Maybe try a set of Puresound Equalizer 16 strand wires on it...That should help with the snare buzz...

Cheers

Thanks, I’ve seen those before and have thought they sounded interesting.

Tinkered some more with it this morning. Re-centered my wires again and re-tuned it. The buzz is a little better, but came back a little after playing for a couple mins. Makes me think the buzz is an issues with the wires, but they're brand new and centered.

The overtones are also slightly better. It’s really more of a “boing” or tone you might here out of a Tom. It is a deep snare, so I suppose this isn’t uncommon. I’ve put a couple Remo gels on it and it’s close to the sound I’m looking for. But I can’t help but think the drum shouldn’t really need any muffling. I’m going to try out the other two heads again and see where I end up.

You've probably got a snare bed issue as the roller bar was part of an extended snare throw and did not have such a deep or wide snare bed.

I would get a Fat Cat pitched set of snares and a Remo zero collar snare side head.

Other than that ,have somebody check out the snare beds and recut them for a wider set of snares.

Yeah I thought that might be a factor. The snare beds are hard to see as they’re very gradual, but they’re there for sure. That’s why I took off the 42 strands and put thinner wires on, which did help. I’ve also noticed the new butt plate rests slightly lower that the original. Would that be an issue? Drum guy down the road said it shouldn’t be. Wire strings are still at a 45 (ish).

On another note-I just tried out the Hi-Energy and the old (not vintage) Emperor. Hi-Energy head came with the same issues, but the Emperor reigns supreme. I have no idea why. I put it on, tuned it up, and it sounds great. I didn't even tweak it and it sounds fine. Still a slight, tiny bit of snare buzz, but nothing major. Why in the world would that head not only sound better, but cure all of the problems I’m having? I get the weird sounds out of the hi-energy head. There’s a lot of material in it. But the vintage emperor and regular emperor are the same head with 1 mm difference as far as I know. If I just need to use Emperors, I’m cool with that. They just don’t stand up to my bashing very well. I used to exclusively use Evans ST dry’s on my snare, so I may give that a shot at some point. Anyway-any ideas on why the emperor is curing the problems?

Also-Would putting the original roller bed set-up back on help? I’m not even sure how those things work. They look wild.

Fairly simple,but finding them is the issue and you would need a set of snares that fit.

I had a Tama spun steel snare that used them and it was a very playable snare.

Were there special snares that were used with them? I found the system on Craigslist, but it was in NY and local pick up. Thought about asking the guy if he’d ship, but I’m not sure I want the old set up as I know nothing about it. It would be nice to have it back to its original state, though. Regardless, I know I’ll end up replacing the Dunnett swivel strainer at some point.

With Rod all the way on this. I don't like gel pads of any kind, but don't mind the look and sound of a Snareweight damper. Perhaps with the right wires and good damping system?

Brian

Will definitely pick up an equalizer. I don’t mind a square of gel, but as I mentioned, it’s good to go with the Emperor head on it. I’m honestly afraid to go out and buy a new emperor head. I think this one has some sort of magical power.