WorldMax Vintage Classic

Throughout history, the seemingly humble snare drum has sent frenzied armies into battle, marched the condemned to the gallows and, perhaps a little more recently, and for a slightly healthier rationale, provided us with a backbeat to lift us off of our rear ends and make us dance. More than any other drum, the snare can potentially have an incredible and dramatic effect on the overall feel of a piece of music — it is arguably the most important drum in a drummer's arsenal. This month I have four of them to play with — all metal models and all manufactured by Taiwan-based WorldMax International. WorldMax produce a large range of snares, stands, pedals and drum thrones, along with a considerable assortment of components and replica drum parts for a wide range of makes and models.

Although I have seen a few examples of WorldMax snares at various music shows, I have to confess that until I began researching for this review, I knew very little about WorldMax as a company or indeed the scale and variety of their products. After a flurry of emails to and from Taiwan, I discovered that they were established in 1991 by an ex-Pearl employee, David Lo, and his wife Susan. David had nearly 20 years' experience as a supervisor in the Pearl drum factory, but felt that he could put his manufacturing skills to better use and so formed his own manufacturing business. Sadly David passed away in 2000, leaving Susan in charge of the whole operation, which is based in Taichung, Taiwan. Over here in the UK, WorldMax products are distributed by BR Distribution, who supply a huge range of spares and individual components as well as the full range of WorldMax snares.

As I take each of these drums out of its packaging, I am treated to some mouth-watering metallic delights with a whole variety of eye-popping finishes to grab my attention. Although these examples from the WorldMax Vintage series feature varying degrees of retro styling, some have more obvious nostalgic snare drum attributes while others have slightly more subtle detailing, which could be easily missed at just a passing glance. There is a good mix of vintage-style and 'modern' components, from the tube lugs (featured on all the models) to the hoops and the snare strainers, and these all add to the overall old-time flavour. Each of the die-cast hoops is made from 2.3mm steel, which should allow accurate tuning results.

Just in case there was not enough evidence of the classic features on this set of snares and the abundance of every conceivable retro facet on each and every model here, the brassy badge informs you that the particular model you may be drooling over is an example from the WorldMax Vintage Classic series. There are many similar components shared between the models here, such as the German-manufactured, brass-ended, 20-strand snares, the tube-style lugs, nylon washers fitted to each tension bolt and a set of UK Remo heads — a coated white batter head and a clear for the snare side.

The black-on-brass model is probably the most vintage-looking snare of all the review models.

This 14 x 6-inch WMS 50146ST model is certainly the weightiest snare I have ever reviewed, and has to be one of the heaviest (if not the heaviest) snares I have ever seen — the solid steroidal 3mm steel shell looks like it was sliced out of some Russian oil pipeline! Chrome plated, heads bolted in position and placed very gently onto a groaning snare basket in front of me, this drum is substantial to the extreme. Adding to the mass is a plethora of metalwork components including die-cast hoops, snare mechanism and 10 tube-style lugs — little wonder this is heavy!

One of the more subtle retro-styled features (which I am sure is by design, rather than accidental), is the aged appearance of the nylon washers, which isolate the tube fastenings to the shell. These have the look of slightly perished and ageing black rubber — how cool is that? With the exception of the throw-off assembly and a strip of engraving, which includes the WM logo, around the shell's circumference, each metallic component benefits from a very high standard of shiny chromium plating.

The lever of the S-C3 throw-off is reminiscent of one of those wine stopper gismos (to help avoid the air ruining that precious fermented grape juice), with a cam-type design that raises or lowers the 20-strand snare. The mechanism, which is slightly angled to give good access to the lever, is housed in a brushed-alloy casing and looks and feels particularly well engineered. The assembly also does a fine job of hiding the single breather hole drilled directly into the shell. Fine adjustment of the snare wires is achieved via a serrated rotating wheel mounted directly below the throw-off lever and, just to add a further sprinkling of 'vintage', all the drums here feature loops of nylon string to hold the actual snare in place. These are attached at both the throw-off and the B-3 butt ends by standard, square tuning bolts.

Of all the models presented here for review, the WMS BK5014SFXG model, or 'Black Dawg' as it is colloquially known in the USA, could, at first glance, be mistaken for something from the early 1900s rather than anything from the early 21st Century. This illusion is enhanced by the set of tube lugs, solid-brass, single-flange hoops, and a set of 10 CH-1C brass hoop hooks, which, with the assistance of the charcoal-black tension bolts, apply tension to the heads.

