20 Best Snare Drum For Metal (2023 Updated)

I bought the 6. 5 10 lug version of this drum over the Lm 402 it’s basically the same except for the chrome it has the right amount of tone not to much ring very sensitive alot like my black Beauty but a little dryer but loud and articulate very nice drum with a great new throw off adjustment smooth action very tight not sloppy like the old p-85 and it clicks when you adjust the tention to lock it in from slipping great drum I’m very happy.

I have been playing drums for about 40 years, I have owned lots of snare drums. This has a sweet sound, you can tune it high and have a crack sound or you can tune it medium and have a little ring. I really like this drum and I will keep it forever thank you.

From the initial inspection every looks fine. I found no damage overall to the drum and it came with a Tama drum key also. As far as shopping at Musician’s Friend again, I’m not sure. This purchase was a last min decision because I had been wanting this and it was the only option of getting it at this price.

This thing is amazing! Everything I have ever wanted in a snare for this price is unheard of! It’s perfect for anything and everything. I did change the head after a week. The factory head was ok. It will get you by.

Coated. I replaced it with a Remo controlled sound coated. It has a black dot under the head. And with one gum dot, you have excellence! It’s really a great sound. Good for any type of music.

This snare isn’t for everyone but in certain situations it’ll be great. I play with a brass band part time doing show tunes, 1930s jazz, and marches. This drum is perfect for the situation. It cuts through anything.

Even a tuba! I would not use it for rock or metal likely. It is physically heavy for such a small drum.

Great snare for the price. Good crack and projection, put a coated ambassador on it and sounds even better. Easy to add (see pictures).

Sounds great. Lots of power but you lay back with too. It came with an evans black chrome drum head. i quickly put an evans reverse dot on it and it really came alive. for the money you can’t beat it.

This is a very legit drum that was shipped faster than expected. It has 16, individual lugs. The highly touted Mapex piccolo snare doesn’t even have individual lugs. It has a great sound with great construction.

The snare band is thick with wires and uses fabric straps that are easy to lock down. Now, the shifting lever is not the same as in the picture. It’s even better or at least I like it better. It’s a design I have never seen before.

The lever travels up and down along a helix and you actually push the lever it back and forth instead of flipping it up and down, which is more natural during playing and way more ergonomic in shape, too.

For the price and for being a great drum your going to love this one.

Built really well, nice unique throw off. You’ll definitely want to change the very thin one ply head that comes with it. I use a Evans 2ply hydraulic, it gives it a nice crack👍🏻🥁

I was looking for an inexpensive “piccolo snare drum” to add to my kit. For many years I have relied on my 5. 5″ X 14″ LUDWIG Acrolite snare but for certain types of songs / music that I might be playing, I just couldn’t get the “crisp crack” that I was looking for.

The salesman at Sam Ash in Las Vegas showed me several different drums and I settled on the Groove Percussion 3. 5″ X 13″ Metal Piccolo Snare Drum. This drum has just the sound that I’m looking for.

Snare is great. Everything everyone in the other reviews said is true. Guitar Center’s policy of selling floor model, USED equipment as NEW sucks. The snare I received arrived in a Blackstar amp box.

The snare side head had several pits under the wires and a few wires are bent as if it had been dropped on something a few times. The batter head was at least replaced before they sent it. Replaced the heads Evans and wires with a Puresound which I planned to do anyway and it’s a great snare drum.

Just wish I would have received a NEW on like I ordered and paid for instead of a USED floor model. I fully recommend the drum, just buy it somewhere else if you want a new one, or go in-store and make sure you get what you’re paying for, or deal with the return process if you have time and patience to wait for another potentially used floor model.

Originally purchased this snare drum in July. The first drum that I received had a minor defect, but just enough to bother me. The brass shell was out of round slightly, which caused the symmetrical gap around the head to be off about 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch from one side to the other.

Obviously, the head would not seat correctly, and made the drum impossible to tune to its full potential. So I returned that drum to musicians friend with no problems, and waited for the replacement.

The second drum arrived a couple of weeks later with the same issue, except this time much worse. At this point I’m frustrated. I do not blame musicians friend, as the snare was packaged by DW in 2 boxes for shipping (one inside the other).

They would have had no way of knowing. You may ask, why not just get a refund? The thought had crossed my mind, but I really wanted this to work out. So I decided to call DW directly about the problem.

They were very sympathetic to my problem, and we’re more than willing to help resolve the issue, by replacing the snare directly out of the DW factory in the US. I am currently waiting on my replacement.

Crossing my fingers that this will be the one. Not going to bash musicians friend or DW. I am optimistic for a happy outcome.

I bought this DW to replace my stock snare that came with my Taye’s. The stock snare sounded OK if tuned correctly but this DW is in a different league. It has that Ping/Ring you can only get with a Brass Snare.

I couldn’t hear the money difference between this snare and it’s Collector Series Cousin. I’m very happy with this DW.

This snare is fantastic. Put a new set of heads on it out of the box (Evans HD dry/300 hazy snare side) tuned it up and good to go. This snare has a wide range depending on your style, and it is LOUD.

Cuts really nice and sounds fantastic recorded. The only gripe I have with this snare is keeping it in tune. Had to re tune a few times during a 6 hour recording session, but other than that I have no complaints.

