I'm playing 60's Gretsch COB and 60's 6.5"×14" floor show. The Floor Show (6ply Japser) sound is fat, great responsibility and not so high tone with Remo Amb coated + Remo Amb + Puresound 30 strands. Probably, if it is used Remo Deplomat for snare side and Aqualian A. Vintage Thin for batter to Gretsch wood snares, I feel it could get higher tone as usual.

I was afraid of that. I played the attached snare from '80 through 2008. Like a dummy, I sold it. I will try your recommendation and perhaps will seek out an early '70 Gretsch 6 1/2 COB snare. Live and learn.

Thanks for your input.

B

Aaaaaaah. The "Floor Show". I'd love one of those. I was thinking about the Puresound wires; I have those on my 6 1/2" natural maple, later '70's Gretsch snare. I was very happy with it's sound and need to double check the heads on that. I used that one, cranked fairly tight, and it recorded very nice. Is this my mid-life crisis?

As regards the floor show, are there any thoughts about having that much hardware bolted to a shell, reducing the resonance, as opposed to the longer lugs (10 vs 20)? Just curious.

Thanks guys.

B

Hahaha, mid-life crisis?

As for the lugs, I'm not sure. Maybe, the 16 lugs slightly kill the resonance compared with the longer lugs? Gretsch experts know the answer.

I forgot to say the Coated Diplomat for the batter side might work as well(I've not tried it, though).

My first thought is to try a few different wire sets, I've never used Fat Cat wires so I'm in the dark, but the problem may be that your wires are exceeding the width of the snare beds. I've got a 20 strand German Bronze set on my wood Gretsch & they sound great. If you've got a few extras laying around you can do that for free. The Evans set you've got on there good basic heads, as long as they're in good shape, you should be able to tell the difference by changing wires. You could also have a dead head, even if they're new, you can occasionally get a bad one...that's why I've started using Aquarian heads, never got a dud from them. Pull the heads & check them close, give them a tap to see if they have tone, that could be the problem.

What ever you do, don't replace 3 things at once!...you really won't know the culprit & could end up spending money you don't have to.

My 2 cents!

Dan

Thanks, Fung Amung. Snare wires are 20 strand and nowhere near the edge of the bed. Gonna get a different bottom head and I really need to go get the Puresound wires I have on my 6 1/2 maple snare. Never thought about a dead head. Hmpf. I hope this helps and appreciate all your guys feedback. I never had this problem before. Still would like a COB snare. Some day.

B

COB's are not that expensive to get into, if you shop around Craig's list or fleaBay, you can get one really cheap. Just take your time, set your budget & wait, it will happen. I've gotten a lot of great drums that just fell thru the cracks. Sounds like you're doing the correct things to get the sound you seek, you might also want to check the tension on all the lug casing screws/bolts while you have her be-headed. Just make sure you don't have a couple loose screws mucking up the works.