gonna buy a bass drum practice pad, opinions wanted!

J

JamesLyrie-Stewart

Junior Member
i'm living in an apartment house, thus im greatly limited in practice drumming on my real drum kit. im learning double bass drum and i need lots of exercise. thus i really need a practice pad. ive seen Pearl's BD10 and DW's Steve Smith bass drum pad on Amazone.com, and both seem very convincingly good. but ive never used it and i don't know the feel they produce. So has anyone used one of the pad? please tell me if it's good enough! also, I've heard that Gibraltar GBDP bass drum pad is good, but i've never heard of this brand before....if only somebody can tell me! P.S. i own a pair of Pearl Demon Drive. Thanks! :D
 
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My experience with the DW wasn't so good: squeaked a lot and not very stable. For me, the Gibraltar is much better: feels more like a real bass drum, doesn't squeak, very stable. I've had very experienced instructors recommend using a bass pad from an e-kit: more expensive but better feel and more stable.
 
rdb said:
For me, the Gibraltar is much better: feels more like a real bass drum, doesn't squeak, very stable.
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Agreed. I'm not a fan of the Pearl pads for that very reason (haven't played the DW but it looks to be very similar). It is just far too hard and feels nothing at all like a bass drum head. I find there is a little more give with the Gibraltar style pads that makes the transfer from pad to bass drum a lot easier: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/gibraltar-gbdp-bass-drum-pad
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
Agreed. I'm not a fan of the Pearl pads for that very reason (haven't played the DW but it looks to be very similar). It is just far too hard and feels nothing at all like a bass drum head. I find there is a little more give with the Gibraltar style pads that makes the transfer from pad to bass drum a lot easier: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/gibraltar-gbdp-bass-drum-pad
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2nd, 3rd this one. You can even replace the pad. Close to real feel too.
 
I've got the Gibraltar one and it feels great but it's def noisier than something harder and solid like the pearl.
 
Not a stand-alone pad, but I'm using a SoundOff bass silencer on one of my bass drums:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--HHQSOBASS

If you mount it so it's not touching the head, it's really quiet. Gives a pretty decent feel, allows you to use your normal bass drum, and if you mount it so it just touches the head, you get a quieter version of your normal bass sound.
I like it.
 
I've only tried the pearl and the gibraltar. Definitely prefer the gibraltar due to the feel. The pearl felt too bouncy for me. Was easier for me to move to the real bass drum after practicing on a gibraltar than after the pearl.
 
I've used the Pearl one and the DW one. I prefer the DW one. I've never had the squeaking issue someone described above, and the fold up feature is nice if you ever need to pack it away in a trap case or something. Makes it much much smaller.

And if you've never heard of Gibraltar, I'd suggest you look at them more often. They make excellent products, and some of my favorite hardware is from them.
 
I have the Gibraltar one. If you use plastic beaters, stick something on the pad to protect it (a regular kick patch would be perfect). My plastic beaters seemed to heat up, soften, and then wear away at the rubber.

I also practice pretty hard so had to attach a 1kg dumbbell weight to the top of the pad to make it more stable. Not that I had any major problems with stability to start with, just my preference.
 
Another vote for the Gibraltar pad. It's by far the best one i've used. I keep one under my desk at work.
 
This for 5 $ and couple hours of work... ;p

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Dont laugh but I use it in Camping to practice when away from the kit...

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Sorry for bumping an old thread, kind of.
What you guys think about the HQ Real Feel (made by Evans, by the way) bass drum practice pad? Seems like the perfect one for me.
 
Cameo said:
Sorry for bumping an old thread, kind of.
What you guys think about the HQ Real Feel (made by Evans, by the way) bass drum practice pad? Seems like the perfect one for me.
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Same construction as the Pearl and DW pads......way too hard for my tastes. Nothing at all like a bass drum IMHO.

Try before you buy.
 
Pocket-full-of-gold said:
Try before you buy.
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Still the main problem, my friend.
I live in nowhere, almost, only rich old people around here, and all girls from the big citys in Sweden spending their vacation on the beach here.

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Färjestaden, that's where I lay my head. In Kalmar there's a music store but mainly guitars. I've got to check that one more time. Crazy prices with all taxes and charges.
 
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