I think ALL B/O badge Supras are Ludalloy -NOT brass.

No B/O badge drum should have ever had a "small" rotary knob. The small rotary knobs even preceded the baseball bat! Pictures would be helpful!

Here are a couple of shots hope this helps a bit.

Well, off hand, I would guess the original 70's tone control (muffler) knob was replaced with an older, small rotary knob. To the best of my knowledge, a B/O badged drum would have never had a small rotary knob. That's my guess.

As far as if the shell is brass or not...if it's possible to weigh the drum, I think the brass shells were noticably heavier than the alloy versions. I have heard that the brass shells were often stamped with a "B" on the inside of the shell.

These drums were notorious for being "experimented" with by the drummers who used them. I remember when it was the general practice to remove the mufflers because they would often rattle. Then, years later, nobody can find where they put the original parts, so they get something in a pinch to replace it before attempting to sell it.

What is the number on that B/O badge? If you go to the home page here and click on the section about badges, you can narrow down the exact year of manufacture (or get real close). Check it out.

Also...more pictures of the entire drum would help, but at this point, my guess is that it's an alloy shell and a replaced tone control knob. The copper color could be related to the chrome plating process which involves electro-plating a layer of copper over the alloy and the following that copper plating with a nickel plating and then finally the chrome plating. I suspect that the copper area is just where the nickel/chrome plaing didn't adhere as well.

That electro plating process makes perfect sense! I've actually seen the process on television, with the differant dipping tanks. Well this snare only had one pretty side left, the badge side. The pitting has started around the rest of the drum right at the bead. The replacement knob idea would stand to reason too! After a brief conversation with the previous owner, he always thought it was a genuine Ludaloy shell there was no noticeable differance in weight either! Thanks for the input my mind was racing with the idea this could have been a brass shell. I wont be playing this one much I picked it up for my oldest who expressed an interest in having a 70's era Ludwig..thanks again!

The "pitting" is almost a sure way to know the shell is a Ludalloy shell. The reason being that the plating process did not work as well on the aluminum alloy. The brass shells are almost never pitted at all.. Although, just for the record, I have also seen many alloy shells with clean chrome, too...but the pitting is VERY indicative of an alloy shell. One of the nicest sounding snare drums ever made whether it's brass or not. In fact, some people prefer the alloy version!

I just received a later blue olive badge supra. It has the rounded corners on the badge. There's a "BR" stamped above the large muffler knob. I've been told that the "BR" stands for brass.

Audio files for snare drums would be nice in a case like this, like they have for listening to new cymbals. I tripped over another odd ball Ludwig recently it's a 6.5 X 14 Super Sensitive with Bowtie Lugs instead of Imperial lugs, it appeared to be in untouched original condition too. Anyone ever seen one set up with the Bowtie lugs instead of Imperial lugs like this?

Is there any pitting on the shell?

There is no pitting on my shell. I was pretty shocked to find that BR stamp...I had always heard of it, but never saw one. I bought the drum assuming it was alloy, so it was a nice surprise. Sounds great, too! (But I always thought the regular alloy ones sound just as good as the brass ones.)