I’ve stated before in my reviews that I don’t fall for gimmicks when it comes to drum accoutrements. There are far too many stunts out there that make false promises and don’t deliverer. The Big Fat Snare Drum is not one of those products. Billing itself to be able to transform any snare into a vintage 1970’s-esque drum with that big beefy sound the BFSD delivers. The good folks at BFSD sent me a combo pack to test out and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The combo pack comes with “The Original” which provides full coverage for a medium thud and “Steve’s Donut” which has a center circle cutout for more of a crack. The ease at which one can convert the drum to these sounds is as simple as putting one of these covers on top of the existing drum. No need to tune or adjust the drum’s tension at all, just set it and get it.
I used the combo on a 14” Ludwig maple snare with medium tuning and a coated Emperor head. “The Original” immediately had a significant effect on the drum’s sound and transformed it into a much lower and heavier sound. The ringing was taken away too. I switched out “The Original” for “Steve’s Donut” and got a completely different sound, still subdued and thick but with a little more sustain. The difference was subtle but there nonetheless. Testing out the claim that the sound mimicked that 1970’s sound I pulled a couple records out and listened for a similarity. Being a huge Deep Purple fan I grabbed The Complete Albums 1970-1976 and Ian Paice’s snare did have a similar bottom end to the one the BFSD delivered. All in all, the BFSD enables you to transform any snare drum into multiple snare drums. It’s perfect for any drummer who plays in a 70’s cover band or for drummers just looking for that unique 1970’s sound.
For more information or to order your own visit https://bigfatsnaredrum.com/.
Off Beat with Michael Aubrecht 