The Modern Drummer Product Guide

11 Snare Drums You Must Try

There are drummers who remain loyal to one brand or configuration of snare drum throughout their careers. But there are also players such as Todd Sucherman, who has walls of shelving packed ever-so-neatly with entire platoons of snare drums. Or Nick D’Virgilio, who changed his entire kit for each track on his 2020 solo album, Invisible. And let’s not forget drum-replacement software, which allows an engineer or producer to swap out the snare sound that was originally recorded on a track with myriad samples of just about any snare drum in the known universe.

Although loyalty is a wonderful quality, as far as sonic options go, diversity likely outperforms single-mindedness every time.

But whether you are searching for a model with which to practice snare monogamy, or prefer to collect a wild party of diverse tonal options, there are always new snare drums to intrigue you, challenge your sonic choices, and maybe even end up in your rig. Here are some recent releases to check out.

June 2021 Issue