Sonor and Coffee with Jules - December 8, 2025

[Jules]

[drummermark]

Here in the Chicago suburbs we have Mike’s Drum Shop for all things Sonor. I plan to stop in there this week and will see what’s out on the floor. I know he has some ProLite snares and has had everything from AQ2 to SQ2 available. He also recently took in a used S Classix but not sure if that’s still around.

[Jules]

Good guy. I don’t know him well, but I know of him.

[Scott_M]

Here in the Chicago suburbs we have Mike’s Drum Shop for all things Sonor. I plan to stop in there this week and will see what’s out on the floor. I know he has some ProLite snares and has had everything from AQ2 to SQ2 available. He also recently took in a used S Classix but not sure if that’s still around.

I just snagged one of those Prolites (14x6 Snow Tiger). Should show up in the next couple days. Very excited to see how it compares to the other snares in my collection.

I don't make it out to Chicago (from Minneapolis) that often, but Mike's has very quickly become one of my places that I "have to stop in" anytime I'm in the area. Memorial Day weekend I was literally passing through on a Saturday and stopped in. I went in looking for a 14x6.5 aluminum Kompressor. I left with one of those AND a 4pc Oak Phonic kit.

The man is a very bad influence on my credit card...

Joking aside, for Sonor dealers, Mike and Sam are my top choice. One or the other is going to be able to get me what I want/need, and at a decent price too. Add in their level of brand, product (past and present), and community knowledge, and you really have no reason to go anywhere else.

[drummermark]

Here in the Chicago suburbs we have Mike’s Drum Shop for all things Sonor. I plan to stop in there this week and will see what’s out on the floor. I know he has some ProLite snares and has had everything from AQ2 to SQ2 available. He also recently took in a used S Classix but not sure if that’s still around.

I just snagged one of those Prolites (14x6 Snow Tiger). Should show up in the next couple days. Very excited to see how it compares to the other snares in my collection.

I don't make it out to Chicago (from Minneapolis) that often, but Mike's has very quickly become one of my places that I "have to stop in" anytime I'm in the area. Memorial Day weekend I was literally passing through on a Saturday and stopped in. I went in looking for a 14x6.5 aluminum Kompressor. I left with one of those AND a 4pc Oak Phonic kit.

The man is a very bad influence on my credit card...

Joking aside, for Sonor dealers, Mike and Sam are my top choice. One or the other is going to be able to get me what I want/need, and at a decent price too. Add in their level of brand, product (past and present), and community knowledge, and you really have no reason to go anywhere else.

Agree with all the above and duuuude! Was planing to look at that snow tiger prolite tomorrow. Good snag! If you ever decide to part ways with it, hit me up.

[Scott_M]

Agree with all the above and duuuude! Was planing to look at that snow tiger prolite tomorrow. Good snag! If you ever decide to part ways with it, hit me up.

He had 2 when I ordered mine. You may want to call and see if they still have the other one left and if they can set it aside for you to check out tomorrow when you make it in...

[drummermark]

Agree with all the above and duuuude! Was planing to look at that snow tiger prolite tomorrow. Good snag! If you ever decide to part ways with it, hit me up.

He had 2 when I ordered mine. You may want to call and see if they still have the other one left and if they can set it aside for you to check out tomorrow when you make it in...

Thanks for the notice! I think I saw your drum just a bit ago in a FB group. Looks sharp!

[Scott_M]

Thanks for the notice! I think I saw your drum just a bit ago in a FB group. Looks sharp!

Yeah, I was so excited to try it out that I haven't even take the tags off yet

Out of the box, onto the stand, and played the **** out of it for an hour. Sounds awesome with just a tiny tweak to the tuning and snare tension - less than 1/8 turn on the top and 3 clicks on the dual-glide to "crispen" things up a touch.

I'm looking forward to see what this sounds like with the Black Swamp cable snares. Gonna need to swap the bottom hoop out for either the open gate Protean hoop, or maybe swap the die casts from my SQ2 just to see how it likes those...

Sorry Jules - didn't mean to derail the discussion. This is a perfect example of why shops having a good selection of gear on the floor is a big motivator for people to come in. The 2 places here "that can get German Sonor stuff" don't have much of anything other than maybe a small handful of snares and they don't seem particularly eager to get much more of the German made stuff on the floor.

I'm actually willing to make the 6-7 hour road trip if I know Mike's got something on the floor/in stock that I really want to see. I was trying to figure out how to make the drive to get one of these, but the weather wasn't particularly agreeable for a 14+ hour round trip on a Saturday. Instead, I trusted Mike to pick which one he had in stock for me, and I'm very happy with the result.

[Jules]

Derail the discussion, Scott? I am here to talk about Sonor. Seems like we are still on topic, to me!

[drummermark]

Thanks for the notice! I think I saw your drum just a bit ago in a FB group. Looks sharp!

Yeah, I was so excited to try it out that I haven't even take the tags off yet

Out of the box, onto the stand, and played the **** out of it for an hour. Sounds awesome with just a tiny tweak to the tuning and snare tension - less than 1/8 turn on the top and 3 clicks on the dual-glide to "crispen" things up a touch.

I'm looking forward to see what this sounds like with the Black Swamp cable snares. Gonna need to swap the bottom hoop out for either the open gate Protean hoop, or maybe swap the die casts from my SQ2 just to see how it likes those...

Sorry Jules - didn't mean to derail the discussion. This is a perfect example of why shops having a good selection of gear on the floor is a big motivator for people to come in. The 2 places here "that can get German Sonor stuff" don't have much of anything other than maybe a small handful of snares and they don't seem particularly eager to get much more of the German made stuff on the floor.

I'm actually willing to make the 6-7 hour road trip if I know Mike's got something on the floor/in stock that I really want to see. I was trying to figure out how to make the drive to get one of these, but the weather wasn't particularly agreeable for a 14+ hour round trip on a Saturday. Instead, I trusted Mike to pick which one he had in stock for me, and I'm very happy with the result.

I appreciate the excitement! Also, I had to Google Black Swamp cable snare wires. Been doing this for 40 years and still learning new things. Thanks for that!

Not sure if there’s an appropriate place on this forum for it, but would love to hear some sound samples with your different snare wire and hoop options.