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Sonor Horst Link Signature Bell Brass Bronze HLD 590 Snare Drum 8" X 14" 12 lug
Estimated price for orientation: 6 500 $
Category: Snare Drums
Class:
Description
This is the Holy Grail of snare drums, the Sonor Bell Bronze Horst Link Signature HLD-590. This is the highly coveted 12 lug version. Copper colored Die Cast Rims and lugs. The drum is special for many reasons: The alloy, the thickness, the casting process, depth of the shell, and the build quality. Let the Doctor describe:
The AlloyThe tone of a snare drum always starts with the shell material. Maple is warm, Birch is bright with crack, Copper is dark and dry, Steel is bright, Mahogany is deep and earthy, etc. In this case, we have a sand-cast copper/tin alloy shell, called "bell brass" or "bell bronze" . This highly musical alloy is used to make bells and cymbals. It's not cheap, the high tin content in the bronze alloy means the material cools differently and special care must be taken in venting and runner design. Many people think bell brass is the ultimate shell material. Bell Brass is the only shell material that is both dry and warm.The ThicknessA very unique feature of this bell brass snare drum is that the shell is 5mm thick and lathe turned on the inside (see the machining marks). With the exception of the even rarer 1980/81 Tama Mastercraft raw bell brass snare, most of the good bell brass snares are 3mm. Extra thickness in any drum tends to bring out the properties of the shell, whatever those are. Also thicker is generally louder - the shell deforms less and more sound is projected rather than absorbed. Examples are the Tama G Maple 10 ply and the Pearl Reference 20 ply.To my knowledge, Sonor is the only maker who actually turns a "reinforcing ring" into the shell. Why do they do that? Because bell brass is prone to cracking and more mass = more strength. This means the originally casting must have been MORE THAN 5mm, and all that material that was machined away is wasted. It's a very expensive way to make a drum which is made from a precious alloy, but I am sure German engineers decided it was the best way. Depth of Shell
As a collector of drums and student of drum sound, I have noticed that over the past 10 years, there has been a trend in drummer preference towards 6.5" snares over 5" snares, and 5" snares over 3" snares. The reason? Deeper is more versatile and fits more forms of music. A shallower snare provides more precision, but lacks the resonance and body of a deeper sell. Normally, the deeper you go, the fatter and more full bodied but less responsive the drum. HOWEVER when you have a very thick shelled drum, the shell does not distort as much so you don't take as big a hit on responsiveness as you get deeper. This drum is 8" deep. Result: HUGE sound. I am not going to kid anyone, this drum is NOT for the faint of heart. If you play it soft, it sounds great, but it really opens up when you play it loud. If I was playing acoustic coffee house gigs with brushes, this drum would not be my first choice. If you are playing in a setting where you are competing with amplifiers, this drum has the ability to bring the volume to compete with Marshall stack turned up to 11. You simply CAN NOT find a louder drum than this one. That is a Mofo Guarantee.The ProcessTake it from a man who owns 15 Bell Brass drums of every available type and vintage, all Bell Brass are not created equal. This shell is sand cast. Since 2014, the market has been flooded with bell brass snares which are made using spin casting. The sonic properties of spun cast and sand cast are very different. Sand Casting is slower and more expensive, but yields an inherently better, more even tone. This has to do with the porosity (tiny air bubbles) created in the sand casting process. Those bubbles get "pushed out" by centrifugal force during spin casting. The air bubbles even out the tone and deaden ringing. It's somewhat like the difference between a wooden baseball bat and an aluminum one. (imagine the Crack vs. the Ring when you hit the sweet spot). The sound of Bell Brass is often described as a "wood metal hybrid" or "best of both worlds" because the porosity gives a warmth you don't usually hear with metal drums. Don't even bother comparing it to rolled brass made from a thin 1mm sheet that is often seamed and welded. This is totally different animal.
