Bring Back The Double Vented Snare Drums From 2003!!!

[Imadampercussion]

By the way! I see that Yamaha is now releasing the MAY Acoustic Equalizer for their marching snares. I read this about 5 months ago. I am disappointed because I know this was a first for Pearl and DW but now Yamaha is doing it and is not half as cool as when Pearl did the double vent in 2003 for SCV's "Pathways" show.

http://www.yamaha.com/yamahavgn/Doc...06_Products.pdf

Kevin! Why did Pearl let this idea go? I know that when Pearl did this for SCV in 2003 with May it kind of failed because they also vented the bottom of the shell which crushed the shell from removing to much material in combination with marching falam bottoms... but it can totally be done now that Pearl has add a support ring to the bottom of the shells! I really hope you guys decided to revisit the double vented snaredrums. THEY WERE SICK!!! I would buy one for sure!

[drumcorpbc]

There was also no noticeable difference in sound. They are a cool idea, but serve no real purpose.

[no.1cooldrummer]

interesting, have you played them drumcorpbc? i figure you have but in any event
I also noticed may also finally gave yamaha the folding carriers, monopost bd carrier, and the pneumatic cusion on the back support. just things i noticed

[Imadampercussion]

There was also no noticeable difference in sound. They are a cool idea, but serve no real purpose.

I know on the DW snare it makes a HUGE difference but I never really had a chance to mess with a marching snare version... But I did think to my self... when you are cranking a drum that high it probably would not make that much of a difference. It probably would with a mylar head because it gives more and pushs more air but there probably is not much air to be pushed out of a marching snare drum with a Kevlar or Max head. It would still be cool to toy with and have that option though. I know Cadets marched the Yamaha version the past couple years but I never really saw them shifting between open and closed, when SCV marched the Pearls in 2003 they used it alot at the beginning of the show but I think half way through the season the shells collapsed onto the vent ring on the bottom part of the shell which made them nolonger use able so they just kept them closed (but now Pearl puts a support ring in the bottom of the shell which would fix that problem. The Yamahas are not vented at the bottom though, like the pearls were and I don't really think it would have that big of an effect at the top.

Check out the DW snare if anybody wants to see some demos of this technology... but I would have to agree.. it probably does not have the same effect on the marching snare due to the tension and maybe even depth of the drum.

http://www.dwdrums.com/may/acousticeq.htm

[DrumYoda]

I find it interesting that the claim is made that the vented shells from Pearl® "collapsed" with the Santa Clara Vanguard. I say this because a good friend has one of those drums and it works perfectly well. The vent does make some difference in tonality. It may be that it seems so with a normal snare head in place rather than the Falams® version.

[Imadampercussion]

I have actually seen pictures of the collapsed shells and talked to people that marched Vangaurd about those drums specifically and heard nothing positive about how they held up and why they stopped working. From what I remember too... they said not all of the drums stopped working but because some of them did it effected the whole line. odd side note... that was the year that Vangaurd did not have the Pearl badge on their snare drums... I heard that Pearl forgot to put them on their before sending them out. Just hear say.

On the other hand... I don't claim to know exactly what went on, it is just second hand information... I have never actually played on or got close enough to touch one of those drums to have first hand knowledge of them so I guess it is just speculation.

My point is though, I thought it was a very innovative idea. Yamaha has the MTS model and Pearl finally had something to the same sort of "gemic" to offer up but... gave up on it??? I really don't know what happened with the idea... and it is just unfortunate that Yamaha now has the top gut throw-off and the vent. No matter how many things Yamaha adds to their snaredrums though, I still don't think they will ever touch the great fundimental sound you can get out of a Pearl FFX. I used to be a serious Yamaha person but when I taught a line that had some 15 year old FFX's I fell in love with them... I could not believe how great these old drums sounded compared to my relatively new Yamaha in my college drumline.

I bought my own FFX after that and I have never looked to any other company... but I degress.

I have alot of respect for Yamaha drums but it would just have been nice to see the original Pearl vented snares succeed. Just a sweet idea.

Oddly enough, I was talking to a shell manufactorer about 4 years ago about building some marching drums out of carbon fiber shells but this person did not seem to think it could hold the tension with the core he had invented so i emailed him one day and said I had a solution... "What if you just took a regular drumshell, used it for the core... and wrapped the inside and out side with Carbon Fiber? It would add strength and projection"...

I never heard back from him... sooo he obviously just blew me off.

But....

I know for a fact his company was manufactoring the belly plates for the Yamaha/Randall May tube harness that came out in 2003. He showed me samples of it so I actually got to see the first prototypes of the carbon fiber belly plates... I know... I know... where am I going with this???....

Well, obviously Randall May and Pearl also work together and this guy and Randall May worked together... 2 years after I told the guy my idea for the marching drum shells Pearl comes out with the Carbon Ply drums...

No!!! I am not pulling an AL Gore and saying I invented the internet...

but...

