FYI,

i tried a friend's snare that had a nice "honk" to it.  instantly reminded me of Alex Van Halen's honk.  so, with his no name steel shelled snare he found in the garbage, he had on a rather heavy weight Aquarian Focus X, tuned rather midway.  then his resonant side was tuned what he called a 3rd pitch below the batter head.  tighten snare wires to taste, and instant honk!  i actually loved the tones he got with that snare, and am lookin' for a no name of my own to try it out.  

hope this helps.