Which drum practice pad set should I get?

January 14, 2008 11:23 PM

Any experiences with drum practice pad sets? After moving into a small apartment and considering my options, I've decided to get a practice pad set. These are two sets that I'm considering: Remo and DW. Anyone know anything about these, or others? Thanks!
posted by k7lim to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

My son has the first one you linked - he keeps it at his dad's house for practice, since his dad lives in a townhouse with neighbors on each side. He's used it both on the third floor in a small bedroom, and in the (underground) first floor. It sounds a little louder than playing an electronic kit, but they've asked the neighbors and no one has ever heard anything. He (my son) says that the adjustable placement is good, as is the "feel".
posted by ersatzkat at 3:46 AM on January 15, 2008

I've played on the Remo set you linked and I didn't like it as much as more "rubbery" types of pads. The Remo set consists of basically "real" drum heads over a stiff pad and I found that the action is rather dead in that pad. I much preferred a single practice pad I had (just to put on a tabletop) that was basically a solid block of rubber- the bounciness was much closer to a real snare or cymbal and I found it more conducive to practicing fundamentals.
posted by rxrfrx at 5:12 AM on January 15, 2008

My husband has a Yamaha DXT (don't know the model number) that I couldn't find after a short search. He loves it. Absolutely, positively loves it. It's nice and bouncy and has a good feel. It isn't any louder than a practice pad. When he's in the basement, I cannot hear him on the next floor at all. If you'd like, I can find out the model number.
posted by cooker girl at 6:42 AM on January 15, 2008

My younger brother is a pretty accomplished drummer. He (after serious nagging from my Dad) needed to look into practice pads for in the house and after much trying and poking (and, re, hitting) decided on a second-hand electronic set.

One reason was the feel was better (he said similar to rxrfrx's comment) and it also allowed him to do more. It actually only (?) ended up costing around twice what the practice set did, but became much more than twice as useful to him. Something to consider. He got a pretty decent set, actually (Roland) although he struck lucky and bought it from his old drum teacher because she was upgrading. You can see some crappy shots of it here:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/35237093706@N01/7ZAGJS
posted by Brockles at 7:03 AM on January 15, 2008

Oh, I guess I should have said that my husband's set is just that: an electronic set. Much like Brockles' brother's set.
posted by cooker girl at 7:08 AM on January 15, 2008

Definitely go to a store and try to play on any models you're considering. The level of bounciness makes a big difference if you're trying to play anything especially intricate or quick. I actually grew to prefer the feel of my super-bouncy practice pads - real drums felt sort of muddy after I got used to the practice pads.
posted by vytae at 7:26 AM on January 15, 2008

Do you already own a kit? From your question I am not sure if you are looking for a way to practice quietly or a way to save space. If it's the former, you might try mesh heads (aka muffle heads) for your drums and pads for the cymbals. I have a set of mesh heads from Pearl on my kit, and they're great. It feels like I'm really playing (whereas I find the pads you can put on top of the drums to feel kind of dead and be not very quiet), and they're so quiet you can't hear them from the next room.

However, if you're asking for space reasons, this is totally unhelpful, sorry!
posted by min at 10:05 AM on January 16, 2008