‘Greater than the sum of its parts’ is an expression that we have all probably used at some time or other but probably not much about drums. After all, when have you ever heard anyone say ‘ yes, but if Ludwig’s nut boxes were as good as their shells, they would still be a major player’ or ‘with those bearing edges and that wrap, Leedy made the best snares in the ‘60’s’. No, we take drums, usually, for what they are, a whole unit, and not individual pieces. Ok, so advances are made in different areas, bearing edges, rims, nut boxes etc, but its only the custom boutique builders who really allow you to put Yamaha rims, Tama nut boxes and custom lapped Okapi skin twin-ply heads onto a 49 alternating maple, birch and balsa ply shell with 56 degree bearing edges. It’s not often you get a manufacturer who openly says, ‘we got the shell from here, the lugs from them, the rims from over there and the snares from this company’ (although many do) but that is what in effect is loudly and proudly happening here. Enter the Ahead snare drums.

Ahead launched their metal shell snares at this years NAMM show where they immediately got bloggers going on about the sound and the features. It’s unusual for a drumstick company to go directly into drum production, but I can see why they have done it, and it’s probably a very clever idea.

The drums them selves are black chromed brass shells in 14 and 13” x 6” sizes. What makes them different is the ‘extras’ on the shell. The rims are S-Hoops, the snare wires are Fat-Cat ones, the tension rods are Tight Screw and the strainer is either the Dunnet R or the Trick 007. I’ll look at each of these extras but first lets look at the ‘standard’ pieces on the review model which is the 13x6”.

The shell is a standard looking brass model that is bent and welded (i.e. not a spun shell) and the seam is perfect on the outside and visible but smooth on the inside. The black chrome finish is deep and glossy and as the shell has no bead, there is a nice open expanse of shiny blackness, which looks great. The bearing edges are 45 degree and rounded and very smooth, and (drum sniffers beware) the shell smells great on the inside (sorry, but had to get that in there).

The lugs are standard issue tube lugs of the World Max design (I don’t know if they are or not, but that’s what they look like) which have a tapered tube between two rounded vaguely Gladstone type pillars. The lugs are bolted   onto the shell through some vinyl bushings, using screw cups and standard lug bolts and while they aren’t as sexy as traditional tube lugs, they work perfectly well. On the shell are Ahead badged Remo heads – Ambassadors – with a coated on top and clear snare on the bottom. The air hole is the usual tapped and bolted kind and the Ahead badge, which is metal, is bolted to the shell too and has the serial number stamped in it. That’s it for the standard equipment… lets look at the extras.

The S Hoops look almost like traditional triple flange ones, but their USP is their large top flange. On a traditional triple flange, the top edge is bent out wards (or occasionally inwards) and is 2 or 3mm wide. It’s common knowledge that the more bends in a piece of metal, the more rigid it is, and the larger the bend, the greater the effect. What S Hoop have done is bend the top edge towards the centre of the snare and make it about a centimetre wide. It is angled down so that it doesn’t interfere with rim shots unless you pull the stick so far back that the stick tip only hits about 3cm from the edge. This top flange makes the hoops very rigid – it feels nice and solid when off the drum. The rim is made from 2.3mm steel and when suspended on a finger, rings like a bell – always a good sign (no dodgy welding). The hoop feels quite weighty and there is an Ahead decal on one side. Being the 13” model, there are 8 lugholes.
 

The S Hoop is tightened onto the shell with Tight Screw tension rods. These are traditional rods except they have a channel machined down the thread and a nylon insert has been put in it. This has the effect of stopping the tension rods moving. It’s a very simple and effective idea and obviously can be used as a retrofit on any drum that doesn’t have nylon inserts in its lug nuts. They also have captive washers that are to be praised – no more scrabbling about on the floor looking for lost ones.

The snare release on the review model is the Trick 007 model. Now, I have nothing against the throw off, but I was rather hoping for the Dunnett model. The Trick works fantastically well, but… well, I don’t know, aesthetically, I’m not sure. It could be because it resembles a Dalek, but it doesn’t do it for me. The Dunnett model works brilliantly too, and with it’s 180 degree (well, slightly more) movement, it just has the edge. The butt end is the normal Piston Works/Trick variety and both strainer and butt are secured using Allen key bolts.

So lets put the drum back together and see how it works.

