Snare Drum? Ludwig 14" Supra-Phonic Metal Snare: Chrome (Aluminum/Brass), Black Beauty (Brass), & Bronze. There's also Hammered. There's also Super Sensitive for Supra-Phonic.
If you don't have money to buy a Supra-Phonic Metal Snares: Black Magic: Accent Chrome Over Steel, LM300, Acrolite Aluminum, & Rocker Chrome over Steel Metal Snares:
There are 2 types of Supra-Phonic Chrome snare:
Chrome over Aluminum (LM400 for 5x14 & LM402 for 6.5x14)
Chrome over Brass (LB400 for 5x14 & LB402 for 6.5x14).
LM300 is 5x14 Chrome over Steel
...And there's also 5x14 Accent Chrome over Steel snare drum (The Cheapest Ludwig Chrome-plated Metal Snare drum.)
Why'd you downvote my Masters/Starclassic comment? I commonly see those kits for well under $1000 used. The quality control on them is unparalleled. They are professional level kits that sound incredible. I own a Pearl Reference and the build quality is the best I've seen.
While I wouldn't mind owning a snare like a Supra or an Acrolite, I'd never touch one of their kits. For the money I'd much rather have something else. Also, their Black Beauty's commonly have ugly lug splay which is unacceptable for such an expensive drum.
Ludwig also have drum kits that are under $1,000 like "Element Birch Fusion 6-Piece Shell Pack" ($749), "Accent 5-Piece" ($400 - $650), Ludwig Element 5-Piece Power Shell Pack ($600) (Use to be ($489)), & Epic 6-Piece Modular Double Bass Drum Set ($888).
The Expensive Ludwig kit are Keystone, Centennial, Legacy, Classic Maple, Vistalite (Acrylic Drum sets), & Stainless Steel.
The Affordable/Entry Level Ludwig Kit are Pinnacle, Accent, & Element
The Epic kits are between. I'm not sure what's the price for the Rocker series.
RECENT NOTE: Right now I Thumbs up your Comment. ...And every Drummers change their Kit for every 3 to 5 years.
Right now a lot of drummers right now use Ludwig because of John Bonham.
to MelodicBunnyCore: The Black Beauty are also considered Supra-Phonic (They've been around since '1920s) along with Chrome & Bronze
The most expenseive Ludwig Supra-Phonic Metal snare was Bronze.
By the way, have you take a look at Gretsch drums? They have Drum sets that are Expensive than Ludwig Keystone, Legacy, & Classic Maple, Which are New Classic & 125th Anniversary Rock Legend 5-Piece Shell Pack ($5,200). ...and yes Pearl does have most Reference series that are around $6,000. Oh yeah the reason why I said Pearl & Tama Overrated is because I seeing every Modern drummers use one (Since the '80s), I'm mostly on to Vintage drums (Beside Pre '1970s Cymbal brand like Zildjian, Wuhan, UFIP, Paiste, & Meinl, Remo heads, 14" Metal snare, & Snare heads with a Power/Center/Reverse Dot.) ...And yes Tama & Pearl does have some decent Snares (Most of them are Metal snare like Chrome over Brass, Chrome over Aluminum, Chrome over Steel, Bronze, Brass, Steel, & Aluminum.) but what's wrong is that I just feel annoyed.
Sorry about that, I wish VF removes Win/Fail nonsense all together, I hope they will in 2013.
2012 FUCKING SUCKS!!! I'm living in a Dark Generation. 2012 is a Deep Depression year. 2010 is SO MUCH better.
The quality on Ludwig drums are nowhere near what they used to be. The quality control is inconsistent. That's why I wouldn't recommend them to anyone unless you're picking up an older drum like a snare or something.
Pearl and Tama are popular, yeah...but with good reason. The fit and finish on them is great, and is consistent even amongst their lower lines.
