For complete details on the Supra I'd recommend Kirk Higgin's Supra Article . One thing that crops up when selecting a Ludwig snare is the option of a conventional strainer (Supraphonic) or the more complex parallel strainer which uses longer snare wires that span the entire bottom head (Super Sensitive). Both have advantages and I'll discuss that here (as per my own personal findings) since there seems to be a lot of debate about the pros and cons.
Rule number 1: Buy a decent Square Case for a Super Sensitive!
The second issue is setting up, SS's are notorious for being fiddly in that respect whereas the Supra strainer is relatively easy. On the Supra we have a solidly mounted plate to hold the wires on one side, and a very simple strainer at the other. On the SS, the wires can be tensioned from both ends and in addition there are two adjustment screws per mechanism which can take ages to setup. I personally tune each screw and carefully listen to the wires whilst doing ghost notes and let my ears be the best guide. Always check the shell where the mechanisms meet it for dents, straightness in the mech arms and wear in the moving mechanism parts on an SS otherwise the wires will be suspended out of alignment and you may never get rid of unwanted snare wire buzz! This can also be caused by stretched wires of course, and SS replacement wires cost a lot more than standard Supra ones! If you are having hassles with your SS mechanism see my help page for details on a possible cure.
After hearing
conflicting arguments
about the sound I went
to silly lengths to
find out for myself the
answer to that! I got
hold of a very nice 402
Supra and after a time
a nice 411 SS (both
were 14"X6.5")! After a
complete strip down and
rebuild on both (any
minor faults were
corrected at this
point) I fitted them
with brand new
identical heads and
tuned them exactly the
same. First impressions
were both sounded good
and there wasn't a lot
in it, the SS being
slightly more sensitive
as expected, almost military sounding on gentle rolls. The more I
listened over next few
days the more I started
to notice very subtle
differences. The SS had
slightly more presence
and top end cut than
the Supra thanks to the longer wires and all the
fiddling to get the Super's
mechanism nicely setup was
well worth doing in my
opinion. I tried to get
the Supra to have the
same bite by changing
the tuning and wire
tension but never
managed it. I have
since tried other
Supras and they aren't
quite as snappy either.
I think those
differences might give
an edge on a recording,
for live playing either
will get the job done
well. One final point is that in my experience the Super Sensitives don't suffer the dreaded "backing off" problem on the snare wire tension when played hard anything like the Supras. It seems to affect the P85 in particular which lead me to have a look at the Supra strainers. The 60's P83 strainer was superior in my opinion because it used a steel metal front with a brass threaded receiver for the tension control threaded rod, the 70's drums used a P85 which used a soft casting which was directly threaded. Pot metal castings aren't really very durable for that purpose. The harder surface will wear the softer one so the steel thread on the tension control wins out whilst the casting gets worn and sloppy. After a while you will end up with a strainer which will not hold the tension particularly well if subjected to vibration from heavy playing.
Left: P83 Strainer front with brass threaded receiver. This was a better idea than... middle: P85 pot metal strainer front casting / threaded receiver which doesn't wear too well. Right: I play fairly hard at times so to stop the dreaded "backing off" of the snare wire tension that P85's suffer I added a locknut and washer. Just dial in the tension you want, hold the strainer knob and lock the nut... easy!
It seems Ludwig have noticed there may be a problem with this strainer too and their solution is this:
Finally, a couple of pointers when reassembling either type of these drums... use wadding under the springs (cotton wool strips work fine), it stops them rattling against the lug casing and therefore eliminates this unwanted background noise. Every Supra I've seen has suffered from this! If an old Imperial threaded screw has ripped out the lug casing I use an M5 tap to make a fresh thread due to the wide availablity of Metric screws here in England, it leaves enough meat in the casting and gets the job done.
Conclusion: Supras are far easier to setup, will withstand knocks on the road better, replacement wires are cheaper, and they sound virtually the same as an SS. Most people will stick with a Supra over an SS for those reasons and they are both fine drums at the end of the day. It all depends on whether you think a weeny bit more cut in the sound is worth all the fiddling and that is all down to personal choice!
My next theory was to take that lively SS and make it bite harder!
Due to machining tolerances when the shells were spun years ago some Ludwigs definitely bark a bit better than others whether they are a Supra or SS. I've tested a fair few of these and found it to be true, you get the odd one that does have a tiny bit "extra" in the sound in the same way that hand made cymbals of the same model can be lined up and have slightly different characteristics. This SS definitely falls into that category to my ears and is very lively (more so than three other identical 6.5 SS type drums I have rebuilt and tested). An experiment I have never tried personally but have read about is that if you strip a bunch of Ludwig Supras to shells only and tap them the note produced between the same looking shells can often vary in pitch. This reasonant characteristic will form part of the drum's sound when fully built and played and is usually subtle. It's the same principle as the hoop experiment elsewhere on the site. If you get hold of a Supra or SS that "has it" be wary of letting it go because the next one you buy might not!
The next thing I did
was to put on a vintage
die cast 10 lug Gretsch
top hoop on it to give
the rim shots more
focus and attack and it
certainly did the
trick, ear plugs are
recommended...! One
thing to remember with
die cast hoops is they
have a slight muffling
effect and can dry out
a drum slightly (I was
warned that the old die
cast Ludwig ones are
quite heavy and can dry
out a drum a lot). Some
folks like that kind of
thing and some don't, a
compromise between a
normal top hoop and a
die cast would be
something like a Pearl
Superhoop (chrome over
steel 2.3 mm
thickness). You'll notice I left the bottom hoop as standard, this was to avoid drying out the drum too much. I have since tried out a set of PS-1416 Puresound wires on the drum, soundwise they are not as bright as the originals but slightly fatter and heavier. I do think I prefer the bright crispy Ludwig wires though.
