"Just right" snare/head combos!

[katulu]

Hi all,

It's always a joyous day when one finds the "just right" head/snare wire combo for a particular snare and one's taste. Was curious to see some of everyone's discoveries. Here are some of mine:

Pork Pie Pig Iron 14x6.5 + Ebony Suede Emperor batter + Puresound Equalizer 16 strand: Ebony Emperor quieted down quite pronounced dissonant overtones, the split Equalizers gave a more measured snare response since this snare really accentuates snare sound in the upper range.

Ludwig Keystone X 14x8 + Coated Diplomat batter + Puresound 16 strand wires: I went through several heads and could not get something pleasant for my taste until I tried the Diplomat. Solved. Also, the standard Ludwig wires sounded too scratchy for this snare, the Puresound 16's fit perfectly.

Gretsch Hammered Steel 14x8 + Evans ST Dry batter + stock wires + high tuning!: Never liked the sound of this with a G1, but the ST Dry in high tuning changed it completely. Pure pop, overtones in the background where they belong.

Any magic combos you have found?

 

[1988fxlr]

Slingerland Sound King- coated black dot over hazy ambassador, fat without killing the brass overtones

Rogers Powertone- Vintage A over hazy ambassador- stronger fundamental without loss of sensitivity

5” supra- coated ambassador over hazy ambassador- generic in a good way

Slingerland steel Festival- absolutely beat to hell ambassador over rennaisance- evens off some of the harsher steel overtones without the loss of sensitivity of a premuffled head

All other snares subject to head swaps on a regular basis, but these ones are pretty fixed

 

[Jhouse86]

Ludwig supraphonic 6.5x14: coated CS over ambassador hazy. Clears up some of the unwanted overtones without any dampening.

Ludwig black beauty 6.5x14: Coated emperor over ambassador hazy. Pretty standard set up but it works well.

N&C solid beech 7x14: Coated ambassador over ambassador hazy. Good response, clear sound.