What happened to internal mufflers on snare drums and toms? Apparently, there were complaints that they sometimes came loose and rattled (never happened to me). And they didn’t allow for ultra-fine tone control (never needed that level of control). I really like an internal muffler and usually added just a little bit to eliminate a small amount of ring (overtones). But are there internal drum muffler alternatives?
Basically, I am stuck with Moongel or a tone control (multi-ply) drum head. I do not like stuff stuck on my snare head because it interferes with brush work and frankly makes the drum look cheap. So goodbye Remo Coated Ambassador which I have used for years on drums that had an internal muffler. Now I use Aquarian Focus X Coated, Evans Genera or Evans Genera Dry heads. These are great drum heads and work very well. I’m not complaining about that. But with internal mufflers I could use any drum head I wanted. Plus have the ability to control the amount of overtone ring. Once again I am from the “old school”.
External Drum Muffler
The other day I ran across an external clip on drum muffler that I really like. The Drum Clip. It comes in regular and small. I have used both sizes as needed. There is also a rubber or felt adhesive pad that can be added. It has a small profile on the head which can easily be avoided using brushes. So now I am able to use a non-tone control head and just add a Drum Clip. It stays securely on the top or bottom rim and is small enough to stay on the drum when put in a case. Another side benefit is it can also serve as a “rash” saver pad between the snare drum rim and rack tom shell.
UPDATE: Recently, I have started using SnareWeight M1 and M80 From their website: What is an M1, or M80? M1 is our smallest “starter” damper. The M80 is our largest “starter” damper. The M1 was originally designed as an entry level model but moved quickly into becoming a go-to for some industry professionals. By placing the magnet in the center of the leather and using our patented clip to secure it to any metal hoop (1/4 wood hoops too!), we found we could easily flip the damper on and off the head for tuning and even shrink the surface area of the damper with the same magnet! This turned out to be a great addition to our expressive damper line. We’re now adding a larger model, the M80.
You may also want to see: Fixing Difficult Snare Drums