Just very odd

Needless to say, I love the fact that marching percussion is so innovative and there is just endless things that can be done. I have so badly wanted to start my own marching percussion company but I don't have the resources to make it happen. It would definately be a fun industry to get into. After all, just look at Dynasty!!! Their product is absolute garbage but because they got Blue Devils to march their drums and do much of the product developement they are growing like wild fire.

The only thing I can give Dynasty credit for is the "quad cradle" absolutely solid, but the drums sound like crap, fall apart, the fact that they use a counter top laminate to cover their drums just further chokes the sound out of the drums. Anyway...

If somebody wants to lend me a couple hundred thousand dollars to start the next big marching percussion company just let me know!

Don't think that is going to happen!!!

[Imadampercussion]

I have heard from a few different people that the vent system really did not do much and I am thinking that it really has to do with the fact that the tension is so high on the drums that it just does not move enough air to make a difference.

However, the vent system that was in place in 03 on the Pearls had very narrow vents. The one set of vents on the Yamaha's is probably double the width which might make a difference. but it would have to be top and bottom to really make a difference... or... just one huge one in the middle much like the old Ludwig "cut out" snare drums that had the whole middle of the drum missing. Which from all accounts I have heard were loud!! Especially with Mylar heads.

Anyway, I think it would still be cool to see a revamped model from Pearl sense they beefed up their shells and they could do something with the technology now.

[knamaky]

You also have to consider what the vented drum sounds like in the middle of a football field when the listener is up in the stands. You won't hear the same difference in sound that you hear up close. The grass eats up a lot of that sound.

Just because an idea is "cool" doesn't mean it's worth selling. It may seem cool, but for a company like Pearl the bottom line is "Is the customer willing to pay hard earned cash for it, and if so how much?".

Obviously Pearl didn't get the answer to that question that they needed in order to really push it.

Kevin

[Imadampercussion]

I completely understand your point but I just find it odd that Pearl tried it in 2003 and as you basically state... served no significant purpose... then why did Yamaha run with the idea? Obviously, there is no really answer to that... I am just thinking out loud... why manufactor something that doesn't serve a purpose... unless... people are going to actually buy it. Whether it works or not... Again... just thinking outloud.

[weaklefthand4ever]

I find it interesting that the claim is made that the vented shells from Pearl® "collapsed" with the Santa Clara Vanguard. I say this because a good friend has one of those drums and it works perfectly well. The vent does make some difference in tonality. It may be that it seems so with a normal snare head in place rather than the Falams® version.

As DrumYoda alludes to here, it has much more to do with head selection and wear and tear than anything else. Fully vented snares for marching percussion really died out in about 1989 and have only returned in a VERY limited few cases. I actually saw what I had thought to be a prototype of this maybe 3 years back but I guess it might have been a production model. If you throw a kevlar / aramid head on a vented snare and crank it to normal drum corps specs, you COULD potentially have a failure such as collapse of the tube lugs (though nothing like we experienced with the old Ludwig HV's in the 80's.) Plus...12 + hours a day for a tour season. If there is a weakness, it will make itself evident. Before free floating drums (i.e. The Ludwig HV noted above,) you would break the tension casings and have a drum collapse.

At the same time, I have an old HV Ludwig that sounds great...with mylar.

Retro Silver Dot action...oh yeah!

[TuoKaerf]

The problem comes from projection. Even with simple tuning, a drum sounds way different from the stands than on the field. I have a vented snare on my drumset, and that works well with lower tunings. The higher I tune it, the less you can hear the change in timbre when I work the vent.

I'd rather have an MTS or double snare unit. The Yamaha ones are cool, but the Dynasty models are even better with the ability to use multiple top snare heights.

[Ashy_Larry]

watch Bluecoats video clip 4 from Indy on Innovative Percussion.com. It shows them using the vent system. Their system is at the top where Pearl's was on the bottom.

[Rupert Neve]

I like the Premier HTS-200.

[Imadampercussion]

I find this whole thread that I started a couple months back kind of funny. It was basically said that the vent system serves no purpose and there is no costumer demand for... Then why in the hell is Vangaurd using it this year? it is different than in 2003 where it is only in the top part just like the Yamaha ones. I just find it funny that I was told on this forum that it was basically pointless and Pearl decided to not persue the idea and yet here we are with at least one corps marching it this season...
By the way.... the new Vangaurd drums are sick. I want to say the finish is Copperfire Sparkle... a reference series finish. But I am not for sure, and the hardware is chrome.
I do have to say though, that the tenor drums look like ****... the Randal May mounting rail for Pearls is just garabage. On almost every drum 3 and 4, the drums are sagging and they playing surfaces are not level from surface to surface. You would think a top line like Vangaurd would not march drums that look like they are falling apart.... but their tenors look like absolute garbage. The finishes are sweet but they look like they are falling apart already.

[scott47]

the ones I saw them using were natural finish. Maybe those were the SCV cadets drums from last year.

and you're right about Pearl's mounting hardware, it sucks. We have 7 sets of tenors at my school, 3 of them have crooked drums. Rack systems work a lot better, like XL's. I'm not a dynasty fan at all, but they have by far the best stock tenor mounting system; it does add a few pounds though.