First thing I noticed was that due to the very nature of the Tight Screws, it takes longer to put heads on as you cant spin the key to take up the slack. That’s not really a problem, as they don’t move at all once they are tensioned, but it is something to bear in mind and you cant tune by ‘feel’. Another thing I noticed was that the more I removed and inserted the Tight Screws, the more worn the nylon got and the more easy it got to turn the screws. In other words, the more you use them, the more they became susceptible to detuning from vibration, which defeats the point of them. Hmmm…

In order to test the rigidity of the hoops, I turned the snares off, tuned the drum to an even pitch and then loosened one of the tension rods completely until I could remove it. On a drum with a traditional triple flange hoop, the pitch of the drum would have dramatically dropped by the lug I had loosened, where as the other lugs would have remained closer to their original pitch, apart from the ones either side of the loosened one. This is because triple flange hoops bend easily. On the other hand, a diecast hoop (which are generally quite expensive), doesn’t flex as much as it is a solid casting of zinc or aluminium. I would expect, in the same situation, the pitch of the whole head to drop slightly, but for the pitch around the head to be fairly consistent. This would be because there would be less tension on the head but the rims rigidity would keep the tension consistent. I was curious to see what the S Hoop would do…
 

The Fat Cat snare wires on a non Ahead snare

After playing about with the tension, the S Hoop behaved the same as a die cast hoop would have done, but to a greater degree. The pitch dropped dramatically, like the triple flange, but was much more consistent around the head like the die cast. This goes to show that the S Hoop behaves like a diecast hoop by being rigid, but has the sound of the thinner triple flange hoop - it seems to be a happy medium between the two.

The Fat Cat snares were next up for a close perusal and I immediately spotted a problem. The 90 degree bent section of the snare wire plates came lower than the bottom edge of the snare side rim. This means that when you put the drum on the floor or in a case with a flat bottom, all the weight of the drum is pushing onto the snare head. This could be a problem. The bottom snare hoop needs to have a snare gate/guard so the weight is put onto the hoop rather than the fragile head. This could be tricky due to the design of the hoop, but Ahead could easily attach a bent wire guard to the shell of the drum which would get around all the problems and could sit proud of the lower edge of the S Hoop. If you buy one of these drums, DO NOT REST IT ON THE FLOOR, until the problem is sorted, unless you want to buy loads of snare heads and snare wires.

Practically speaking, the dual tension snare worked well. However, I am probably not the best person to try these as I have my snare wires looser than most people as I find they record and mike better and give you a bigger sound. BUT, I should say that whether I used the dual tension function or not, the actual wires sounded great – crisp and sensitive, but not quite in the same league as Canopus or Puresound.

The Trick throwoff worked great. The one on the review model was a little stiff so small loosenings in tension did not immediately transfer to the snare wires – I found I had to release the snares and then put them on again for the changes to take effect. Tightening the snares worked immediately however. Other Trick throwoff haven’t done this, so I am putting it down to this particular one being under lubricated. It’s not the quietest of releases but it works well. The physical motion of applying and releasing the snares by moving your hand around the drum does distinguish it from most other releases where you move your hand parallel to the top rim of the drum or away from the shell.

The snare with the Dunnett throw off - the other option

Now, after all this, you are probably thinking that I didn’t like this drum. Well, I took it on a function gig where I would be playing everything from brushes to out and out slamming backbeats, and also I took it down to the studio and listened to it under mics. And?

Wow! This is one hell of a drum. Forget all the extras, this drum sings. It’s great for brushes and it sounded crisp and brush rimshots sounded really nice and full. With sticks, the cross stick was a little weak (but I am used to wooden hoops), but ghost notes and rim shots were wonderful. I haven’t had this much fun with a snare in ages. The tuning held perfectly and the drum has a real quality ‘crack’ to it. I had heard it was loud, and it certainly is, though I think maybe it just produces very cutting ‘nice’ frequencies rather than more volume as such. The needles (oh, ok, LED meters) in the studio weren’t going any higher, but it certainly sounded loud.

The drum never seemed to choke and took it’s beating quite happily. Ghost notes were a pleasure, and to be honest, on the gig, I never felt the need to play with the snare tensions as it coped with everything I threw at it. I messed with the snare tensions in the studio, and they did make a subtle difference, but not one that the audience will notice, but certainly from behind the kit, it was rather pleasant. I tend to use mostly wood shell snares, with the exception of one aluminium 14x5”, but this reminded me how good brass shells can be. The reduced diameter and the greater depth (going from a 14x5” as a yard stick) really work well. I use a 13x7” beech shell a lot for recording, which also has the same crisp fatness, but I think I will have to invest in a few brass shells.

I’ve got to say it, but this drum is greater than the sum of its parts. To be honest, I am not sure if it’s any better for having the Fat Cat snares or the Tight Screw rods, but the shell, rim and head combination works really well. If you were to go into a drum shop and try one, I challenge you not to like it. Whether or not you like it enough to buy one is a different matter, but it really is good. It’s not perfect, but you may overlook any shortcomings when you hear it.

Go on… just one hit…