Snare Drum Of The Week - Episode 6 Monday, Monday... time for another installment of my snare drum of the week series! Thank you Donna Fraser for posting up pictures of some of the snares that Craig has worked on. His artwork is amazing and its great to see him doing work for some big name custom drum companies. Also, thanks to all of you for checking out my weekly posts and for contributing! Last weeks drum was the iconic Ludwig Black Beauty (6.5 version), which I mentioned was revered by players and studios all over the world. Also, I mentioned that every other drum company in existence has their own version of the Black Beauty. It was noted that at least one company made a signature snare drum for one of their endorsers that was modeled directly off a prized Black Beauty from the personal collection of the endorser, which leads us to this weeks snare drum. The drum I speak of is the Manu Katché signature snare drum, manufactured by Yamaha and now discontinued for many years. Two models were produced; a 5.5x14 and a 6.5x14. Both models featured seamless brass shells and a black nickel plated finish, ala the Black Beauty. At first glance, the drums appear nearly identical, but there are some differences. Manu prefers die-cast hoops on his snare drums, so he had Yamaha feature them on his signature drums. Interestingly, Manu chose to have a zinc die-cast hoop on top and an aluminum die-cast hoop on the bottom. The zinc top hoop is heavier than the aluminum bottom hoop and makes for some tasty rim clicks and powerful rim shots. The throwoff for the snare is Yamahas version of the Ludwig P-85 as featured on my Black Beauty from last week. It is a simple, tried-and-true design that has stood the test of time for decades. The Manu drums came with a feature that the Black Beauty did not, which is an adjustable butt plate. Its a nice addition that allows for snare tension adjustment from both sides of the drum. Another difference on the Manu drum as compared to a Black Beauty is the center bead on the brass shell. If you look at my drum from last week you will notice the center bead is pointing outward. Not sure why, but Yamaha chose to make the Manu drums with the center bead pointing inward. Maybe theres some science behind that reasoning? Your guess is as good as mine. As always, and as Andrew Glass will not hesitate to call me out on... :), the most important question about any musical instrument is, How does it sound?! These drums sound incredible!. Very musical, and the brass shell makes these drums sing with a long note. To my ears, they sound like a Black Beauty on steroids! As mentioned earlier, the die-cast hoop accentuates rim clicks and provides killin rim shots! Sorry for so many exclamation points but that is what these drums remind me of... a Black Beauty with an exclamation point or two!! Todays example is a drum I used to own that is now in the much more capable hands of brother Roger Hoinacki. I went through a Yamaha snare drum phase that included both the 6.5 and 5.5 models of the Manu signature drum. Manu is in the upper echelon of my favorite drummer hierarchy, so I knew that at some point in my drumming life I would need to play and own these, and they surely did not disappoint me at all in the time that I had them. Later on, Ill feature my erstwhile 5.5 Manu drum, because it has a bit of extra special goodness to it that is shareworthy. Although I really enjoyed this drum, I ultimately prefer the slightly more mellow, pre-EQd sound of a Black Beauty, especially those with bronze shells instead of brass. Roger was in the market for a 6.5 brass-shelled drum, and this one fit the bill nicely. In fact, he just took it out to his weekend gigs and told me how much he was still diggin the sound. So, here is the 6.5x14 Yamaha Manu Katché Signature snare drum. Hope yall dig!
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 01:39:08 +0000
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