Sonor Kompressor Snare Drum Selection

Sonor Kompressor snare drum selection

I think if you know anything about Sonor, especially since, say, the 1980s, you could really never say they were known for budget friendly drums.

Made of the highest quality? Definitely. Solid and durable? Absolutely. Bit expensive? Well, in the 1980s I remember seeing the ‘Jet Set’ kit (look it up) when it was for sale in Harrods in London and that was billed as the world’s most expensive drum kit for a good reason. Even now without value adjustment the price then makes today’s highest end kits look cheap.

Ok, that’s not to say that Sonor hasn’t ever offered something at the less pricey scale (they obviously have and do, and they’re great drums too), but what I’m getting at is you think of Sonor for its high end offerings more than anything else. It’s like saying a ‘budget’ Rolls Royce; it just doesn’t work.

But anyway, the new(ish) Kompressor series of snares – as I write this, a new beech model has also recently been added too – fit into nicely into an area I wouldn’t normally expect Sonor to be. These aren’t budget drums and they’re not expensive either; they’re more ‘working drummer’ prices.

All of the drums feature Sonor’s standard throw-off and double lugs, USA-made Remo heads, 2.3mm Power Hoops, 45’ bearing edges, Optimum Shell Measurements (undersized shell) and TuneSafe lugs. So, all good there.

Sonor has a quote on it’s website –

Versatile and comprehensive

“That’s the first thing that comes to mind about Kompressor snares.
It’s THE snare for every situation. The high quality at this price is outstanding, therefore it is so easy to tune. I have never found a first-class sound so quickly.”
and from having played these three drums, that seems to be a fairly accurate overview of what we’re looking at here.
Steel model, 14×7 version.

However, having said that, I keep coming across steel drums which change my mind. This was one of those drums; I had it on my kit for weeks because I was enjoying it so much.
The 1mm thick shell has the inherent sound of steel but I found it to be versatile at all tensionings.

Brass model, 13×7 version

This has a black nickel finish to it and so – in reality – there’s no guessing as to which way this is looking towards in that respect.

That said, the 1.2mm brass shell plays well, it’s bright and ringy and the 13” diameter meant that it had a slightly different pitch to the other two which made it stand out.

Aluminium model, 14×5.75 version

I love drums with slightly odd sizes and this was no exception.I don’t know how much the slightly increased depth adds to the sound, but the 2mm thick shell produces a bright and dry, controlled sound and reminded me of why aluminium is my favourite metal for drums.

Most of the big companies have a series of do-it-all snares, and the Kompressor range certainly to me seems to be in that vein.

The Kompressor range looks good, sounds great and best of all, won’t cost appendages to get hold of one.

They seem very solid from my time with them and my only – obviously very fixable – gripe was that the lug nearest to where I was hitting kept detuning. The fact they come ready to gig and record out of the box with the USA Remo heads is a plus and means you won’t need to spend extra to get them up to that spec.

The three drums I tried covered a lot of sonic bases. I didn’t gig them, but I know that had I done, I could have taken any one of them out and been happy with my choice.

As I mentioned, a beech version has also just been released and hopefully I’ll get to try that at some point too.