SUPRA!

 

Supra: derived from Latin supra "above, beyond"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supra

Until now, the one unrepresented material in my snare collection was aluminum. It's not something that bothered me though. I was perfectly content because brass, steel and woods present enough variety for me. But when this turned up from one of my regular drum sellers, I couldn't resist. Supras are legendary classics, touted as the "most recorded snare drum in history", and the choice of rock luminaries like John Bonham. While their sound hasn't changed, old ones show signs of age in the form of pitting. This is when the aluminum corrodes under the chrome plating, and shows up like acne. This one had to be brand spankin' new because the shell looked to be in immaculate condition, and it had a new P88 throw off and butt plate. I'll never know how the seller got the price down for such a new drum, but all I cared about is that I could afford it. 

When I got it, it was indeed in perfect condition. Lucky, JB music in Megamall finally got a shipment of new 14" drum heads, so it now has an Ambassador Coated batter and Evans Hazy 300 reso. I whipped out my mics, recorded some demo tracks, and confirmed that aluminum is every bit as well behaved under microphones as everyone says it is. It came with lug gaskets, which is a hotly debated topic in drum discussions. I like what I hear now, and am lazy to take them off. So they'll stay on for now.  I wouldn't take it to a live, much less unmic'd gig, as brass would project to the audience better. But for recording, this is most likely THE ONE.  

This is my third Ludwig snare, and the first that I didn't have to change the throw off. What a luxury. 

A WISHY WASHY STORY

 

I’ve had an on-and-off desire for the Swish Knocker over the decades. Back in the 90s I wanted one desperately, but none were available. It cooled off in the 2000s when I got my monstrous Paiste 22” 2002 China. 

It came back in the mid-2010s when I learned there was one available in JB Music MOA. But upon audition, I was less than impressed. It sounded stiff and lifeless, and lacked two rivets. Disappointed, I quickly forgot about it. 

Strangely, without rhyme or reason, I got curious again and called the store early this year asking if it was still there. Yup, the same cymbal was still there, still lacking two rivets. But the curiosity was easily doused upon remembering my last disappointing encounter. 

Finally, we were scheduled for dinner yesterday with my wife’s high school classmate in MOA. After parking, I had my wife go ahead to the restaurant while I stopped by JB for a quick peek at possible bargain. As I entered the door, I was reminded of it again. It wasn’t on display, and it took the sales person not a few minutes to dig it out of a pile. I knew it was the same one because it was still missing two rivets. Also, the big 25% off sale ended last week, so I would have to pay full price for it. But none of that mattered the moment I played it. Inexplicably, it sounded absolutely magnificent this time around. It had a rich throaty crash, funky ping, and sizzling wash. 

What changed in my attitude towards this cymbal? Was it having been stored and aged for almost a decade? Had the acoustics in the store been modified? Are my strokes different? Or was it just my shifting current taste? Whatever the reason, I walked out of the store with 2419 grams of year 2015 magnificence, and a lighter bank account.

A happy ending to a long and wishy-washy story.

HEAVYWEIGHT

In the mid-2010s, Pearl released two special limited-edition free floating snares. The first was the Pearl FBD1465C 30th Anniversary Free Floating 14" x 6.5" 3mm Brass Patina Finish Snare. The second was the Pearl CS1465F Chad Smith Signature Free Floating Tricolon 14" x 6.5" 3mm Brass/Steel Snare. I never saw the former, but I did see the latter in JB Music some years ago, then in FB Marketplace and Carousell before the pandemic. It looked spectacular, but so was the price. This is probably why it never got bought. My curiosity led me to discover what made it special. 14x6.5 Free-Floating chassis. Diecast hoops. Three seamless interchangeable 3mm shell rings, two brass and one steel. Only one hundred ever made. The price? Let's just say it was about double my most expensive snare. Why did I suddenly consider buying it? It was Christmas. I survived a bout with Covid19. The semester was ending. Any excuse becomes valid when you have a serious case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome. 