Great snare for the kind of music I play. Being in a punk band, I wanted something I could tune higher, but still be loud and sensitive. This snare does the trick. One small problem, which doesn’t bother me because of the sound I like out of my snare, is the fact that it only sounds good to me tuned high.

If you want a fat snare sound, I would recommend a wood snare. I also wouldn’t recommend this snare for jazz because it’s really loud and it rings out for a long time. If you don’t like a lot of ringing, a moongel or piece of tape on the resonant head does the trick.

I recently did a gig in a small venue, and the snare cut through everything very nicely. I also got a few compliments specifically about the snare sound after the gig. Overall, great snare for my taste.

Just keep in mind it isn’t very versatile and it’s REALLY loud.

This drum deserves all 5 stars. I got the 14″x8″ and its very solid and well constructed piece of art. Very dynamic and sensitive but with big power when needed. Thinner metal snare drums are not supposed to be cranked to the max, they’re designed to give you a wider range in the lower to mid tension but can be snugged up if necessary.

This snare sure does shine right in between loose and medium tension and has great body. I own 3 different DW snares and this one is just as good as any. Very underrated drum.

I upgraded to this snare from my PDP Platinum snare drum. The Platinum snare was decent but just didn’t have the tone I was looking for, had a bland ordinary sound, and made noise when I hit the tom closest to it (from the snare itself).

As soon as I started playing the DW I was blown away! It has a tone I didn’t expect from a steel drum, and no snare vibration issues. I don’t typically focus on my snare drum other than keep a beat and hitting it when I crash cymbals, but with this drum I find myself focusing on it as much as I do with my toms.

It’s actually changing my approach to drumming to an extent. And my interest in playing just got a shot in the arm. High quality stuff with an amazing sound always gives you more motivation to play. This drum did that for me.

I absolutely love this snare drum. I am a huge 13″ snare guy. I have been looking at this snare for about a year but had a 13″ Ludwig snare which I had tuned to sound really good. However, I feel really guilty now, because this Gretsch is superb quality, and just powerful.

The rim shots are awesome. It’s a very heavy drum believe it or not. Most importantly, it stays in tune and I don’t have to worry about using the tuner fish lug holder like I did on the Ludwig. This is going to go well with my Gretsch USA Bop Kit for all of our small venue gigs.

It is rare that I have liked a drum right out of the box because I normally change the heads and snares to what I prefer. It will be interesting to see if my normal head compliment and snare wire choice improves the sound of this drum.

It sounds fantastic right out of the box.

Pre-ordered this because I had some extra gig money that I wanted to spend. Arrived by UPS on my way out the door to rehearsal, so I took it with me for an instant trial by fire. Of course out of the box it sounded like a garbage can, but the included “fancy” Tama drum key got things in relatively good order quickly.

Looks: just as you see in the photos. Very nice looking drum with a matte finish on the hammered shell contrasted nicely with the chrome hardware. High quality Evans heads round it out (G1 on top). Sound: going in I figured it would be a typical steel snare sound and would fit in as a nice compromise between my 5 1/2″ maple and 6 1/2″ steel snares.

While it certainly fits that role, the drum isn’t as “ringy” as a typical steel drum. Not sure if it’s the hammered she’ll, or the rims, but it’s a fairly controlled sound. Still playing with tunings, but that’s the first impression.

Also, the snare throw off is very nice/smooth, and the snares themselves are very sensitive. My only question is regarding the rims which are similar to any other triple flanged rims, except that the upper bend folds inward toward the center of the head rather than outward.

The immediate and obvious benefit is that your sticks will last longer if you bash a lot of rimshots. Tama claims that these rims help focus the sound. hmmm ok. maybe. My concern is that the inner folding bend will allow a lot of debris (drumstick shavings, dust, dirt, gunk) to accumulate under the rim and between the rim and head.

Other than that, it’s a great sounding and looking drum. Nice rimshots, good side stick sound, and fairly focused sound for a steel drum in that size. At this price it’s a pretty good bargain too if you’re looking to expand your snare quiver.

If you already own a 5 1/2 x 14 steel snare, I’d skip it, but if not by all means pick it up. It’s a high quality snare that looks and sounds great.

Having played this drum for the past few months, I wanted to post a follow up. Still a great drum, well made, great attention to detail. I do have one minor (very minor) issue with this drum. but it might actually be a benefit to some others.

Apparently the hammering or the weight of the shell itself really does dampen and dry the sound of this drum. After playing a high volume gig recently, I started playing with tuning to try and open the drum up more, and couldn’t get it to ring out as much as similarly sized steel drum.

In fact, I was at a group jam last weekend, and listened to it while another drummer was using it so I could hear it from the audience perspective, and it confirmed that I still haven’t found that big, ringy sound with it.

That being said, it’s still a great sounding snare, and would probably be a great drum to record with. I also still need to play with different heads and tensions, and might still find the sweet spot.

Nevertheless, for now, and based on about 40 years of playing and tuning experience, the one sound that I haven’t found on this drum is that big, ringy, timbale-like snare sound. Maybe it’s in there and I haven’t found it yet.

In any case, if you really want a nice tight and controlled snare, this thing can certainly fit that role.

What can I say? It’s made by Tama so you know it’s well crafted. This drum is fantastic sounding at any tuning. Well worth the price.

This snare is awesome for the value. Such a nice crisp sound

This is a great snare ! Cuts through the mix with ease , very responsive at all tuning levels…certainly doesn’t dissapoint , enjoy !