Piccolo Snare

[SSmithite]

Hey guys,

I'm toying around with the idea of getting a Piccolo snare to compliment my regular snare. My questions are...

1. Does anyone use one and with what effect? (i.e. how does the sound fit with the style of music you play etc.)

2. Do you use it as a second snare or do you replace your main snare for certain gigs (or songs)?

3. Who makes a decent Piccolo? I'm not looking to spend a fortune. Maybe a couple of hundered bucks tops. [img]graemlins/storm.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Lee Collins]

I have an old yamaha brass piccolo, ala weckls back to basics model, which I rarely use now but should use more. It's very loud and cutting and very articulate, almost unforgivingly so.

I've gotten so used to playing a 12" diameter wood snare that I find the 14" piccolo seems too big now, and also the wood one is much warmer and funkier. But if I wanted more power I would use the piccolo on a gig. You should decide what your needs are really. You could have 2 snares set up, one for effect, or maybe just alternate from gig to gig. I've not tried any wood piccolos but it goes without saying that they would be a bit warmer if not any louder than a normal wood snare. Just more toppy sounding. I think a lot of players who set up a second snare have it tuned pretty high. With the snares off it can sound kinda timbale like, and with them on, just a really nice crisp high pitched tone.

[SSmithite]

Thanks for the ideas. What kind of hoops do you use with your wood snare? What do you think about wood hoops?

[Lee Collins]

Well it says power hoop on mine, but it's basically a triple flange.The only drum I heard with wood hoops is akira jimbos beech yamaha and that sounds great! It would be interesting to hear a wood hoop on mine. I reckon it would probably dry it up a bit like a diecast hoop would. But I think triple flange sounds great anyway.

[Rhythmatist]

I use a 5x10 Yamaha Stage Custom sopranino snare as a second snare. It's got a lot of crack for a mahogany drum. I use it as a contrast to my regular drum to sometimes delineate sections of form in a song when it's a 2 & 4 thing. I'll also use it when I'm doing a more syncopated feel and go back and forth between the two snares. Of course for Latin and Carribean things I'll throw off the snares to get an instant "poor man's" timbale.

I don't think Yamaha makes these any more but I do know that Pearl still offers the Popcorn snare (it's either birch or maple, not sure)and Tama, Gretsch, Mapex and Pacific have some small diameter drums in a variety of shell types. Pearl Also has a variety of soprano and piccolo drums in maple, brass and steel. All are quite reasonably priced.

It depends on what you want. Do you want a small version of your regular snare to get a nice blend or do you want an extreme contrast to your main snare? If your main snare is a warm sounding 5 1/2" wood drum you might want to use a 13" brass or steel pic for a completely different sound. There are endless combinations. What do you hear in your head?

[S.P]

i got a 14x3.5 pearl maple free floating one, its pretty cheap...maybe like $250 u.s and its worked great for me so far...you can get them in many different shell materials

[MntnMan62]

On a similar note, does anyone have any experience with the Yamaha Sopranino snare that Sam Ash is selling for $90?

[SSmithite]

I ended up just getting the Pearl steel Firecracker 12" for $99 bucks. It has a pretty good crack. I'm looking forward to using it this weekend. I'll let you know how it sounds live if anyone is interested. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]