People always say how heavy a snare drum is, as some sort of testament to quality or power or volume or just to brag..... Well, I daresay if weight is your thing, you might have found your snare. This is the heaviest of them all, weighing in at 34 lbs!!! I have never seen a drum with more bullet proof build quality that's for sure. Besides the thickness and weight of the shell, the overabundance or rock solid hardware (12 pairs of extremely beefy tension lugs) makes this drum solid and hefty. Result. Less high frequency vibration. Impact on Sound: Sound Engineers dream - less of the annoying ringy metallic over-tones that you get from most metal snares.This drum also has a very unique parallel action strainer that separates the tensioning of the snares from their positioning. it's like a swiss watch and gives amazing control over snare response. Normally, the adjustment of snare tension and snare position are "coupled". You lift the snares onto the snare bed and the lifting also stretches the snares, changing their tension on the head. That's fine, but imagine if you can dial up the tension to exactly what you want, and then move the snares to precisely the position you want, without changing the tension. It gives you a much more precise control over the snare sound. You can get exactly what you want, with very fine adjustments possible.Summary of the SoundThe sound of t
Description
This is the Holy Grail of snare drums, the Sonor Bell Bronze Horst Link Signature HLD-590. This is the highly coveted 12 lug version. Copper colored Die Cast Rims and lugs.
The drum is special for many reasons: The alloy, the thickness, the casting process, depth of the shell, and the build quality. Let the Doctor describe:
The AlloyThe tone of a snare drum always starts with the shell material. Maple is warm, Birch is bright with crack, Copper is dark and dry, Steel is bright, Mahogany is deep and earthy, etc. In this case, we have a sand-cast copper/tin alloy shell, called "bell brass" or "bell bronze" . This highly musical alloy is used to make bells and cymbals. It's not cheap, the high tin content in the bronze alloy means the material cools differently and special care must be taken in venting and runner design. Many people think bell brass is the ultimate shell material. Bell Brass is the only shell material that is both dry and warm.The ThicknessA very unique feature of this bell brass snare drum is that the shell is 5mm thick and lathe turned on the inside (see the machining marks). With the exception of the even rarer 1980/81 Tama Mastercraft raw bell brass snare, most of the good bell brass snares are 3mm. Extra thickness in any drum tends to bring out the properties of the shell, whatever those are. Also thicker is generally louder - the shell deforms less and more sound is projected rather than absorbed. Examples are the Tama G Maple 10 ply and the Pearl Reference 20 ply.To my knowledge, Sonor is the only maker who actually turns a "reinforcing ring" into the shell. Why do they do that? Because bell brass is prone to cracking and more mass = more strength. This means the originally casting must have been MORE THAN 5mm, and all that material that was machined away is wasted. It's a very expensive way to make a drum which is made from a precious alloy, but I am sure German engineers decided it was the best way. Depth of Shell
As a collector of drums and student of drum sound, I have noticed that over the past 10 years, there has been a trend in drummer preference towards 6.5" snares over 5" snares, and 5" snares over 3" snares. The reason? Deeper is more versatile and fits more forms of music. A shallower snare provides more precision, but lacks the resonance and body of a deeper sell. Normally, the deeper you go, the fatter and more full bodied but less responsive the drum. HOWEVER when you have a very thick shelled drum, the shell does not distort as much so you don't take as big a hit on responsiveness as you get deeper. This drum is 8" deep. Result: HUGE sound. I am not going to kid anyone, this drum is NOT for the faint of heart. If you play it soft, it sounds great, but it really opens up when you play it loud. If I was playing acoustic coffee house gigs with brushes, this drum would not be my first choice. If you are playing in a setting where you are competing with amplifiers, this drum has the ability to bring the volume to compete with Marshall stack turned up to 11. You simply CAN NOT find a louder drum than this one. That is a Mofo Guarantee.The ProcessTake it from a man who owns 15 Bell Brass drums of every available type and vintage, all Bell Brass are not created equal. This shell is sand cast. Since 2014, the market has been flooded with bell brass snares which are made using spin casting. The sonic properties of spun cast and sand cast are very different. Sand Casting is slower and more expensive, but yields an inherently better, more even tone. This has to do with the porosity (tiny air bubbles) created in the sand casting process. Those bubbles get "pushed out" by centrifugal force during spin casting. The air bubbles even out the tone and deaden ringing. It's somewhat like the difference between a wooden baseball bat and an aluminum one. (imagine the Crack vs. the Ring when you hit the sweet spot). The sound of Bell Brass is often described as a "wood metal hybrid" or "best of both worlds" because the porosity gives a warmth you don't usually hear with metal drums.