It arrived with a “Certificate of Authentication” and a drum head both signed by Chad Smith, which I really didn’t care for. So they are tucked away with my spare drum heads. It was pre-owned, but never played, with nary a stick mark on the batter head. The first thing I noticed with I took it out of the box was that the drum is very, VERY HEAVY! Seven kilograms of heavy. The hardware is extremely solid, but luxuriously satin smooth and/or polished shiny. The heads came with almost no tension. I cranked the reso head, then I brought the better head up to half turn above finger tight and it sounded fat and authoritative. Each half turn up brought higher pitch, and more glorious harmonic combinations. The response is super sensitive, and the loudness can be deafening when whacked with the stick butt. The only mod I applied was a half inch square of cushion tape to the reso head to control a bit of after-buzz. But that’s it. I usually swap out the snare wires for Puresounds, and mounting string for plastic straps. But everything was so perfect that I left them stock. 

This drum has spoiled me forever. Suddenly all the other drums I was interested in lost their luster. It has earned a permanent spot in my recording setup. And if and when I finally start gigging again, this will be my go-to snare ….. if I have the strength to carry it. 

BLACKNESS

How many times has this happened already? I see something interesting, covet it, the deal falls through or I reluctantly pass, then find something much better shortly after.

JB Music was on a major "Handog" sale last month, and the markdowns on the new Pearl Sensitone Heritage series caught my eye. PhP12.9k for a 14x5 aluminium, and 13.7k for a 14x6.5 aluminium was an extreme bargain. I don't have an aluminium snare yet, so this looked like my chance. But the more I looked at my existing snares, the more I hesitated. I'm pretty much covered for sizes, and I never set all of them up the same time anyway. So after weeks of rumination, I finally let the sale pass. 

Two days later, I saw what looked like a 14x5 Black Beauty, the legendary black nickel on brass snare from Ludwig, in the FB marketplace at a price I could afford. Research on the seller seemed legit. He was a regular Japan surplus seller based in Pangasinan, with everything from fishing poles, to camping tents, light furniture, guitar amps, amateur keyboards, and a few drum related stuff. He showed me a correspondence with another customer, Moon Fortuno, who was getting a high-end double pedal at the same time. I didn't hesitate anymore. I pounced! It arrived two days later. 

I took it apart after the prefatory disinfection, and found two things. 1) It had no lug gaskets. The previous owner must have removed it to get more resonance. Fine with me. It's easier to tame an overactive instrument than a dead one. 2) Just like my Oak/Maple Hybrid, old Ludwig throw offs are problematic. In addition to it coming with the much-maligned P85 throw and P33 butt panel, one of the lock screws of the throw had a loose thread.  I replaced the screw with an awkward but temporarily working one, then ordered a new P88ac throw/butt set. 

I have it set up now with coated Ambassador batter and a Diplomat snare side. The sound is absolutely WICKED! Boisterous, bright, and happy, with rich harmonic overtones (as opposed to steel's usually inharmonic ones). I have it pitched between my Omar Hakim Signature and Pearl Masters Brass snares, and will be experimenting with other tunings later. 

I never thought I would own a Black Beauty. But then I never thought I would own eight (!) snares either. 

P.S. After weeks of waiting, Amazon sent me box with a cheap looking generic throw and no butt plate. Grrrrrrrr. Thankfully they paid for the return, and sent me a real P88ac set a week later. The BB looks and feels complete now. 

PRESTIGE

In the process of re-wrapping my venerable mid-1970s 12" and 16" Pearl Thunderking toms in purple, I discovered some serious ply-separation. And to make matters worse, the wraps started creasing after attaching the lugs. The 16" still sounded ok but the 12" kinda lost its focus. 

Then last month I saw a 12" x 8" Pearl Prestige Series tom going for real cheap in Cavite. I hesitated for a week before contacting the seller, only to find our he had already sold it. A few days later, it surfaced again, but by another seller, at a slightly higher price, and again somewhere in Cavite. This time I did not wait. I snagged it immediately. 

Upon arrival, I changed the heads to my favorite Ambassador Coated batters and clear resos, and 2.3mm triple flanged hoops. The inside of the drum was beautifully finished, more like a high end snare than any tom I've ever had. And the overtones are more spread out than my 10" Decade Maple, but more focused than my old Thunderking. 

I've been trying to learn more about the Prestige Series, but all I can find are early 1990s used kits in Japan, with no description of the wood used. The word Prestige was also added as prefix to the more known Session lines, the forerunners of today's Session Studio Selects. these were   mid level professional kits with fine finishing and hardware. 

