Tama LGB146-NQB Sound Lab Snare

I'm using this snare on my prog rock project, where, I think, its sound shines the best. It's such a beautiful, gorgeous sounding instrument, it'll likely be your main snare for decades.

Quite a loud, powerful snare, with an unbelievable clarity at all volumes, due to the thickness of the shell (10mm) and the density of bubinga wood. regardless of how you tune the heads, it feels quite strong and sturdy when you play it... but, surprisingly, also soft and very giving, it's a joy to play. the stick bounces nice and easy, and rim-clicks have a fantastic definition and low-end tone.

the tone is dark, dry, rich and very clean. the low-end is very pleasant and cuts through the rest of the music. the drum has a nice crack to it if you tune the reso head. a very resonant drum, it produces a harmonious, musical ring.
I'm very satisfied.

Cons: It's a very dominant drum around the kit and I have a little trouble getting the volume low as low as i'd like it when I play acoustic or jazz, despite it's great sensitivity. the stock wires buzz quite a bit unless you really tighten them a lot.

I had never seen one of these snare drums in the flesh but had read some reviews on them.
As I was looking for a new kit and wanted the toms mounted on the bass drum I decided on the Tama SLP G Bubinga kit and so ordered the snare to match.
I am blown away with the kit and the sound from the snare is about as good as I have ever heard.
The drum was so easy to tune which must be down to the quality of the shell, I have been playing Tama drums for a number of years now and didn't think anything could top my old Starclassic Maple kit, wrong - this is even better, fantastic drum!!