Dixon snare presentation no. 3
Drummers and Drummerettes! Mesdames et Messieurs! We are about to present to you one more result of our testing efforts as well as our opinion of yet another instrument from Dixon Drums, all of which was commissioned by the official Polish Dixon distributor – the Soundtrade company.
After the Dixon Artisan PDSAR654NMDW, it is time for one more snare drum bearing a symbol which is rather difficult to memorize, i.e. the Dixon Artisan PDSAR554HB2. However, if you dig a bit deeper, you will find there’s a method to this “madness”. For instance, ‘AR’ stands for Artisan, ’55’ means the actual depth of the shell (5.5″), ‘4’ refers to the diameter (14″), the letters ‘HB’ indicate a hybrid shell, while ‘2’ suggests which finish it is (there are only two and Matrix Green is the other one).
Oblivious to the events of the outside world, barred inside Perlazza Studio, guarded by Przemysław ‘Perła’ Wejmann – the establishment’s drum-crazed owner and master producer/sound engineer, we made a comprehensive (hopefully) presentation/test with a view to showing everything this instrument has to offer to a player.
Let’s feast our eyes first, as there is quite a lot to contemplate. The snare drum is nicely crafted, flawlessly varnished and chromed, the tension rods or the throw-off mechanism should give its owner no headache whatsoever. The huge badge is really handsome and the finish… Matrix Green! Simply beautiful! It will make you look so cool at the biggest and most prestigious gigs (preferably televised) or in a music video. It’s high time we went over to the main course, which is checking what this beauty can do sonically.
The settings presented in the clip are as follows:
- Low tuning (D) – no dampening (rudiments) / dampening with 2 moongels (rudiments),
- Medium tuning (F#) – no dampening (rudiments) / dampening with 2 moongels (rudiments),
- High tuning (A) – no dampening (rudiments) / dampening with 2 moongels (rudiments),
- Low tuning (D) – no dampening (groove) / dampening with 2 moongels (groove),
- Medium tuning (F#) – no dampening (groove) / dampening with 2 moongels (groove),
- High tuning (A) – no dampening (groove) / dampening with 2 moongels (groove),
- Low tuning (D) – with snares off
- Medium tuning (F#) – with snares off
- High tuning (A) – with snares off
- Low tuning (D) – rim only.
Instrument specs:
- Model: Dixon Artisan PDSAR554HB2
- Size: 14″ x 5.5″
- Material: oak (6 plies + 2 with a steel enforcement ring)
- Shell thickness: 5.5 mm (wood) + 2.5 mm (enforcement ring)
- Bearing edge angle: 45°
- Hardware: black nickel
- Hoops: Die Cast Hoops
- Lugs: full length, tube type
- Number of tension rods: 10
- Heads: Evans G1 Coated (top), Evans SS Clear (bottom)
- Finish: Matrix Green.
Such a thorough approach should give you the opportunity to get acquainted with this snare’s characteristics virtually in every setting variation. No band to present the instrument mixed with other tracks, though. We still dare say the treatment we gave the Dixon Artisan PDSAR554HB2 draws a fairly big picture…
Here are Maciej ‘Blindman’ Głuchowski’s impressions as the ‘tester’: “It’s a very loud and aggressive snare, ideal for rock and metal. Sounds good in medium and high tuning. Great ghost-note exposition.“
Drummers and Drummerettes! We give you the Dixon Artisan PDSAR554HB2 snare drum!
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