Someone is offering me a 16" floor tom in the same series, in the same color. Who knows, it might be the feature in my next post.

 

THE DARK SIDE

This happened real fast. I saw this 20" Istanbul Agop Azure ride in FB Marketplace for only PhP 2,500 with the note "Baka matipuhan nyo mga idol ☺️🙏". An out-of-production Agop like this would easily go for 10k used, maybe more since Agop doesn't have an official dealer here in the Philippines. The picture showed the underside of the bell with Arman and Sarkis Tomurcuk's signature though, which gave it some authenticity. I suspected either the guy was desperate for cash, didn't know what he had, or a scammer. The next morning I saw another ad from the same guy quoting it at PhP4,500. That's still less than half of the going rate. Had the seller begun to realize the real value of this pie? So I took the risk and jumped on it before he put the price up again. It was all over in an hour, from inquiry, to closing the deal, to payment, to delivery. Afterwards, I asked if he was the first owner, and planned follow up questions to find out why he practically gave it away. But he never replied. I guess this will remain a mystery.

After the prefunctory sanitizing bath, it put on quite a show for me. The ping is distinct but very low pitched, the lowest of all my ride and crash-ride cymbals. The wash is also the lowest, and the bell is the smallest of all my Turkish-style cymbals. It weighs only 1976 grams, the lowest I've read of others on the web. I don't know why, but I almost always end up with the lightest cymbals in the model, either by choice or by chance. 

This is the closest I’ve got to a "dark" ride like "old K's". I've been practicing jazz riding last week alternating between my 22" A Zildjian and 22" Paiste 2002 China set up. What will having three rides set up be like? Stay tuned. 

TWO REVOLUTIONARY ICONS

In my mind, there are two iconic, revolutionary hihat models in modern cymbal history. One is the Avedis Zildjian New Beat. It debuted in the early 1960s, was the first to pair a medium top with a heavy bottom, and became the defacto standard for hihat sounds. I first heard one up close from a US Navy show band at UP Abelardo Hall, and immediately fell in love. It had a distinct "chiff" sound when pedaled and buttery sustain when half-open. I saved up all my gig money and eventually got them in 1975 from Salonga's Music Cubao for 650 pesos, a princely sum at the time. Based on info in black.net.nz, mine are a late 1st generation version from the early 70s. This was just before Zildjian started making cymbals heavier to serve the rock music market, and when the variances in weights within a model was widest. Mine had a particularly light top weighing in at only 782 grams, and the bottom at 1223 grams. This combination made them sound more airy than all other New Beats I had played on backline kits. They originally came with a trendy sticker and ink labels indicating which was the top and which was the bottom. The sticker has long disintegrated from wear, and all that is left of the ink label is this vague outline in the inside of the bottom hat. But graphics aside, I have been perfectly content with the sound and feel, for they were everything I needed and wanted. 

The second icon is the Paiste 2002 Sound Edge. Introduced in the early 1970s, this uses a bottom with rippled edges which prevents airlock, creates a firm "chip" sound when pedaled, and an aggressive sustain when half-open. Unfortunately, they have not always been freely available locally, and were so expensive I couldn't afford them when I was younger. Heck, I can't even afford them brand new now either. So when a pair popped up this past week in the FB Marketplace for less than half the going rate of a used pair, I got curious. What would it be like to have both New Beats and Sound Edges? Adding to the allure was that these are coveted vintage "black label" 2002's. Resistance proved futile, and I grabbed them immediately. The serial numbers revealed the production dates at 1981 for the top and 1979 for the bottom. I usually prefer light cymbals, and this pair falls perfectly in the lighter side of otherwise ultra-consistent Paiste quality control, 826 grams for the top, and 999 grams for the bottom. As I had hoped, the Sound Edges are the perfect counterpoint to my New Beats.

Zildjian and Paiste eventually copied each other. Many of Paiste's hihats now bear a similar top/bottom weight ratio as the New Beats, and Zildjian created their own Mastersound series with rippled bottoms. But now I have both of the originals. To celebrate my double contentment, I spent an afternoon giving both the full spa treatment of cleaning and buffing. Hihats have not figured in new rhythms I've been working on, but I may be inspired to give them a little more attention.