One of Pearl's most popular series of snare drums is called "Free-Floating", meaning that the batter and snare hoops are attached to each other with the lugs, but the lugs are not attached to the shell. This increases resonance, giving more body to the sound. The model reviewed here is 3.5" x 14", also known as the "Piccolo".

The photo below shows the die-cast batter hoop on both sides. The strainer is basic and solid. It comes with a 14 strand snare, but I replaced it with a 42" strand snare because I wanted even greater sensitivity. The photo has the 42 strand snare, but for the spectral analyses, I used the included 14 strand snare.

I used a Rhythm Tech drum lug torq wrench to tighten the lugs on the batter side to a standard (the highest number on the wrench). Since the lugs are not attached to the shell, tightening the lugs on the batter head also tightens the snare head. A photo of the Rhythm Tech is shown below. It's inexpensive and would be a good investment to get the same tension when you replace heads, or just to check the tension from time to time.

The Pearl has a tight "Pop" to the sound, making it ideal for rock, but also, it is extremely sensitive due to the lack of suppression that attached lugs would cause. So, it can be used for jazz as well, with very nice results.

The spectrum shown below used the same setup as I do with cymbals. Two laboratory grade microphones were arranged so that they were about 1 foot above the snare drum, pointed down at a 45⁰ angle at a point midway between the center and rim. For the analysis, I used a single stroke (5A with nylon tip) to the center of the drum, with the snare off. The duration of the analyis was 1.5 seconds.

There are major peaks at 275 Hz, 500 Hz, 700 Hz, and 1.4 kHz. The peak at 275 Hz is the fundamental peak (the resonant peak), but the other peaks are almost as high. This gives it more body than if the main peak were 10-20 dB higher than the other peaks. This is probably characteristic of wood shelled drums compared to metal shells. Compare this spectrum, for example, with the spectrum from the TAMA snare reviewed a while back. The fundamental is at 260 Hz, and it is 20 dB higher than the other peaks, which makes the sound more of a "ring".

Overall, I think the Pearl Free Floating Piccolo Maple snare drum is very high quality, and this is a very fine drum and should be on your short list for rock or jazz if you want a crisp sound that will cut through amp stacks on stage, or a sensitive tap when playing jazz in a club.

Click HERE to listen to an MP3 audio file of the sound with the snare off, and HERE for sounds with the snare on and off, including single hits in the center and edge.

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Tags: Pearl | Snare Drums