Wow! Seems like a real; either you love it, or you hate it, kind of thingy.

I wasn't looking to use it as a substitute for a Dyna rig, I was just curious if it was a quality item that would enhance the drums I might put them on. I was going to buy one just to try it out. That's when I thought to ask you guys first, before I plunked down any shekels.

Ploughman - I always hold your opinions in high regard, so I'll take you at your word that these things suck moose quoque. I may spring for the $18. anyway just to see for myself. I just hope I'm not throwing a double-sawbuck down the hole... Jeff is right, that money represents a burger and a few beers! :D

John

I have a set and have used them for snares with deep beds too. They do work fine for these applications, don't enhance an already good snare, but do help with sympathetic snare buzzing. One disadvantage is that you have to be be careful not to damage snare-side heads in transport because of their thickness, And no they are not a dynasonic replacement. I wish I had seen this thread yesterday. I played a gig with a Supreme snare with a wonky strainer last night and throwing these on would have helped for sure. So yeah, they can be worth having around. I'm not just saying that to make the Ploughman shiver ;)

I love them and highly recommend them with the following caveat - They are not made to replace a DynaSonic snare rail unit. I've used them on several oval badge DynaSonic snares and found them lacking! However, they do utilize the same principle of having the snare wires stretched and mounted over a flat plane which itself is then drawn up against the snare side head. This results in parallel snare action and greatly increased response and sensitivity. I would like them much more if the wire tension could be adjusted like the Dynasonic snare allows, but I guess you can't have everything! The wire tension is pre-set at the factory. They do great on certain snare drums but not so much on others, just as certain drums like certain heads and sticks, etc. Had the best results on deep shell concert snares made to play loud and project - increased the snare response and overall projection about 100%! The pressure required to pull them up against the bottom snare head for perfect response and project is about .9 on a scale with 100 being the average throwoff tension on an average snare drum. So little in fact that I have to use a tiny spring on my Ludwig throwoff to hold the tension in place! Results on my vintage 6 1/2" Black Beauty are sensitivity and projection nothing short of amazing! The only peeve I have with Active Units is the fact that the aluminum shell will "sing" with resonance just a little when the unit is thrown off and down. Using tape rather than snare cord adds enough rigidity to minimalize this 'problem' however. All in all I think they're a great product. Again, they favor certain drums over others.

Hey Buckie, thanks for the detailed review. I ordered a set and I'm waiting for delivery. When I add them to a snare I'll let you know what I think of them.

John