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 Drum
Magazine Review
Pearl
Signature Series
Snare Drums
This Time itās Smitty & Steve
by John Nyman
Itās a good thing
when artists and manufacturers collaborate on new design ideas. The artists get
free reign to create ćdream drums,ä and we, the cash-spending drummers of the
world, get new, great drums to buy and play. Pearl has already produced diverse
Signature Series snare drums for Omar
Hakim, Chad Smith, John ćJRä Robinson, and Dennis Chambers, and the companyās
two latest come from the imaginations of Steve Ferrone (Average White Band, Tom
Petty, Eric Clapton) and Marvin ćSmittyä Smith (Tonight Show, Branford
Marsalis, Sting).
Steve
Ferrone Signature Snare
Visual
Design. Ferroneās drum is a beautiful, customized old
favorite. It measures 14" x 6-1/2", with a black nickel-plated brass shell with
a center bead. Heavy-duty, flanged steel hoops. Tube lugs. Sound familiar yet?
I mean, this drum is a beauty and itās black!
Ferrone and Pearl
have gone all the way with custom hot-rod beauty here. Drummers are hot-rodders,
anyway. This drum looks cool like a restored classic car looks cool, with ćold-schoolä
component shapes recreated anew. It tunes and plays with modern smoothness, too.
The drum comes
with 24K gold-plated Super Hoop IIās. The small chrome-plated brass tube lugs
are accented with gold-plated ends, and allow free vibration of the shell.
The SR-017 strainer and butt plate are chromed. This is a sharp, two-tone theme
of gold over the shiny black shell, with the spice of chrome. Very handsome.
Mechanical Design.
The throw-off mechanism is great, works simply and smoothly and is a bit beefier
than previous Pearl strainers. The lever travels parallel to the shell and is
easy to use, with a great fit and finish. A nylon bumper prevents irritating metal-to-metal
clicks when you activate the snares on and off, which is a nice touch. The knurled
tension adjustment knob is finished in gold tone, and so are the screws that fasten
the snare tension cord in place. The cords extend beyond the sides of the shell
and are angled, giving them a smoother contact with the hoop. Drumkey heads adjust
the clamp for the snare cords, eliminating the annoyance of stripped screws. The
ten tension rods are each fitted with a nylon washer to provide fine tuning. The
shell is heavy, looks great, and has one seam. I found a teeny-tiny bump on the
bottom bearing edge at this seam. The bearing edges are rolled rather crisply,
almost sharp. The snare bed is deep, and is formed at a long, slow angle.
Sound. Steve
Ferroneās 14" x 6-1/2" drum sounds fat. This drum can be tuned way down low or
quite high, but you always hear the depth of the 6-1/2" shell, which is focused,
throaty, with a lot of meat under each note. You hear a musical, pleasant resonance
from the beefy brass shell, which reverberates nicely from both light strokes
and heavy poundings. The snares speak evenly at any volume, everywhere on the
head.
The Test. Itād
been a while since Iād spent a night with a fat, rock snare, so I took it to a
club gig and set up early. Before giving it a thorough tuning, the drum gave off
a noticeable honk. Good news for Soundgarden or Van Halen, bad news for me. Fortunately,
I found it to be very responsive to the drum key, and after a few minutes of tuning,
a lovely sound was soon achieved. I felt very musical while playing this drum
during the first set. By the third set ÷ approaching 98 decibels with the guitar
player crossing the four-beer mark ÷ I yanked the Ferrone drum out of the stand,
put my piccolo in its place and filled my ears with cotton. This gig had become
an unmiked gunfight and I opted to trade the Ferrone drumās musical character
for an aural assault weapon.
Conclusion.
Mr. Ferroneās drum has a retro look, and is well built. A brass-shell snare drum
with a center bead has been a good bet for years. All the little mechanical details
are here, from the strainer that works smoothly to the nylon washers and drumkey
head screws. Itās a very handsome drum with a classic sound. The suggested retail
price of $559 is a good value for this much detail and gold plating. If you are
a fan of 6-1/2" drums, this modern classic is a worthy candidate for your collection.
Marvin
ćSmittyä Smith Signature Snare Drum
Visual Design.
The shell of ćSmittyä Smithās drum is copper, polished up to a rosy finish,
and every piece of hardware is 24K gold plated ÷ even the tension rods. Itās a
very striking, love-it-or-hate-it color scheme. I didnāt care for it. With that
rosy-copper shell next to all that yellow-gold hardware, itās a pink drum!
That said, I will admit that plenty of people who saw it, loved it. They said,
ćHey, cool copper drum.ä Fortunately, when I played it, I got a lot more
than pink noise.
Mechanical Design.
This copper kettle has ten tension rods per head, and uses an SR018 strainer.
There are lots of piccolo strainers out there that donāt work. They slip, loosen,
stick, get in the way, but this one works well, with a parallel throw and simple
cam action. I would like to see Pearl add the nylon bumper to it that makes Ferroneās
SR-017 strainer so quiet. The strainer holds the strings out and away at a flatter
angle to the head than the Ferrone snare. There are drumkey heads on the snare
cord clamps at the strainer and butt. The CL-05 lugs are shorter than normal and
in vogue with the current trend toward low-mass lugs, but big enough to allow
the top and bottom tension rods to line up. (Some say offset tension rods lead
to twisting of the lug and subsequent warping of the shellās shape. Not a problem
here). The shell has one seam, no bead, and the bearing edges are rounded, not
crisp, with a deep molded snare bed. Pearlās attention to detail is again evident
in the fit and finish throughout.
Sound. The
sound of this drum takes us into some enjoyable new territory. The copper approaches
brass in the wet focus of the sound. Thereās a dry attack that you would usually
get only with a wood drum, but the whole shell sings out like metal drum. It really
has some of the best of both worlds. The flanged Super Hoop IIās keep it sounding
open. Very fun. Some of this I ascribe to the 14" x 4" shell, which is a very
versatile, lively and funky size. When I compared the snare to my favorite brass
14" x 4" I decided that Smittyās is another drum Iāve got to have. Copper and
brass are just different enough to be happy stable mates. The drum easily tuned
to high pitches, and can get kind of low, too. Low is a relative term in a 14"
x 4" drum, though.
Conclusion.
The copper-shelled drum from Mr. Smith is especially worth checking out if
you are in the market for a 14" x 4" drum and canāt decide if you want wood or
metal. The 14" x 4" size is known to be versatile. The hardware is well engineered.
Obviously beautiful to the eye, if you like pink drums, this drum is worth
a listen. At $459 suggested retail price, it is almost cheap, which is shocking
for this much quality, plating and pinkness.
Specs
Model: Pearl
Steve Ferrone Signature Snare
Size & Price: 14" x 6-1/2", $559
Part Number: SF-6514D
Shell Material: Black nickel-plated brass with center bead
Strainer: SR-017
Hoops: Pearl Super Hoop II, gold-plated
Heads: Remo Ambassador
Lugs: Brass tube lugs, gold plated
Model: Pearl
Marvin ćSmittyä Smith Signature Snare Drum
Size & Price: 14" x 4", $459
Part Number: MS-4014
Shell Material: Copper
Strainer: SR-018, gold plated
Hoops: Pearl Super Hoop II, gold plated
Heads: Remo Ambassador
Lugs: CL-05, gold plated
See Pearl's full line of snares including
the Signature Series.
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