Availability: Can be found in specialty hardwood stores, but is increasingly difficult to find from a certified source.
Weight/Hardness/Density: Moderately heavy, weighing 47 pounds per cubic foot. Maple weighs 43 pounds per cubic foot.
Cost: 50% more than hard maple.
Comments: Beautiful wood! A canopy tree of around 100 feet tall with a bole of 2 to 3 feet in diameter. Increasingly scarce outside of preserves.
Timbre/Tonal Color: Dry. Very singular sounding with not many overtones in the center of the drum.
Dynamic Range: Higher volume loses dryness as more overtones kick in.
Tonal Range: Peroba has a focus on the mid and high frequencies. Three inches out from the center of the drum, it loses mid range, gains some high overtones, and sounds higher in pitch. These small "zones" of sounds occur every couple of inches as you get closer to the rim.
Tuning Range: Lowering the tuning "softens" the sound of the drum as some of the definition goes away. This drum prefers a tight tuning, but not to the extreme.
Resonance/Decay: 2 sweetspots. Small sweetspot in the center is dry and monotone. The second sweetspot is about three inches out from center and has more ring and overtones.
Cross Stick: Very tonal cross rim sound. A "woodier" sound than the Maple and a truer clave sound. Clean and defined. Unlike the Maple, the cross stick/rim was easily found.
Volume: Higher frequencies are more pronounced at higher volumes, with more over ring.
Sensitivity: This snare is tight and responsive, particularly near the center.

Comments: We like the very tonal cross stick. Excellent for gigs with lots of cross stick such as in country music. The "multi-zone" sweetspots can be either versatile or annoying, depending on the individual drummer's preferences.

By Greg Gaylord & Tommy Donlinger
Photo credit Frankie Frost