PDP Black Wax Concept Series Snare Drums

109
WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM NOVEMBER 2015 |
PRICES
13"x7", £186; 14x5½",
£175 , 10"x6", £154
SHELL MATERIAL
Maple
CONSTRUCTION
METHOD
Ply
NUMBER OF
PLIES
10 plies
BEARING EDGES
4 5 °
HOOPS
Triple-fl anged
SHELL
AVAILABILITY
10"x6", 13"x7" &
14"x5½"
SUPPLIED
HEADS
Chinese Remo/PDP
Coated Ambassador
NUMBER OF
LUGS PER DRUM
16 dual-turret lugs
SNARE STRAINER
DW Mag throw-off
SNARE WIRES
20-strand with nylon
straps
CONTACT
Pacifi c Drums and
Percussion
www.pacifi cdrums.com
Essential spec
CONSTRUCTION
Snares have 10-ply,
all maple shells with
triple-fl anged hoops
these snare drums produce would likely
work wonders with our missing counterpart:
the 10"x6". I would wager that it sounds
absolutely fantastic as a side snare, cranked
up nice and tight.
The look and feel of the Mag Throw-off
is most agreeable. The way that the
strainer sticks out horizontally at a 90°
angle to the shell is particularly convenient.
It does however suffer slightly without its
usual pairing with the 3P butt-plate (again
found on DW’s high-end snares). The Black
Wax Concept Series snares come with a
no-frills, plain butt-plate to hold the nylon
snare strap in place. After a bit of practice
though, quick adjustability is achievable
without even having to throw off the
snare, which is a useful touch for quick
tonal changes.
In essence, these are perhaps not the
most exciting looking or sounding snare
drums I’ve come across, but once you
remember that both of them come with a
price tag of less than £200, it’s diffi cult to be
too critical of them. For the money they are
very well built and undoubtedly punch above
their weight sonically.
TUNING
True-Pitch tension rods
have a smaller thread to
allow a fi ner degree of
accuracy while tuning
VERDICT: PDP is constantly impressing
us by drawing upon quality DW
craftsmanship to create its much
more affordable ranges. These
snares certainly are a bargain for
the asking price.
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
RATING
Watch our PDP Black Wax
video demo at
http://bit.ly/blackwax
RHY248.gear_pdp.indd 109 01/10/2015 12:23