Tama LGM137-STA Sound Lab Snare

As of writing this review, I've had this snare for around 8 months and its become a staple in almost any setup I run, be it as a main or side snare - apart from jazz. I don't doubt that it wouldn't work in jazz, it's just that I have better suited options for that.

I've played this thing on so many gigs and tracked a lot of stuff in the studio and its incredible how versatile this thing is. The thick maple shell gives you a nice warm sound, and along with the 13" diameter it allows this thing to be tuned very high without choking. But it also does middle and low tensions really well. You can get so many nice sounds out of this thing. 7" Depth gives you such a nice amount of body.

I've tried all kinds of setups with this. 5mil/3mil/2mil reso heads, all types of batters...ambassadors, emperors, cs dots clear and coated, p77 etc. 30-strand, 24-strand, 20-strand and 16-strand equalizer wires...they all work.

Beautiful snare and honestly I'm surprised it isn't more expensive. It punches way above its price point and is worth every penny.

I bought this snare after a lengthy email discussion with one of Thomann?s drum techs which eventually led me to asking him which snare he used himself. When he sent me the product code I scoured the internet for sound samples and reviews and was soon convinced that this drum was also for me. The snare comes fitted with a high quality Evans G1 coated batter and 300 hazy reso, (always a good sign in my book) in addition to 20 strand Tama Starclassic snappy snare wires. These are all excellent components which make for a fantastic sounding snare. (I had a Ludwig 14? x 5? snare before this, which was ok, but never really gave me the sound I was after?everything always sounded a little flat and dead)?not so with this beauty! The narrower 13? diameter and 7? depth give this drum excellent attack, powerful rim-shots and a quality of tone I?d only dreamed about before owning this drum. I have mine cranked right up to a high tuning which, combined with the sensitive Tama snare wires gives it a superb crack that cuts through any mix with real energy. I?ve been gigging this snare for almost a year and can confirm that the build quality is excellent and has never let me down. Buy with confidence!