Review: Pearl Caixa (12" Snare)

I recently cleared-house on a ton of random percussion (stuff listed here and stuff just given away and stuff sold extra-cheap at the shop) and actually bought myself a new snare to have around for recording and jams. The ones I've liked best have been lightweight or wood-shelled and smaller in diameter, so when I came across this 12" wood-shelled snare from Pearl's "Brazilian percussion" line, I said, "hmmm..."

It's called a caixa (ky-shuh) and it's a simple snare drum (I like vanilla when it comes to any sort of drum) and came with both a shoulder strap (these are often used in street drum bands down there) and a tuning wrench. The heads are textured and the texture seems to be applied to the top rather than "sprayed-on" so I have a feeling it'll hold up well.

Let me admit the fact that because this comes in bright, excellent colors, my kids also expressed a little favoritism while browsing-around for a new toy.

 

After going through 3 or 4 different sets of brushes over the last few years, I gave these Regal Ultraflex brushes a chance and I have to say I really, really like them. They're also not so "pokey" on kids' eyes, don't "bend out" the way roughly-treated wire brushes will (you know who you are, brush-borrowers!), and have less of a wide arc which means you can be a bit more precise about how and where you land them.

Aside from tuning the head to my preferences, my only other mod was to drill a hole in a popsicle stick, mount it internally to one of the throw-off's brackets, and wedge a bit of foam between the end of the stick and the heads on either side of it. This makes an effective -- and very cheap -- way to dampen overtones.