Drumtacs

2bsticks

Platinum Member
I use as little muffling as possible, maybe a piece of moon gel on my 16" floor tom. It works fine but after a while they moon gel gets pretty dirty.

I just ordered a package of Drumtacs, A bit more expensive than moon gel, $20.00 for 4 of them, plus shipping but thought I would give them a try. I hear that they are pretty good. Anyone using them yet?
 
Moon gel is washable. I'm still using the pack I bought 5 years ago.
 
Moon gel is washable. I'm still using the pack I bought 5 years ago.

I don't understand how this works. Every time I buy the stuff, I put it on my drums and it turns to goo after a while. It's not even a shape anymore, it's like all the absorption of the vibrations has turned it into mess. Washing it never helped me, and none of them lasted even a year.
 
I don't understand how this works. Every time I buy the stuff, I put it on my drums and it turns to goo after a while. It's not even a shape anymore, it's like all the absorption of the vibrations has turned it into mess. Washing it never helped me, and none of them lasted even a year.

I wonder if he lives in a cooler climate. In Texas, Moongel doesn't last too long at all.
 
I wonder if he lives in a cooler climate. In Texas, Moongel doesn't last too long at all.
+1, especially on outdoor gigs. Them things melt!

It is funny I just ran across the Drumtacs site today for the first time. I might give them a try, but I've actually been having luck with no muffling and just using Aquarian Studio-X Heads.
 
I have no issues really with moon gel and I don't use them to often, just the 16" floor tom in some places. I know you can clean the moon gel but I like the fact that the drumtacs are not tacky on both sides and appear to look much neater on the drum.
 
What's so special about Texas? I'm a few miles nearer the equator than y'all, have used Moongel in direct tropical sun, and have experienced none of the problems you describe. I suspect it's not the environment. Sounds like bad batches of gel to me.

Anyway, washing Moongel couldn't be simpler. You wash it. Under cool running water, I just gently rub at it with my fingertips until the gunk comes off. I put it on a soft cloth to dry. Takes all of ten minutes once a year or as needed.
 
What's so special about Texas? I'm a few miles nearer the equator than y'all, have used Moongel in direct tropical sun, and have experienced none of the problems you describe. I suspect it's not the environment. Sounds like bad batches of gel to me.

Anyway, washing Moongel couldn't be simpler. You wash it. Under cool running water, I just gently rub at it with my fingertips until the gunk comes off. I put it on a soft cloth to dry. Takes all of ten minutes once a year or as needed.

I was making a joke because we have days/weeks where it gets into the 110's (fahrenheit) here during the summer.
 
What's nice (and neat) about them is once it's on the drum it stays there, the moongel I used to have to remove after every gig or it could fall off.
 
What's nice (and neat) about them is once it's on the drum it stays there, the moongel I used to have to remove after every gig or it could fall off.

Genius that they're one-sided as well.

Quick update on the Vater Buzzkills: they're basically just better moongels in every way. They're clear, they seem to be a little stickier & have more mass, and they come not touching each other. I'm going to try out some Drumtacs at some point as I found the Buzzkills still can't hang on the bottom of a cymbal for a while.
 
Here's a real world Drumtacs review.

I'm friends with the PR company behind the product - so I wanted to give them a try and really promote them. They work. They work as advertised. You can stick them on heads and cymbals - even upside down! They also look clean - cleaner than moongels (which I've used also).

BUT

The Drumtacs started falling off during gigs. When they do they land, bounce and roll in the craziest of places. Especially difficult to find in a dark bar or club due to their dark color. Okay fine. Not that big of a deal.

What happens to them over time is they pick up dust. Microparticles that eventually make them less sticky. There are ways to clean them using rubbing alcohol but ultimately I was told to take a razor blade edge and scrape the tac side of the Drumtacs to really remove the microdust particles.

This worked. But only temporarily. I now find that the Drumtacs simply don't stay on my drumheads for a full gig. I have one on this inside of a cowbell that has not budged in months. But on my drum heads, they eventually come loose and bounce off the drum landing on the floor where they pick up more dust. I've lost one and down to the 3 now.

I keep cleaning them but I'm at the point where I'm kind of tired of cleaning them after every gig. Besides, I don't really need them for live gigs. I use them at the beginning of set 1 when I need to play a little quiter and they help with that. But by the last set when we're really hitting - the Drumtacs are bouncing all over the place.

I bought this set about 2 years ago so it may be they have simply worn out from usage and cleaning.

I like Drumtacs a lot - they really work well - but you must maintain them as well as keeping your drumheads clean. When you use Drumtacs on cymbals it's amazing - they really grip well, even underside/upside down. But I like the way my cymbals sound without muffling so there's no need for that application for me.

Hope this helps.
 
I don't understand how this works. Every time I buy the stuff, I put it on my drums and it turns to goo after a while. It's not even a shape anymore, it's like all the absorption of the vibrations has turned it into mess. Washing it never helped me, and none of them lasted even a year.

Hmm. Maybe it's because I put mine away after every use, even when practicing. I don't like the blue stain they leave.
 
You know, sometimes a product comes along to fill a need that is,
1. Cheap
2. Convenient
3. Easy to work with
4. Versatile
5. Readily available

...and that would be Moongels. The others seem, to me, like attempts to re-invent the wheel. Now, if they would just replace the black container with something like florescent yellow so it would be easier to locate and harder to lose...
 
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