ULTIMATE Cast Metal Snare Comparison - 24 snares: Bell Brass, Cast Aluminum, Solid Steel and more!

[@ZeBubba]

That must have been a huge effort, damn. Love the tones, thanks for doing this!

[@HushAngel]

Excellent comparison video...thumbs up to Timpano and Francis Fillion...

[@Dtcal_gary]

You guys did an excellent job with this video. Thanks for your work!

[@By_Rant_Or_Ruin]

Excellent work. Excellent drums. No black beauty. The starphonic was nice. But really they all sounded like great snares for various projects. I love snares like I love hihats. Thanks gentleman.

[@qlqnen]

Black Beauty isn't a cast shell.

[@KaitsuDrums]

Great comparison!!! Some of my favourites were Tama 80's Superstar Bell Brass, Ocheltree Steel prototype and Q Drum Cast Bronze 14x7. I have some bell brass comparisons on my page if you are interested. Gretsch 14x6,5 Bell Brass is my favourite of the modern versions.

[@sfmill]

I like your page. Thanks for your feedback. The Ocheltree in the video is mine (as well as 4 other snares).

[@KaitsuDrums]

@@sfmill Thanks!! Yes, you have an amazing collection!

[@betulaobscura]

I wrote it once and I will write it again: you have the best comparisons in the entire internet! Thank you! Unfortunately, you missed: Sakae 14x6.5; Sonor 14x6 cast bronze Artist snare; recent (50th anniversary) Tama Mastercraft Bell Brass and from not produced snares: Tama Abe Cunningham signature 3mm vented brass snare. I am positively surprised about PDP snares (especially aluminium). Also Sakae snare sounds very good. Tama was and still is pure class, so no surprises here.

[@Timpanopercussion]

Hi! The Tama 50th wasn't in production when we did that video..! It was hard to find Sonor and Paiste snares locally. Thank you for your kind words!

[@NuDrums]

Oh boy, that Q 14 x 5,5 at high tuning sounded gorgeous! 22:04

[@DanMarcelino]

Those pdp's are sounding really good..

[@FrankDag]

The Tama Bell Brasses at medium tuning win.

[@CiaoGibson]

Great vid. Merci FF!

[@joc8]

Great comparison video, and playing. They are all wonderful snares, I recently purchased a Gretsch 14" X 6.5" bell brass, and it is a killer drum...loud, and physically heavy. Those 5 mm shell snares would almost need a forklift to transport them! Thanks for the video, I really enjoyed it.

[@stromghouls]

the Noble & Cooley alloy classic is always mentioned as a 3mm drum, but they are 4mm thick.

[@AtLeastImNotLiberal]

They all sound decent high tuned

[@davidreidy5750]

Wow those Pdp snares are killing it!♥️🗽

[@totigerus]

The only problem with the metal PDP snares is that they are priced almost as high as the DW equivalents and higher than some Gretschs even. Seems sacrilege to pay 1K for a PDP snare.

[@krusher74]

I thought they were thin toned and terrible!

[@pjones8404]

Didn't listen until the higher tunings as I just don't care for snares in lower to medium tunings. The Gretsch snares would open up a lot more if you replaced the resonant side rims with triple flanged ones. I don't mind the die cast on the batter, but not underneath. I always subscribe to the notion that I want the most open and resonant drum I can get. I can always make a livelier drum more dead but can't make a dead drum more alive. As a Ludwig guy into my 50th years of drumming, I will stick with my Supraphonics, Black Beauties and my Acrolites. BUT there are some very nice drums here and I greatly appreciate the time and effort it takes to put something like this together.

[@krusher74]

i skipped all the low/med too, it much easier to hear a distince differance in the high tunnings.

[@bibop969]

nice groove!!!

[@waltgdrums1]

I have a penchant for all things Gretsch but that Tama Starphonic bell brass is simply astounding with its clarity body and crack at all tunings.

[@Not_Andrew_Huberman]

You play them like you're just rolling through the take but when you play the starphonic you slow down like you're paying attention to and appreciating what it's giving you

[@montyrayza7220]

Ty Sir, that was mega helpful !!!

[@tristanw9008]

Pearl Reference Brass 14x6.5 medium to high tuning will always be my favorite. I have never wanted or even thought about playing a different snare since i bought mine in 2020.

[@bkf22002]

Zildjian Noble & Coolie 380th Wowza!!!

[@richboshart1201]

That Tama Starphonic was heads and shoulders above any of the others in that first group.

[@brentniemi961]

Those PDP offerings in various depths/metals/tuning really sounded fantastic. That Noble & Cooley was so versatile too. The 80's 6.5 Tama "legend" and the Q Drum were outstanding. If you're dropping cash today on a quality snare I honestly believe PDP is money well spent .....and, I'm not associated with them whatsoever.

