Before Purchasing a set of Keller Vintage Mahogany shells I thought I would try something made of African Mahogany 1st, and I was totally blown away by the Blue Blood sound of this snare drum. I never thought after 40 plus years that I would ever hear a snare drum that could compete with a Black Beauty or an LM411 Super Sensitive, but sure enough this Baby Rips. The only thing that shocked me was the dirt cheap price of it. The Quality far exceeds the price, which is another rarity today. Last but not least, I swore I would Never buy anything from Pearl, Tama, or Yamaha decades ago because of thier distasteful, rude and crude 3 inch holes they used to drill into the bass drums for tom mounts. They refused to offer Virgin Bass Drums at the time (A Long Time), Well never say never! This Signature snare drum is now in my Top 5. Hats Off to Hakim!

This is the best snare I have ever played and I will surely be buying in the near future.

The sensitivity has got to be the best feature about this drum. Every hit, whether it were an accent or a ghost note, had amazing clarity with good penetration while still having a nice rounded tone and some really strong attack. Even when setting the drum to a higher tuning and being a 13" snare, the low tones are well presented thanks to the mahogany shell (also making it deceptively heavy when picking it up).

Only thing I can say I didn't like about this drum is the cross sticking. It doesn't have a nice clave snap to it as I found it carried too much sustain and had a bit of a "twang" like a timpani or something like that. Aside from that, absolutely amazing.

I've been playing drums for the past 30 years of my life. I've always been in the market for a snare that is capable in meeting the needs of a variety of musical sound....The Omar Hakim snare is The Bomb! Spectrum I play is jazz to alternative rock and this snare responds very well and leave you with plenty of room to play it from really soft (still retain the detail cleanness) to very hard. When mike, this drum is incredible live and I mean live and well. When people describing the 'crack' of this drum it has nothing to do with annoyance but rather a clean, sharp yet tolerable pitch with a unique roundness to it due to the subtle density of the African mahogany shell. So if maple is unaffordable (out priced usually), don't let the word mahogany discourage you cause this is a high-end designed of a snare that Pearl in their careful collaboration with Mr. Omar has produced something of rare innovation in my estimation. And on top of all that, it's really priced right. To be honest, the only reason I risked purchasing this snare was simply the name of my favorite drummer. But never the less, it was risk that was well compensated for over and over again.

I've been playing drums for the past 30 years of my life. I've always been in the market for a snare that is capable in meeting the needs of a variety of musical sound....The Omar Hakim snare is The Bomb! Spectrum I play is jazz to alternative rock and this snare responds very well and leave you with plenty of room to play it from really soft (still retain the detail cleanness) to very hard. When mike, this drum is incredible live and I mean live and well. When people describing the 'crack' of this drum it has nothing to do with annoyance but rather a clean, sharp yet tolerable pitch with a unique roundness to it due to the subtle density of the African mahogany shell. So if maple is unaffordable (out priced usually), don't let the word mahogany discourage you cause this is a high-end designed of a snare that Pearl in their careful collaboration with Mr. Omar has produced something of rare innovation in my estimation. And on top of all that, it's really priced right. To be honest, the only reason I risked purchasing this snare was simply the name of my favorite drummer. But never the less, it was risk that was well compensated for over and over again.

This is a loud snare, but it also has a sensitive side. I love the feel of this snare for any style of playing: I've used it for jazz, hip hop, rock, and metal, as well as plenty of things in between. Its got a powerful crack, but tuning is very important (as with any drum). I've found that this snare has a narrow tuning range, so you have to tune it high, else it will have a kinda weird feel.

Rim shots on here are intense. They cut really well, which is great in a loud setting. My one complaint is that its pretty expensive. If you can spare the cash, its a great snare.