The update
Benny's first signature with Sonor has gotten an upgrade in the shell of the drum. It is still a beech snare drum but comes with a neat Bubinga wood inlay and Sonor's classy 1950's Vintage Teardrop Lugs and Sonor's Dual Glide snare strainer. The Vintage drum series, with the teardrop lugs, won Best in Show at NAMM 2015 when Sonor returned these series to the market.

The MonoRail dampener mechanism
Each of Benny's new snare drums has two MonoRail dampener mechanisms in it. A felt dampener, and a sheep-dampener. The felt cover the traditional way of dampening and the sheep has a more woolly muffled touch.

The best feature of these internal snare dampeners is the Monorail system Benny and Sonor invented. Seemingly easy, the monorails inside the snare push straight against the drumhead without any leverage. It is a push and pull system that gives direct results, as you can see Benny demonstrate in the video.

Why is Benny only unscrewing three lugs in this demo?
Because it is about muffling, sound effects, and sound scapes that you can also create with the Monorail system. On tone it really doesn't matter if your snare drum is tuned that well once you start playing around with the effects the Monorail systems provide. Benny shows some cool extremes when using both the felt and the sheep dampeners.

Benny's new signature Brass
As if the upgrade on the beech snare wasn't already enough, an all-new 13" x 5,75" Brass model is added to Benny's signature line. This brass model also features the Monorail dampening system.

Let's watch Benny demo his new snares first. All the details of the snares are below the video. And they are pretty handsome!

Benny Greb shows and demos his new Sonor snare drums

Fun facts

• It is exactly 10 years since Benny's first signature snare was launched
  
• Just a few months earlier, Benny's 20" Signature Sandride from Meinl came out
  
• At NAMM 2020, Meinl launched sandblasted hihat tambourines (image below)

Benny Greb's snare drum specs

Benny Greb Signature Snare Drum #1

• wood: beech
  
• finish: a scandinavian birch veneer, semi-gloss with centered "Bubinga" inlay.
  
• construction: 9 plies (5mm)
  
• hardware: chrome plated, vintage Teardrop lugs
  
• diameter: 13", depth: 5.75"
  
• features: MonoRail dampener and Dual Glide strainer
  
• item no. 11173801

Benny Greb Signature Snare Drum #2

• material: brass
  
• finish: vintage brass, with lasered centered stripe
  
• construction: 1.2mm shell
  
• hardware: chrome plated, vintage Teardrop lugs
  
• diameter: 13", depth: 5.75"
  
• Also features the MonoRail dampener and Dual Glide strainer
  
• item no. 11173901

Benny Greb plays

• Sonor drums
  
• Meinl cymbals & percussion
  
• Remo drumheads
  
• Vic Firth signature drumsticks (Vic Firth SBG)

"These snares are absolutely incredible and something I am truly proud of and grateful for."
- Benny Greb