Any drum gurus play the Gretsch Brooklyn Standard snare?

I've not.  Not sure how familiar you are with older drums but snare muffles used to be fairly standard up until the early 90's for snares.  People hated them and that's why they stopped adding them.  Around the same time the head assortments started really expanding as well mostly rendering them technically obsolete too.

The best wood snare I've used lately is a Pearl Masters maple.  It just sounds "right".  Although the new models seem to do away with the cast hoops, they're about the same price as the Gretsch and worth looking into.

Second best wood snare is the Tama Starclassic birch/bubinga. 

Probably a softer wood.  Maple is generally a darker tone but sharper attack.  Birch can be pitchy.  Take a listen to the Tama SLP fat spruce snare.  Sounds pretty fat as they name would lead you to believe.

There's a zillion great snares out there. If you want to endlessly sample a few hundred start here... they have demos for most. 

memphisdrumshop.com/snare-drums

Also the NH drum center - www.drumcenternh.com/snare-drums

Internal dampers suck. Not very effective and when someone over/under adjusts and it falls into the drum? Now you've gotta stop the session and pull heads off. 

I might think about $500 into 2 different snares. Changing the snare changes the entire sound & feel of the kit in 30 seconds or less. Some great snares out there especially on the used market. I'd look for something newer vs vintage... if you only have one or two snares they should be in great condition vs dealing with worn out sticky lugs & limited tension range.  

I think the real question is what kinda sounds your after? What snares do you have now & what do you need out of another drum? 

FWIW - another option is the Inde drum company. Small outfit basically some ex-Ludwig guys who jumped ship & started their own thing. Been super impressed with the few I've come across. 

www.indedrum.com/in-stock-snares/

www.indedrum.com/about#/about-us/

DW makes a fine drum. So does Tama, Pearl, Mapex and a bunch others. IMO - and I say this owning some DW gear including a 94 collectors maple & a handful of 5000 pedals... I'm not sure the value is there vs other makes. Like you get more for your tacos elsewhere. Not saying its a cult but its kind of a cult... proprietary tension rods etc.  

Black over brass is the Ludwig black beauty formula. Basically every company has their own version of it... like a U87 or tube screamer. For instance maybe look at Pork Pie or a Pearl supraphonic? 

If I had to keep one drum it's between my 70s Rogers maple 6x14 & Noble & Cooley 3.5x14 both thick shelled maple. The Rogers was rebuilt, new bearing edges & refinish by Pork Pie and the N&C is a ply drum w/die cast hoops. Run puresound copper wires on almost all my snares. 

Inde looks very cool. I like the concept.

Yeah, I've noticed the same with the BB clones. Good analogy with the 87. In terms of what I'm going for, this was driven by really liking the switch to using a condenser on the snare recently. That move helped me to get a more natural drum sound and made it easier to get the whole kit feel I was going for. My ideal drum sound is basically Sticky Fingers (yeah I know, get in line).

My current main snare is a Pearl Sensitone that I actually don't mind. In fact, a couple of guys have chosen it over their nicer snares. But, for me, I don't really love it when I'm playing. I've tried all kinds of heads and tunings and I still end up needing to pile on the gels/rings/duct tape to get it under control in my room. It's occurred to me that replacing the snares might be beneficial, it just doesn't have much room between choked to death and "sounds like a bag of quarters".

On the other hand, I did a test track with the DW last night and it was WAY easier. So far it's a keeper but I gotta live with it for a few more days.

Also, I completely see what you're saying with the DW cult. Definitely seems to be a markup for the label. I got this snare as B-stock so it was only $400 for the collector's line. Seems more reasonable. Evidently there's lots of B-stock on this one because the plating is prone to visual blemishes but they still warranty the function of the drum.

Anyway, I can feel "snare drums" being the next endless quest to drain my bank account.

The Stones album. Basically I'm going for the "drums that sounds like drums" sound. 

It's a steel shell. But it's not the "good" Sensitone. It's part of a pack, I forget what they called it. From the 2000's. Yeah, there's a good drum shop about 45 minutes from here. It's time. My snare does not sound like the video.

Steel sensitone should still be a good usable drum. Pearl's made a hundred variations of the sensitone over the years. Most have been mid to upper tier drums not beginner cans. 

I'm lucky in that I have a legit pro drum shop about 10 minutes away... kind of place where I can bring 'em a pile of parts and they'll help me put it back together. Its taught me a lot about drum setup & maintenance. Its like a guitar, to keep it playing well 'ya gotta keep after it and replace the worn out bits. 

All kinds of things can affect the tuning range of a drum. If its got some mileage, 15+ years old I'd do new heads top & bottom. Bottom heads are often neglected but its where all the tone & note comes from. Pull the snare wires & make sure they sit flat and aren't twisted... look at the nylon washers around the hoop. Are they crushed & split? Replace everything that's worn. 

Another thing to check are hoops. See if they're flat or not. When I got my Noble & Cooley it had some issues... new heads... still wasn't quite right. After hitting a real problem in the middle of a session I went to the drum shop & they took it apart & confirmed my suspicion. Some previous owner had bent the die cast hoops. 

Drum shop got 'em about 91% flat, put it back together and that restored the tuning range. 

I detest Ludwig dampers. I just remove them and use a ring when necessary .

Everybody I knew always removed the dampers first thing! (In the '60s, recording engineers had to tune the drums.)

The best sounding snares I've ever heard were mid '60s Gretsch. The '70s were a step down and the ones I heard at NAMM a few years ago were shockingly disappointing.

That dw is a really nice drum. As mentioned, they use proprietary rods and lugs. I've found that DW drums literally tune up better than any other drum and I think it's because of those rods. More precision.

Anyway, I've got a Pork Pie custom snare that you'd probably really dig. 14x7 - birch/mahogony/birch with rosewood top/bottom and ebony middle outer veneers.




Great drum that can tune up nice and fat.

I've got a 20 ply Ayotte maple snare that's also dy-no-mite. This is a 14x4. Sounds great tuned up pretty tight. Can have great crack or dry up nicely for tight funk style stuff. Loud drum with great articulation.



The big fat snare drum that was mentioned is also killer if you want a fat, dry sound. Worth the 20 bucks or whatever all day.