drum - dunnett 6.5x13 Titanium in raw finish, with all black powder-coated hardware including nickel strainer and butt; tension rods are chrome; puresound 16 strand snare wires. aquarian classic coated batter, classic clear snare side head.

More photos are available from http://www.mcs.kent.edu/~jmelnyk/drumpics/snares/dunnett

i don't have TOO much to say about the sound of this drum that hasn't been said before. and i can't describe sound well, so i'll keep this short. basically, the sound of this drum is like no metal drum i've ever heard. it doesn't ring alot, but its not incredibly dry either. the articulation is absolutely perfect. sensitivity is as well - in fact, i will have to work on my chops a bit with this one, because you can hear everything. there's no choking when hit very hard, dead center and all rolls come through clean and clear when played very lightly at the edges.

what more can you ask for? tone: again, its like no other metal drum i've ever played. there is absolutely no objectionable ring like most metal snares. the ring is just perfect. and there's something very maple-ish about it when you really started hitting it. the rimshots in particular remind me alot of my maple shelled drums - only louder and more ear-splitting. and everything seems to blend together a little better than with maple-shelled drums; very smoothly, in fact. its a very warm and very full sound.

basically, its the sort of drum that you CAN'T stop playing once you start. and when away from it, all you do is think about playing it again. you keep wanting to hear that voice again. its very inspiring. i didn't do too much with head tension. i brought it down a bit but never brought it up too high. it seems a like the tuning range is fairly limited (compared to my brady) but nothing near what most production snares are (dw, tama, pearl, etc.) that i've played. again, i didn't try tuning too much, so i could be wrong about this. again, i can't describe sound well.

but sofar, i absolutely love it. usually, it takes me a day or two to decide completely whether or not i like a drum - just seeing how it reacts to me, i guess. but this one i loved right away (after a few minutes of testing it out, i came up from the drum room and asked my fiancee "when are you leaving?").

i had never played a dunnett before, i just went on the reviews here (thanks!), the sound links on ronn's site, rob schuh's dvd and one other fact - i bought a spirit snare off of rob that sounds fantastic; he sold it because it didn't sound as good as his dunnett Ti; so i figure if it sounds better than the spirit (at least in someone's opinion), its worth a shot. i just want to state for anyone interested in splurging on the Ti, its well worth the cash - you'll forget about it the moment you start playing!

joe