Agreed.

"What do you say to people who don't think you were a good drummer?"

"I tell them I was the drummer in The Beatles..."

Um, yeah.

I am truly angered by this post. You are viewing the matter solely as a skeptical and scientific person, not as a drummer. The supraphonic snare drum is the most recorded snare drum around for a reason. You claim that the reason is that only a few producers were working back in the day, and they just so happened to be using supras. Tell me this. If they didn't enjoy that drum, then why would they continue to use it? If a better drum was readily available to the public, then producers would be apt to get their hands on it.

As previously stated, many drummers used the supraphonic as a personal drum because of personal preference. I don't know 'em all, but I know a few off of the top of my head. John Bonham, Mitch Mitchell, Keith Moon, Nicko McBrain, Steve Gadd, Phil Collins, Ginger Baker, etc. I know that there are more, I just can't think of them right now. Regardless of whether or not some of these drummers used other snares alongside the supraphonic, the fact still stands that the supra was part of their arsenal, and there was a reason for it.

I also noticed that you said that the supra doesn't sound like the best drum around "to your ears". That fact is irrelevant. Guess what, the supra won't sound like the best drum to a lot of people's ears. It's personal preference. To my ears, the 14 X 6.5 MCX snare from Pearl sounds the best. When listening to a drum, you should pay attention to its overall response. Is it sensitive? Is it versatile? Is it resonant? Does it have a nice pop? Is the hardware easily maintainable? Is it dynamic? These are all properties that the supraphonic smashes. It is known as the best snare drum to have ever been made because of its outstanding overall performance in comparison to other snare drums.

This is three years old.

I am of the belief that there is no best sounding snare. Just many different sounding snares. And everyone has their favorites for different applications.

I have a C.O.B. Supra and a Ludalloy Supra. They both sound great but neither sounds as good to my ears as my 68" Acro.

MikeT.. " enjoy the music and the ride,the rest is unimportant!"....

And The Supra still wins...

Cheers

However a Supra landed in a particular studio, the various producers thought it sounded good on tape. And so, it wasn't switched for anything else.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Back then there weren't a lot of choices in modern snares: it's no surprise that the Ludwig was chosen in many studios. Also, I believe that being a 10-lug drum had a very big impact on it's popularity. It stayed in tune better over a long session and it had a good sound on tape - and the drummers got comfortable with it and liked it's feel. I'd bet that the Dynasonic was viewed as somewhat finicky and tricky to get 'just right', and so was not a real choice for those guys for practical reasons. And they really didn't want to deal with an 8-lug snare as far as tuning and stability.

Did Slingerland make a 10-lug snare in those days? Maybe, but unfortunately as a brand it didn't have a high 'pop music' profile.

It doesn't bother me in the least that Ludwig is claimed to be 'the most recorded snare'. Ludwig was the de facto mainstream brand, the drum sounded good on tape, and everyone was familiar with it. It was the path of least resistance for producers with more important things to deal with.

The Ludwig Supra may not be the best or your choice but when laying down tracks in the studio it's one of the easiest snare drums to record with. My favorite snare has yet to make it on a recording!

The best snare drum its a no-brainer: either a 400 or a 402...I picked the 402 long time ago and now Im a better dad, brother and friend! I cook better, I look better, I lost 18 pounds and Im a stallion on the bed...All that because of my 402! I LOVE YOU 402!!!!!!!!LoLoLoLo

Vinny from North Hollywood, CA

Agreed get a 402 or go home my 1976 model will be the last drum I ever sale!!! nothing else sounds like it!!!

Just read through this thread and the original argument about the most recorded is very interested. I just want to throw this out there as a thought and see what others think. I am going to go out on a limb and say that the most recorded might actually be a Pearl Export Series steel shell or wood shell. The resoning being this, the Pearl Export series drums may be the best selling line of drums in the last 40 years because and because of that there are more of them out there than anything else. That being said, how many of you had garage bands at any time from the 80's trough the 2010's and played these kits and recorded your earliest home demos on them and first records? Seems the angle on the argument on the thread seemed to focus on the hits and only the biggest commercial recordings. Portable Dstudios that hit the market in the 80's made it possible for anyone and everyone with a few hundred dollars in their pockets to record their music on their own with the drums that they had and when you are on a high school or college budget you have to go with what you can afford and in many cases it was a Pearl Export series.

Do I own a Supra? Yes. Have I used it to record? Yes. Have I used a Pear Export series to record? Yes. My most recorded snares over the last 3 decades have been Slingerland COB snares tough so I am am not favoring either the Supra or the Pearl but just wanrted to throw that out there as some food for thought. Mainstream commercial recodings that get air play only make up a small part of the recording industry and these days seem to make up less and less since the internet and recording devices have made it possible for everyone to lay down very complex and well mastered recordings. Just some food for thought.