The beautiful mirror finish of the rolled-sheet brass shell does a grand job of concealing the single welded seam. It does this so well, in fact, that the only way of knowing this has actually been welded is by the tiniest strip visible when viewed internally, and even this is only slightly more noticeable upon the inner portion of the centre beading. There is also no evidence of any form of seam upon the bearing edge (formed by the upper and lower edges of the shell itself) either.

A question I often ask myself is why drum-head manufacturers don't produce a choice of colours for their aluminium hoops — it would be good to get away from the 'any colour you like as long as it's bare alloy'! This is probably the only blot on an otherwise beautiful old-time vista.

This 13 x 7-inch WMS AL7013DHBX model is only an inch smaller in diameter than the other snares. It is also the deepest but, thanks to the aluminium shell, it just happens to be the lightest — certainly wispy to the extreme compared to its 3mm steel counterpart. The contrast of the 3mm-thick shell with its brushed-alloy exterior and shiny black nickel plating upon the die-cast hoops and other attached metal work is surprisingly good — I wouldn't have thought this combination would be successful, but it is! Once again, a single breather is concealed by the throw-off mechanism, and the snare wires themselves are attached with the same nylon string as on the other drums.

With the drum turned upside down it is possible to peer through the clear snare head, through which you can see a slight widening of the bearing edge at the points where the strainer sits. The rest of the surface, however, is precision-cut and extremely well finished. Unlike the other drums here, this model has eight lugs (compared with 10), but this is ample for this slightly smaller diameter. The build quality is excellent and both the exterior and interior are absolutely flawless on this seamless, spun-aluminium shell. This build quality extends to the ironmongery of the tube lugs and throw-off lever, all superbly attached by a mix of Philips-head screws (complete with cup washer) and, where appropriate, nuts with washers.

As on the other models, the shell on the BKH 5014DHX is constructed from rolled sheet brass with a single welded seam. This model, however, has been subject to intensive hammering, which forms a regular pattern of 1.5mm-deep indentations running around the shell's circumference. The symmetrical pattern is machine hammered and, as such, will have dramatically increased the overall surface area of the shell. The reddish-brown hue of the brass shell gives a real feeling of a drum that has been exposed to years of smoke-filled blues and jazz bars. As a consequence of this unique finish, however, the WorldMax badge (which I quite like the design of) is only glued onto the shell and could easily fall off.

With an assortment of four potentially very different sounding drums here, the trouble is choosing which one to pick up first! Well, it has to be the largest and shiniest that wins, so into the charge of the snare basket goes the weighty 3mm steel model. The batter head needs some tweaking here and there — a task that is made extremely easy by the smooth, threaded tension bolts and accompanying nylon washer. It is so easy to hear even the tiniest pitch variation at each lug point. This is a very powerful drum, which does sound exactly as I imagined: metallic but with more than just a hint of ballistic missile being fired at close range. After the initial shockwaves this drum rings on and takes a second or two to die down — this snare has balls aplenty.

I didn't have go near the black on brass model with a tuning key; I just produced a few light taps with my fingers and this demonstrated that the drum was tuned fairly evenly already, though perhaps a little slacker than I would prefer. I mistakenly thought this model would have some metallic sharpness to it but instead, after only one or two whacks, it caused an appreciative nod and grin — this is really encouraging for a drum fresh out of the box. With the tension taken up only a turn, however, this drum dishes out an awesome beefy thwack, and as I produce a variety of sticking actions including rim shots and cross-sticking, I am constantly questioning the metallic nature of this drum — this has a beautifully rich, woody sound!

Up on the stand goes the aluminium model. The first thing I noticed is how dry this snare is in comparison to the others (especially the 3mm steel). This is tightly focussed and, with the flexible tuning range, very versatile too. The hammered brass model seems to possess similar qualities of warmth and responsiveness but will hopefully be a little kinder to the sticks than the 'chopper' rims of its black on brass cousin! The tuning is incredibly easy, flexible and very positive, with a range that equally matches the impressive alloy model.

If I have any minor criticism to make, it would be the fixing of the badges onto the shells — when the hammered brass model arrived the badge was actually detached. This is a great pity as bolted-on badges would have been the icing on the cake of these otherwise excellent snare drums. Also, the rims on these models have particularly narrow peaks (especially on the black on brass), which could easily do nasty things to a pair of sticks, but I am perfectly willing to forgo stick longevity for such a brilliant sound. 0

WorldMax Vintage Classic

Snare drums