[@juancabrillo2u]

Great video, merci! I think my take away is that drummers shouldn’t ignore how great aluminum is as a shell material. Yeah, it’s not as sexy as brass or bronze or bell-brass or whatever… but it speaks really well. Also surprised how great the steel drums sound, especially for the price. Overall though, have to love the Sakae, Noble and Cooley Alloy and Gretsch Aluminums…

[@JulianFernandez]

thanks for sharing

[@janmalec7349]

bell brass is bronze right? right?!

[@qlqnen]

Some are, some aren't. Tamas are bronze, the Gretsch is brass.

[@bohdaaanek]

​@@qlqnen I highly doubt it

[@joannblondin8980]

Les Tama Legacy ainsi que les zildjian N&C sont vraiment a couper le souffle Star Wars rule!

[@justhadrums]

The master craft bb and zildjian n&c 6.5

[@hugorezende199]

seriously willing to buy a aluminum snare now, those sound good and have a fair price, sometimes steel and brass its too much on the ringing, not as pleasant as i tought. Also aluminum is lighter material haha

[@pfunnk14]

My favorite all around is that 6.5 gretsch bell brass. Just had the right amount of back end and crack but that pdp 6.5 bronze is a great value for it’s sound. Biggest waste of money are those tama starphonic bell brasses. As for the legendary section… give me any of them especially those 80s tamas. Sheeeeeesh!

[@jemmarcuenca7740]

Mid and high tuning, for me Tama Starphonic Bell Brass is the best..

[@tedfarfsing3217]

I think the pdp snares sounded the best but why no supraphonic snares maybe because most would have them as the favorite?

[@Timpanopercussion]

Hi, this comparison consisted of Cast snares only. Supraphonics are not built that way so that'S why they're not included :)

[@toddcapiton6285]

Ludwig snares just have the sauce. PDP is just lame. Some sound damn good, but it’s like cheap DW (turret are so terrible, otherwise fantastic. I own mostly cheap snares that I like to modify. Oh but all those dumb DW shell layup choices, and the boss tapping on every shell like it matters lol).

[@raymondkarlsson9794]

Gretsch USA Custom Bell Brass 5x14

[@ArtyomAnna]

isn't bell brass = bell bronze = cast bronze and not brass?

[@Timpanopercussion]

Tama's Bell Brass is actually Bronze. Gretsch's Bell Brass is Brass..! It's a bit confusing from one company to another. But "Solid Metal", "Cast" or "Bell" all refer to the same type of construction! There's also different ways of casting a shell (i.e. Roto-cast) but that's a whole other subject haha! Hoping this was helpful.

[@ArtyomAnna]

@@Timpanopercussion thanks wasnt aware of the gretsch's being actual brass..imo tama 's lingo made it all confusing hahah

[@krusher74]

Without them all having the same head top and bottom are we hearing head or shell differances? I;m suprised at timpano for not doing this or tuning them all the same with a tunebot.

[@Timpanopercussion]

They all have the exact same heads: Remo Controlled Sound, Remo Ambssador Snare Side! And we tune with a DrumDial :)

[@adolfofrano4656]

Con la afinación grave no se puede apreciar absolutamente nada la excelente calidad y el gran sonido de todos estos grandes tambores!!! 😊😮

[@krusher74]

shame not to have some sonors in the legacy section!!!

[@seppoinnanen5577]

Sonor Kompressor brass 13x7", my favorite metal snare. And I tune all my snares high, let it be wood or metal.

[@valclements1244]

Another video with a lot of misconception about cast and thicker shelled drums. I don't believe that modern 3mm shells are cast, as in sand-cast, as were the 20th century cast snare drums. Modern 3 mm shells are made from rolled flat metal and have invisible seams. Bell brass was never a shell made from brass, Bell brass was a name Tama dreamed up for their cast bronze snare drums, the same style of bronze church bells are cast from. That name has stuck around the drum industry since Tama started it , really a misnomer, and now it's commonplace. There's just no way all the cheap cast drums coming from Taiwan are really sand cast shells, they have just come up with a process to make thick shells with invisible seams. Of course some may be roto-cast, as some cymbals from Europe were/are, but because of the high failure rate with sand-cast shells, the price per unit is prohibitive. This is why Zildjian snares, Paiste snares, even the Sonor HLD 590 snare all were produced in such small volumes - it was simply the cost per unit made it unsustainable.

[@blueavadis22]

I like my Zildjian N&C 14/4,75 😊. Nice video , there isn’t much difference between them though.