Mid-60s Ludwig Superphonic Snare

[StevenO]

What do y'all think of these?

[øøøøøøø]

Great.

There are two versions.  One has a brass shell and one has an aluminum...er... "Lud-a-loy" shell.

Either or both are awesome, but they are very different. 

Sometimes for me a supraphonic or maybe acrolite is the only thing that will work.  That is about 10% of the time, which all things considered, quite a lot.  But about 90% of the time, even if it's not "the" thing, it's a "very good" thing.  Speaking of the more common Lud-a-loy model.

The brass model is heavier, and sounds like... a brass drum.  Which is awesome but a little different.  The transition occurred in about the mid-60s.  But there was overlap, and it was very non-linear.  Many endorsers got brass versions, some of the early b/o badge models with the "cut" b/o badge (rare) were brass for some reason.  The brass ones are more valuable, probably more due to rarity than anything else, but when you need that sound...

In general, Supras are easy to tune,  easy to deal with, easy to set up, and worry-free.  Sound great through a whole range of tuning.  Can be loud or soft, sensitive to dynamics.  A great drum.

[StevenO]

Sweet, thanks. I knew some of what you said actually. Not all of it, though, so thank you very much,

I was thinking about picking one up that is at a shop in Toronto.

We already have several snares here that are awesome (6.5x14" Ludwig Classic Maple Snare, 5.5x14" Pearl Masters Custom Maple Snare, 7x13" Pearl Masters Custom Maple Snare, and a few others) but not a good metal snare.  We were thinking about a Black Beauty, but then this Superphonic showed up and sparked our interest.

It's a "65 5.5x14" Superphonic. Any experience with those?

[StevenO]

Here's a picture of it:



Edit: GUH, I keep calling it a superphonic...  :-\

[øøøøøøø]

can't tell much from the picture that I didn't already know.  Hard to tell if it's brass or aluminum without picking it up.  There are subtle visual cues that can sometimes help narrow it down (not definitive) but I don't know them. 

If what you need is a good metal snare, this one will not disappoint.

[StevenO]

Sweet. Thanks for the help,

Maybe I can sell a few things to pick this one up...

[tremolite]

I'm shopping for a Supraphonic as we speak. I'm hoping to score a brass one as I already have 2 aluminum Acrolite's. I'm mainly looking for a player, so pitting and rust is not an issue for me. What prices are you finding for Supraphonic's in Canada?

[powerdroid]

If what you need is a good metal snare, this one will not disappoint.

I'll second that, plus if you get for a reasonable price you'll always get back what you paid for it, if you need to get rid of it. I think these are still go for  less than a new one, at least over here!
I've got a '64 Ludaloy one, very much like in the picture. Don't know what they go for nowadays, got mine for 220, but that was 6-7 years ago. Works well  with different heads / tunings, although I've only had single-plys on it...  Didn't dig the deeper one ( 6.5 " ) when I had it for a tryout, but as they tend to be more expensive as well it's all good.

[El Pr0n]

Steven Drozd's favourite snare, for what it's worth