The AlloyThe tone of a snare drum always starts with the shell material. Maple is warm, Birch is bright with crack, Copper is dark and dry, Steel is bright, Mahogany is deep and earthy, etc. In this case, we have a sand-cast copper/tin alloy shell, called "bell brass" or "bell bronze" . This highly musical alloy is used to make bells and cymbals. It's not cheap, the high tin content in the bronze alloy means the material cools differently and special care must be taken in venting and runner design. Many people think bell brass is the ultimate shell material. Bell Brass is the only shell material that is both dry and warm.The ThicknessA very unique feature of this bell brass snare drum is that the shell is 5mm thick and lathe turned on the inside (see the machining marks). With the exception of the even rarer 1980/81 Tama Mastercraft raw bell brass snare, most of the good bell brass snares are 3mm. Extra thickness in any drum tends to bring out the properties of the shell, whatever those are. Also thicker is generally louder - the shell deforms less and more sound is projected rather than absorbed. Examples are the Tama G Maple 10 ply and the Pearl Reference 20 ply.To my knowledge, Sonor is the only maker who actually turns a "reinforcing ring" into the shell. Why do they do that? Because bell brass is prone to cracking and more mass = more strength. This means the originally casting must have been MORE THAN 5mm, and all that material that was machined away is wasted. It's a very expensive way to make a drum which is made from a precious alloy, but I am sure German engineers decided it was the best way. Depth of Shell
As a collector of drums and student of drum sound, I have noticed that over the past 10 years, there has been a trend in drummer preference towards 6.5" snares over 5" snares, and 5" snares over 3" snares. The reason? Deeper is more versatile and fits more forms of music. A shallower snare provides more precision, but lacks the resonance and body of a deeper sell. Normally, the deeper you go, the fatter and more full bodied but less responsive the drum. HOWEVER when you have a very thick shelled drum, the shell does not distort as much so you don't take as big a hit on responsiveness as you get deeper. This drum is 8" deep. Result: HUGE sound. I am not going to kid anyone, this drum is NOT for the faint of heart. If you play it soft, it sounds great, but it really opens up when you play it loud. If I was playing acoustic coffee house gigs with brushes, this drum would not be my first choice. If you are playing in a setting where you are competing with amplifiers, this drum has the ability to bring the volume to compete with Marshall stack turned up to 11. You simply CAN NOT find a louder drum than this one. That is a Mofo Guarantee.The ProcessTake it from a man who owns 15 Bell Brass drums of every available type and vintage, all Bell Brass are not created equal. This shell is sand cast. Since 2014, the market has been flooded with bell brass snares which are made using spin casting. The sonic properties of spun cast and sand cast are very different. Sand Casting is slower and more expensive, but yields an inherently better, more even tone. This has to do with the porosity (tiny air bubbles) created in the sand casting process. Those bubbles get "pushed out" by centrifugal force during spin casting. The air bubbles even out the tone and deaden ringing. It's somewhat like the difference between a wooden baseball bat and an aluminum one. (imagine the Crack vs. the Ring when you hit the sweet spot). The sound of Bell Brass is often described as a "wood metal hybrid" or "best of both worlds" because the porosity gives a warmth you don't usually hear with metal drums.
Don't even bother comparing it to rolled brass made from a thin 1mm sheet that is often seamed and welded. This is totally different animal.
People always say how heavy a snare drum is, as some sort of testament to quality or power or volume or just to brag..... Well, I daresay if weight is your thing, you might have found your snare. This is the heaviest of them all, weighing in at 34 lbs!!! I have never seen a drum with more bullet proof build quality that's for sure. Besides the thickness and weight of the shell, the overabundance or rock solid hardware (12 pairs of extremely beefy tension lugs) makes this drum solid and hefty. Result. Less high frequency vibration. Impact on Sound: Sound Engineers dream - less of the annoying ringy metallic over-tones that you get from most metal snares.
People always say how heavy a snare drum is, as some sort of testament to quality or power or volume or just to brag..... Well, I daresay if weight is your thing, you might have found your snare. This is the heaviest of them all, weighing in at 34 lbs!!! I have never seen a drum with more bullet proof build quality that's for sure. Besides the thickness and weight of the shell, the overabundance or rock solid hardware (12 pairs of extremely beefy tension lugs) makes this drum solid and hefty. Result. Less high frequency vibration. Impact on Sound: Sound Engineers dream - less of the annoying ringy metallic over-tones that you get from most metal snares.
This drum also has a very unique parallel action strainer that separates the tensioning of the snares from their positioning. it's like a swiss watch and gives amazing control over snare response. Normally, the adjustment of snare tension and snare position are "coupled". You lift the snares onto the snare bed and the lifting also stretches the snares, changing their tension on the head. That's fine, but imagine if you can dial up the tension to exactly what you want, and then move the snares to precisely the position you want, without changing the tension. It gives you a much more precise control over the snare sound. You can get exactly what you want, with very fine adjustments possible.Summary of the SoundThe sound of t