When I bought my kit I didn't brand whore. I wanted a high-end kit with die-cast hoops and a 20" kick, and this happened to be there. I didn't pay anywhere near 6K for it...or even half that for a special order colour. I also bought it new.
Speaking of Finish: I just find out that Ludwig, Pearl, Gretsch, Slingerland, Premier, & Sonor has a same finish which is a "White Marine Pearl" Finish.
Rack & Floor Tom tuning for Gretsch: While I'm watching some Gretsch Drum Kit review on YouTube, Many of Gretsch Catalina Maple 5-Piece Drum Set video Review sound Awful & I keep saying "Tune the Toms & Snare." (Except for the one with White Marine Pearl.).
Drum brand's Population: As of 2010, Tama & Pearl's Population is some what dropping, Gretsch has never been popular by many drummers, not even back in the '70s.
Die Cast Hoops: Many of Gretsch Renown Maple series kits contain Die Cast Hoops.
2012 FUCKING SUCKS!!! I'm living in a Dark Generation. 2012 is a Deep Depression year. 2010 is SO MUCH better.
By "fit and finish", I am referring to the overall build quality. Pearl is one of the few companies that actually seals the inside of the shells on their high end drums.
I went with the kit I have now because it had everything I wanted. Also, the ply configuration on these is amazing...they are probably the best sounding kits I've heard. I've looked at Gretsch Renown kits, but they just don't appeal to me. Also, Pearl's customer service is unmatched.
Re: The quality on Ludwig drums are nowhere near what they used to be. The quality control is inconsistent. That's why I wouldn't recommend them to anyone unless you're picking up an older drum like a snare or something.
to MelodicBunnyCore: Actually, Ludwig drums STILL sound good & fantastic, You need to Tune them & put good heads in it. Not like Gretsch Renown Maple that you sometimes have to put some Evans E-Rings or Remo Tone Control Rings. (Even though Gretsch does have a lot of good Snare Drums just like Ludwig, Sonor, Yamaha, & Mapex.)
By the way, My band just made a Question, which is "Can a Drummer (For 'Vredesbyrd') can get just a Ludwig snare?" and I said "The answer is Yes, because the price for Supra-Phonic is around ($423 to $667), Even though the Cheapest Ludwig Metal snare are 5x14 Accent Steel Chrome Metal snare ($101), 5x14 LM300 Supra-Phonic Steel Chrome Metal Snare ($125), & 6.5x14 Rocker Chrome Metal Snare ($130)."
Okay, I'm done finish responding. I just need to get that out of my head, Sorry.
Any kit will sound good with heads and tuning. That's where most of the variance in sound comes from. "Tone" rings aren't required on any kit...they are a way to achieve a desired sound that isn't ringy. I've played and tuned various high-end drum kits. If you need to use MoonGel or tone rings, simply put, you can't tune. High end drums are designed to resonate, that's the whole point of using isolation mounts and low-mass hardware.
I never said anything about Ludwig drums sounding bad. I know they sound good and are played by countless known musicians. But over the past while, they have been living off their name and putting out a product with less-than-steller quality. There's no excuse that a $600 Black Beauty snare drum should have lug splay because Ludwig was too cheap to put rubber gaskets under the lugs and used cheap, oversized flanged hoops. For that kind of money, the drum should be build perfectly. I can buy a drum half that price from Tama or Pearl and while it may not be as "exclusive" as a Black Beauty, it sure will be built better.
I'm not biased to a specific company. I own snares from various companies (including 2 custom snares) and have a mix of hardware and cymbals. I'm just speaking how it is. It's a well-known fact that Ludwig's quality has been in a slump for years.
Too bad my all-time favorite snare 'Ludwig 14" Supra-Phonic (Chrome/Black Beauty/Bronze/Hammered) Metal snare drum' got their price raised up at Musician's Friend and Steve Weiss Music.
How come all the Bad Guys can get all the Goods and the Good Guys only get just the Bads?
2010 is SO MUCH better.
