Anika Nilles has teamed up with TAMA to produce a new signature snare.
The manufacturers have been working with the Rush drummer for a couple of years, developing the AN1465 snare. According to TAMA, during the course of refining the drum, Nilles focused on three things: a deep low end “that enhances her expressive range”, clear snare wire definition that “preserves every note even in the most intricate passages” and a look “that reflects her lifelong love for vintage snares.”
The finished product is 14” in diameter, has an aluminium shell for added resonance and a 6.5” depth for increased low end. It also has a large inside muffler that’s toggleable to give you a generous amount of dampening.
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Nilles and TAMA have put a video up on YouTube in which the German drummer explains the process of developing the drum. It involved testing out over 50 different snares in the firm’s distribution centre to identify the various traits she wanted in her signature model.
“It was very important to me to have a bigger range of tuning options so the snare works in different music styles,” she explains, “not just in my personal one. I also played for other artists so it’s important to me that this snare has a wide range of options. So it works for rock music and soul and funk and pop, for everything.”
In terms of its look, Nilles said that she was inspired by a vintage Imperial Star snare she owns. “We chose some lugs that have this kind of look. So it’s a modern-sounding snare but its look is vintage.” The Rush drummer also personally designed the badge, which she’s previously used on some of her drum heads and cymbals.
If that sounds like your bag, the AN1465 retails at $849.99 and is already available through Reverb.
Nilles is, of course, currently out with Rush on the band’s 50 Something reunion tour. Taking the place of the late Neil Peart, by all accounts she’s excelled in what most observers would describe as an exceptionally tough gig. The tour runs through to next April and in the last few days additional shows have been confirmed next month for Houston, Cincinnati, St Louis and Pittsburgh.
