ludwig acrolite

[Thrill Kill Will]

if you're thinking about picking up a new snare drum, i suggest finding yourself a nice ludwig acrolite from the 60s or 70s (keystone badge or B/O badge).

you can find them anywhere from $50-$100 in decent shape. for the money, its probably the best value out there. its a killer drum

[ham]

i haven't seen any around, but that's an awesome price for an awesome drum. is it wood or metal? i've got a black matte finished ludwig accent custom set, and i enjoy it thoroughly. ludwig seems to be pretty good at that drum thing they do. like, making them and all.

[Thrill Kill Will]

the ludwig acrolite is actually an aluminum shell drum.

the older models are a dull grey, but more recently they've been able to make the aluminum alloy with black sparkle in it, so the newer ones look pretty sharp, don't sound bad at all...but i think the older models sound a little nicer.

acrolites are most commonly found in 5"x14" size w/ 8 bow-tie lugs, but they do offer a 6.5"x14 / 10lug size, but i've never seen one.

(the acrolite's big brother is the ludwig supraphonic, which is a chrome plated version w/ 10 imperial lugs (i love those lugs))

[waitingforyou]

I love old ludwig snares. My teacher has an old lugwig and it is just so hot... and when he actually has it tuned up nice... well yea. I got a set of pearl masters, last year, but im still using my ghetto snare from my old set. It's gets the job done, but its projection sucks and its articulation isn't that great. I'll have to check out the acrolite. Im also thinking about getting a grover maybe... supposidly you can get them pretty cheap off ebay. If u have any suggestions let me know.
Kenny

[Thrill Kill Will]

if you are happy with the pearl masters custom kit, you should check out their snares. i picked up a 5.5x14 at guitar center for about $200 new, because it was a discontinued finish (it had a tamo-ash wood veneer finish, it was some exclusive deal pearl did for GC). its a great drum, actually one of the best snares i have as for as craftsmanship/build quality go. but its too shallow and has 10 lugs. if it were 6.5x14 and 8 lugs it'd be lil' buddy.

-w

[waitingforyou]

Thanks for the tip... I'll have to check it out... one more thing. I don't know too much about woods when it comes to snares, but I do alot of harder rim shots (so I want something a little quiter), while still wanting articulation for ghost notes and roles, would birch be too quite?

[Thrill Kill Will]

hmmm

people seem to say birch drums tend to accent the high and low frequencies, and less in the midrange. while maple is more of an evenly represented sound. but i haven't heard people talk much about a quieter wood...hmm... maybe an older mahogany snare would be quieter. metal drums can be very loud and project really well, so i think a wood snare in general would be a good option for a quieter snare.

i have a tama starclassic birch snare 5.5x14 w/ diecast hoops and its definitely not quiet when i lay into it. if you want quiet i'd stay away from diecast hoops.

actually! wood hoops can really make a rimshot warm and round sounding, i haven't had the pleasure of owning a wood hoop snare but my wood hoop toms are so much warmer than most toms i've heard. check out some of yamaha's wood hoop snares like the akira jimbo. you can even get a single wood hoop from pacific for like 30 bucks? they seem a little flimsey-er than the yamaha's which are more like 50-60. that might be a great option if you really like your current snare but want to tone it down a bit.

also, play as many snares as you can!

-will

[waitingforyou]

Thanks for all the advice. I was talking to the guitar player in my band and he told me if I was looking for snares his mom yardsaled something from a guy about 4 or 5 years ago. He said it was from the 60's or 70's. I took a look and it was a pearl, looked and sounded pretty nice too. It had some early corrosion on it but nothing a little turtle wax couldnt fix. So I traded him this suitcase amp I got for like 10 bucks at a yard sale and we called it even. Anyway I can't really figure out when its from cause there is no serial number on it or anything. All i know is that it has a black badge that say Pearly and Japan on it. It also has a real nice square hard shell case too. I might get something else later on... but I'm a broke college student so this will definate be sufficient for now.
-Kenny