50/50 in my opinion....very hard to tell. Have both COB with bat red felt mufflers and the 3/4" round. Bearing edges are difficult to tell by photo, but both of mine are rolled if that helps. Either way, a pre- serial Ludaloy shelled supra with no pitting is well worth the money! Have never seen one so with the experience, would say COB. Great find and a fantastic snare in my opinion. Please keep us posted!

Nevin

I have a supra with the COB hoops (standard issue until approx. 1965) red BB muffler, no serial number, crimped beds, almost zero pitting, and an aluminum shell.

Looking at your photos again I think I can see the lip curve back meaning it's a COB shell but it's tough to tell with anything but close up pictures. I'll cross my fingers for you.

I also have a transition badge Super...a great snare drum. I thought I'd found another one when I first ran across the drum mentioned above but it was not to be. Still a very nice snare drum though.

I have a pre-serial, crimped bed, brass hooped, red felt LUDALLOY. It's all about the weight, I've also got a Shelly Manne cob snare that is WAY heavier. If you pickup a brass snare you'll know it.

Oh, and by the way my ludalloy supra kicks a$$!

I'll throw my speculation into the ring:

This drum is brass. 100%. Know why? Someone replaced the batter hoop with a die cast hoop. Why would they do that? Because brass is very, very ringy. If the seller doesn't know what this is, then he also probably thinks it rings too dang much and threw a DCH on there to tame it.

That's my theory, and I think it's a sound one. :)

Hey man, that's very interesting and I hope you're right. :)

I have a modern drum, I wont name what brand it is, but the thing weighs a tonne because it has die cast hoops. Remove the hoops and it weighs nothing. I think it's like a 3 ply shell or something. All the weight is on those hoops. I've got NOB hoops on an old WFL and holding them they don't feel too much heavier than COS hoops. Are the Supraphonic / Super Ludwig COB hoops much heavier than the later Ludwig COS hoops?

Not that I've ever noticed, You pretty much have to use a magnet to tell them apart as they outwardly look the same.

The snare-side hoop looks different too with the dropped snare gates, but you're right - top hoops all look alike.

and...for a very short period of time, there were some drop gate versions that were steel and also some brass hoops with the straight non-dropped gate. definitely a transitional thing in the mid 60's.

mike

Concur with Heraldo.