Beat Head Snare Drums

 

We all aspire to get the best sound we can from our instruments though typically have to accept some compromise with what we can afford. It is a process of due diligence that has helped me forge the best sound I can get from a drum that would otherwise be found wanting.
Musicians create 'their sound' and style given the tools they have and every once in a while you may get lucky enough to play with the very best - though there are no real guarantees. I once witnessed Roger Taylor having a 'drummers' moment' during rehearsal for a gig at Mt Smart Stadium. There I was chatting to Freddie Mercury when he kicked his snare drum off its stand with such force that it went flying, cursing at it as he did so, saying "…this fookin' snare drum sounds fookin' terrible".
Not being able to get a good sound can be a drummer's worst nightmare and I knew exactly how Taylor felt in that moment, as surely do many drummers who have at times found a snare lacking. This must be what drives Matt Vickers of Beat Head Drums (www.beatheaddrums.com) to handcraft his brilliant-sounding drums. His 'without compromise' approach takes the pain out of guesswork, and while the drums are not cheap ($1000 for the Road King series and $1600 for the Exotic wood series as a guideline - but current exchange rates are part of the equation), in that sense they are great value for money.
Matt emerged as a drummer in the 1980s band Marginal Era and started building custom snare drums from his adopted Swedish home in the early '90s. He is now producing a variety of natural wooden snares that are simply drop dead gorgeous. From the BHD website there are just the two series to select from, but being a custom drum maker Matt likes personal contact with customers to discuss individual wants and needs around the sound, size, hardware etc. Once ordered it will likely take a month for the Road King series and up to three months for the Exotic series, depending on wood choice, before delivery here. Being a Kiwi himself, Matt has fitted a few local drummers up already and it is through some of them I got to try Beat Head Drums myself.

 

The first drum (I have two for this review) is made of African mahogany, built from a series of bonded wooden hoops lathed into a very unique looking shell in a 13" x 5" finished size. The first thing to notice when you take a look under the hood are the two large wooden hoops forming the inner drum rim on the top and bottom of the shell. This could be the drum's best kept secret. The rim protrudes inwardly by 2-3cm and away from the edge at an angle of about 30 degrees.
I literally took this drum straight out of the bag for a gig one night and only adjusted my snare stand to accommodate its 13" frame. I did nothing to alter the tuning of the drum which had been left for some time. Normally I prefer a coated Ambassador head on top but this had an Evans Genera g2 clear top instead, with a Snare Side 300 hazy on the bottom, and these skins felt like they were made for it.
I tend to approach a new drum with caution and with a pair of Hotrods I gave the drum a wee thwack, a flam with a rim shot. This is how I generally play most of my snare patterns when using sticks. The drum responded with a resonant note that was sustained naturally by the drum itself and switching to sticks made the true volume of this snare apparent. I found myself wanting to play it more on its own before launching around the rest of the kit. When I did mix things up I found the Beat Head snare nicely complimented the sound of each of the other drums with heaps to spare under the hood - reassuring when you are half way through a sound check. I don't often get to play with a 13" snare but this one slotted in perfectly with our repertoire of songs and lasted the entire night without any re-tuning.
Being handmade the Beat Head snares are effectively all one-offs and the second model for review is a 12"x 6" shell made from a NZ native rimu tree with a birch bearing edge, cut at 35 degrees. It is formed in the same manner as the first but with brass hoops held in place by eight black one-piece tension mounts. The snare strainer mechanism is a Dunnett R-class which has a positive solid feel and is gold-plated with a very smart fold away feature.

Matt Vickers was drummer in Kiwi band Marginal Era and started building custom snare drums from his adopted Swedish home in the early '90s.

The tension placed on the snare wire by way of cloth straps is another feature that I like. This drum had an Evans Genera g1 coated top and a Snare Side 300 hazy on the bottom. I much preferred the sound the 12"produced with the coated Ambassador than the 13" with the clear head, it felt more comfortable to me, giving the drum a raspy feel and sound to it.
You might anticipate a drum this size would not deliver enough volume, if using brushes for example, and although I didn't play it this way in a gig situation I don't think volume would be an issue here. This drum's strength lies in its true and tight sound quality - I would really like to hear it miked up live or in a studio as I'm picking it would be an engineer's dream to work with.
The nature of this drum might however require you to review your reverse stick technique when you are playing a reggae beat for example. If you use long sticks like I do then the extra length could catch you out on this size drum, especially when you want to strike the meat of the stick on the rim to get that fat 'knock' sound.
All the same this snare has what I would call a secret weapon. Its sound was evidently designed to make you feel that it will never let you down. I haven't been so impressed by a drum since my first ever Harmony House special, a silver sparkle Beverly drum kit - and that didn't sound so good! Yet straight out of the box (this time) again without any tuning I could not help myself from smiling knowing that Beat Head Drums could make a snare drum fit any groove, any gig and any drummer who revels in making drums rock.

www.beatheaddrums.com