i've played one and heard some clips. it has a punchy thwappiness when i heard it recorded, i assume it was tuned low. in person is was really poppy sounding.
two more suggestions for the snare dept. anything buy noble and cooley(never heard one i didnt love) and the pearl steve ferrone model has got to be one of the best sounding snares for recording heavy music, it just works for some reason. check them out.
The Black Beauty is most definitely my favorite snare, ever. I've found it to be ridiculously versatile in terms of all kinds of music, and it takes a lot of work to make it sound bad. I'll probably end up buying one to take to sessions (even though I'm not a drummer) within the next few months.
My drummer picked up a 12" maple Pacific snare, and with a couple pieces of tape on the head during tracking to kill a lot of the ring, it sounds incredible. Super snappy and to my surprise it doesn't sound small, either.