What Sonor Should You Buy (or recommend) First?

[Jules]

You have ONE shot at getting your buddy to buy a piece of Sonor gear and it has to count. He has to really "get it" with the Sonor brand and this single purchase is going to make or break his Sonor future. What are you trying to talk him into?

[James Fullier III]

So it won't break the bank on his first try, any of the 90's German drums including the Sonic and first gen S-Class.,,

Force Maple is a sleeper killer.

[drummermark]

I would maybe point someone towards any of the Kompressor Snares. If budget allows it, then maybe one of the Momentum Snares.

[Jack]

If it was in budget, I would have said Delite/Prolite.

[Scott_M]

I would maybe point someone towards any of the Kompressor Snares. If budget allows it, then maybe one of the Momentum Snares.

I think we're on the same page here as far as snares.

My ranges are price/budget descriptors only.
New stuff:
For "budget" - AQ2 (steel/maple)
For "midline" - Kompressor (aluminum/brass)
For "upper-end" - Momentum or Vintage if you don't want to custom order, and SQ2 for the personalized one...

For kits, I would shift that a little
"Budget/Entry" - AQX (surprisingly good overall build quality, and sound better than you'd expect for their price point compared to the competition)
"Midline" - AQ2
"Upper-end" - Momentum, Vintage, or SQ2...

For used,
I wouldn't want to go any older than early/mid-80's just due to parts availability (and even then some can be a pain to find). But Phonic, Performer/Panther, Lite, or Hilite would be my recommendation. The Performer's D456 still kicks the snot out of any other snare drum in the same class, and my Hilite snare never ceases to impress me with it's sound and ease of tuning...