Good "soft" practice pad?

[G-Con]

Hey all,
So I currently have an HQ "real feel" pad but am in the market for something with less rebound to strengthen my hands a bit and increase my control without relying so heavily on rebound. I get wary of trusting pads marketed as "soft" after trying the Vater soft pad and finding it to be one of the hardest pads I've ever played. Anybody have any experience with DWs multi-surface pad? Or Ludwigs P4 pad? I like the idea of all the surfaces consolidated into one pad, but not if they're all going to be as hard or harder than what I have.

All input is welcome, though I am looking for a pad, so please no "just drum on a pillow" comments I'm really not looking for something THAT dead.

Thanks!

 

[Bobbytard]

Try a towel over the practice pad, it lowers the rebound a little.

 

[Ground Pounder]

Or stack a couple cloth-and-rubber mousepads - that's what I use over my Remo.

 

[Anthony Amodeo]

Hey all,
So I currently have an HQ "real feel" pad but am in the market for something with less rebound to strengthen my hands a bit and increase my control without relying so heavily on rebound. I get wary of trusting pads marketed as "soft" after trying the Vater soft pad and finding it to be one of the hardest pads I've ever played. Anybody have any experience with DWs multi-surface pad? Or Ludwigs P4 pad? I like the idea of all the surfaces consolidated into one pad, but not if they're all going to be as hard or harder than what I have.

All input is welcome, though I am looking for a pad, so please no "just drum on a pillow" comments I'm really not looking for something THAT dead.

Thanks!

Prologix makes a pad called "Blue Lightening"

check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uol_E-dGF20


you can get it here

http://www.prologixpercussion.com/products.asp?CatID=13

awesome soft quiet pad...great for workouts

...and yes Pat Petrillos P4 is awesome as well

 

[Jack Boyd]

I like my Moongel practice pad for a "low rebound" workout:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/rtom-moongel-gel-workout-pad?CJAID=10381297&CJPID=2264849

 

[tard]

I use the Vic Firth one with the beads inside the back to give a kinda snare feel/sound to the soft rubber section plus it has a second harder section so you can switch between them for some definition in sound when working out patterns.
http://www.vicfirth.com/product/buynow/product.php?button=VICPAD9

 

[JohnnyG]

Mouse pad and very cheap

 

[BigDinSD]

I was laying some sticks onto this pad at the local GC. Excellent workout. Just a bit more bounce than a pillow!

I like my Moongel practice pad for a "low rebound" workout:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums-percussion/rtom-moongel-gel-workout-pad?CJAID=10381297&CJPID=2264849

I remember using a DW Go Anywhere practice pad kit for a week. Then I jumped on my kit and all of a sudden there was much less bounce - which I knew would not help me!

What I regularly use are drum mutes on my kit. You can just put one on the snare, and turn off your strainer if you need to be very quiet. Gives you a great workout and really makes you work to get rebound. Fantastic way to practice the bounce and diddles since it just gives barely enough bounce.

Whenever I take them off the sticks just bounce magically off the heads! Pretty cheap too so you can equip the whole kit for complete practice.

 

[G-Con]

Thanks everyone! I DID wind up going with the Moongel pad and I love the feel of it. It leans toward the "dead" side, but still has just a touch of rebound. It wound up being exactly what I was looking for.

And BigDinSD, thanks for the heads up on the DW Go-anywhere practice kit. That was going to be my next purchase, but instead I'll go with mutes! I hate pads that don't provide an accurate feel. It's such a tease to master something on a pad, then sit at a kit and wind up back at square one. Basically I just moved across country (NJ to CA) and while I'm living in apartment where I can't make noise, and while I'm still on the lookout for others to play with, I'm focusing on all the exercises I've neglected the past few years, where my weekly dose of drumming with playing with 2 or 3 bands 4-6 nights a week. Sure it was tons of fun, kept my chops and endurance up, all that good stuff...but I totally plateau'd at the same time. I lost the time to sit at the kit and challenge myself. Sure, you can set up little obstacles for yourself in a band setting, but I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate me using their rock songs as a platform for me to practice my left foot clave, etc....