dialtune: dialtune Maple Snare Drum

As soon as you get your hands on a dialtune Maple snare drum, you know it’s a serious piece of equipment. At 21 pounds, the weight alone will give you an indication of how sturdy and robust this snare is. Built for high-usage, dialtune drums are designed with a patented system that allows you to tune and change heads incredibly fast. Whether the dialtune Maple snare is on tour or part of a studio/stage house kit, the benefits immediately become clear. The drum is made from a 6.5-inch by 14-inch, 10-ply Keller maple shell. The innovative hardware on this instrument is unlike anything I’ve seen on the market. Its ten lugs are larger than a typical snare drum’s and have six pulleys that look like saltshaker tops. The pulleys control the cable system, that tightens ten different tension points simultaneously. As a result, tuning and changing heads as easy as unlocking the quick-release hoops with a simple twist (one each for the batter and snare head). A highlight of the dialtune system includes its braided Kevlar cable, that’s used in the pulley/tuning system. Rated at 700 pounds, this cable doesn’t stretch and carries no memory, allowing the drum to hold its tuning even after abuse with VERY heavy-handed drummers. There are two other mechanisms on the sides of the snare: a standard snare strainer (with adjustment knob) and a three-position snare strainer. This three-position snare strainer allows you to effortlessly flip between three different snare tensions.

Changing drumheads has never been easier. Using the tuning dials, all you need to do is loosen the tension all the way, remove the quick-release hoop, switch heads, reattach the hoop, then use the tuning dial until it’s back to where you want it. On the first try, it took under a minute to change the head and get it back to playable. In moments of stress, the minutes you’ll save are invaluable. Tuning this snare is even easier than changing the heads. With four different controls and an incredible ability to hold tension, tuning the dialtune snare is actually fun! The range of tones is mind-boggling, with the ability to reach (and hold) really tight and snappy tones, or dark, washy, robust tones when tuned down. In a few recent studio sessions, we were able to tune the snare in completely different directions in the time it took to open a new DAW session template – without moving any microphones! The dialtune Maple snare drum is a fantastic instrument with versatile, killer tones, and it’s fun to use. On the road, in the studio, or anywhere in between, this snare drum is definitely worth its price tag.