $499 and I have to say for the price, if you are looking for a well defined loud snare with many live and studio applications and your price range is between $300-900 , I can't recommend this one enough because the competition pales. The Tama Starclassic 12-ply Maple snare is the only thing that comes close but that's an entirely different sound.