Tama Practice Pad Head Change and Modification

[@jgillott]

You are so correct about the current version of the Quiet Tone practice pad. Moving into my little apartment in Calabria, Italy, I thought it best, in respect to my neighbors, to get a quieter unit. I found and purchased the QT pad on Amazon Italy. As you stated, it is a piece of junk. It consists basically of a 10” rim, a bearing edge hoop over which a 10” mesh head is mounted. There is nothing but air between the head and metal bands that the tension rods are set through. No real supportive base. The tension rods are threaded into nylon acorn locking nuts. A wrench is needed to hold the nuts when tightening with a drum key. It was impossible to get enough tension without bending the metal bands. And the mesh head at any tension I was able to attain, was too bouncy for any practical practicing. I tried replacing the head with a Remo clear one I was able to get from Amazon. That just made the pad into a loud ringy piccolo tom or tambourine! Yeah, don’t waste your money on the product.

[@AstAMoore]

Sabian makes two Quiet Tone pads-the Classic and the Mesh. The Classic is the one with a regular mylar head. I have a slightly older version (with four feet attached to the two parallel metal supports at the bottom toward the center, rather than the newer version with six feet along the perimeter of the hoop), and it works great. I can vary the tension and get a fairly realistic rebound.

[@rickdior]

Sounds like you bought the mesh version, which is truly horrible. The classic version with a real drum head is much better, but lately, they have declined in quality.

[@davidtorras5556]

That's what I was looking for to practice rim shots. Thaks a lot Rick. Your channel is absolutely great

[@johndiraimo1444]

Nice modification Rick. The Prologix practice pads have a non-marking Poly tech rim. There are two inserts for the I one have... a textured insert for practicing brushes and a light resistance fabric one for muscle development and quiet practicing. Unfortunately, the pad itself is rubber. I like the fact that the rim doesn't markup the sticks.

[@lighttread]

Thanks for the video, Rick. Looks and sounds like a great upgrade! I am receiving this pad in a couple of months and will probably do the same thing. Question - if you don't double up on the internal foam, will the pad retain some of the snare sound from the ball bearings? not sure if you've tested the remo head with just the stock foam.

[@dexr1503]

Thanks for this Rick! This pad’s been sitting on a shelf since I bought it as I was quite disappointed with the sound and feel, after the modification it might be my favorite. I used an emperor and removed the metal plate just to make sure there’s no snare sound.

[@timcline2799]

Great mod, thinking Rick. Thank you 😊

[@AstAMoore]

Concerning the mesh heads. Not sure about the single-ply kind used to replace your mylar heads for “quieter practice,” but I used to have an electronic drum set with two-ply mesh heads, and used nylon-tip sticks. No damage to the sticks or the heads in over ten years. Naturally, nylon-tip sticks are not a solution for you or anyone who uses custom sticks, but they just might work for some people.

[@rickdior]

It's not just the sticks. Mesh heads can cause hand and elbow issues as well because of the way the stick reacts to them. I have had lots of worship drummers come to me over the years with these problems, and 99% played on the mesh head Roland drums.

[@Drumn4J2]

​@@rickdiorI wonder about hard hitters. Back c.2000 I had a modified e-drum set and a guest player beat the snot out of my snare pad (DIY pad that used a roland mesh) and broke the transducer, and another guest player who dimpled all three modified tom pads (traditional mylar heads). I wonder about their hand/wrist health. I probably didn't play on them long enough to know how it would have affected me over time.

[@AstAMoore]

@@rickdior Interesting. Never thought of the mesh heads in terms of causing actual injury. What I firmly believe in, however, is that electronic drums _ruin_ your technique, plain and simple. (Well, they did a number on mine, anyway.)

[@ferewtrette]

Hi Rick, just out of interest in the modification, is the feel more along the line of a marching snare or a drumkit snare? Thanks

[@rickdior]

Drum kit snare

[@johnmckenna1776]

Thanks Rick for this cool modification to this practice pad. I wanted to know how thick is the Yoga mat that you use to modify the pad? It seems they come in different thicknesses and I wanted to try this idea out. Also what about the Remo Ambassador X or X14 drum heads, do you think the extra thick heads would work well?

[@rickdior]

It looks to be about 3/8th's thick

[@johnmckenna1776]

@@rickdior Thanks!!

[@davidtorras5556]

Which kind of Remo head do you use in this modified pad?

[@rickdior]

A Remo Ambassador. If you watch the entire video you will see that I mention that.

[@Larry-s7v]

Any others got any solutions PLEASE lmk @my e MAIL THANKS!