Product Review: Pork Pie Pork Rub Snare Drum

Every now and then when I find something interesting, I'll share my thoughts. Today I'm going to yammer on about my 6.5 x 14 Pork Pie Brass snare drum in the Pork Rub finish. If you're not a drummer this would be a good time to catch up on your e-mails.

First of all I have to say this: I generally do not care for brass snare drums. I’ve owned a handful of various makes and models and usually tire of them quickly. They are great for cutting through a mass of volume but, these days, they sound too harsh and brittle to my worn out ears.

But . . .

There is an exception to every rule and I may have found a brass snare drum that has something to offer other than a tenacious high-end snap.

The first thing that appealed to me about this Pork Pie snare was the funky, antique looking finish. The smoky brown finish on the beaded shell brings to mind an old leather chair or a glass of serious whiskey (with an “e”). Bill Detamore has a reputation for beautiful and often quite unique drum finishes and the Pork Rub finish continues that tradition.

Along with the patina finish the drum sports the usual tube lugs, ten of them to be exact, a no nonsense side-throw snare strainer/butt assembly, a pair of 2.3mm triple-flanged hoops and what looks to be a set of  22 or 24 strand brass snares.

So, how does it sound?

Right out of the box, with a coated Ambassador batter head tuned medium tight it produced a big, throaty sound with plenty of high end. Dare I say the drum sounded a little darker than I expected? Maybe there is something to that finish besides good looks?

Tuned up a bit higher the decay shortened up a little and the brassy qualities started to come into play although without the annoying “ping” that I usually hear with a tightly tensioned brass snare drum. It was when I started turning the tension rods counter-clockwise that the drum disappointed somewhat. It became muddy and thick even when there was still some tension on the head.

So it was time to try something different. First up was a different batter head. A new Vintage Ambassador, which are slightly thicker than the standard model, improved the sound of the drum at lower tunings quite a bit without sacrificing the pleasing qualities I heard at other tunings. I could live with this set up quite happily but I had a few other things to play with.

I don’t care for thick hoops and I can’t stand die cast hoops. I think they make the drums feel stiff and can make certain drums, mainly snare drums, sound boxy. I put a set of 1.6 mm hoops on this drum and replaced the brass wires with a generic set of "snappy snare" wires and the difference was night and day. All of a sudden the whole drum opened up and all those wonderful overtones, all that snotty clang and clatter I love in a snare drum revealed themselves. Now I really had something to work with!

I’ve used the drum in a pretty wide variety of applications including a dreaded outdoor gig that normally makes everything sound flat and dull. The drum always delivered a great sound with a wide variety of  sticks, brushes and rods. Rim shots were clear and easy to articulate and the drum sounded open and full no matter where you played on the head.

So, in short, a real gem and a keeper.

P. S. (I wonder, what would an eight-lug, 5.5x14 with straight hoops sound like?) :)