Mesh heads or muffling pads?

[oyajipunk]

Here is a question for all those people who have to keep quiet so their neighbors don't complain. Which is better in your opinion, mesh heads or those rubber pads that Pearl and other makers produce (the ones you just place on top of the drum heads). I am a bit dubious about using the pads because stick response may be dulled - is this the case? The mesh heads look to provide great response (maybe too much!), but changing the heads everytime I play live would be a bit of a pain.

Any advice you have for someone trying to keep on the good side of his neighbors would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Jazzman]

Hi Oyajipunk, I saw a mesh set in person at a local Guitar Center in MI. I didn't play on the set but, I was watching another person working it. On one side was the mesh head, while on the other side was a mylar head. All you needed to do was to flip over the drum and the mylar heads were available. I myself would not like the rubber pads just for the reaction of the stick on the pads. I didn't look at the bass drum though to see if the head was mesh, I didn't think that it was.

 

It looked like the mesh/stick action was more than you would expect. You would have to do something about the cymbals. I saw that the cymbals had rubber pads on them, the shape of a tie. It does take up time to switch heads for playing out though, unless your set is set up as a practice set.

 

To bad electronic sets arn't cheaper. I plan on getting a

Roland V-Drum set for my studio. Use headphones and volume control.

 

Not very much help here but I think I would go with the mesh set up, just for the feel, but the setback would be switching heads.

 

My take......................Peace.....

 

Jazzman

[larrytkennedyexcite.com]

You have probably answered your own question, when you expressed concern over the time it would take to replace the heads on your kit. Not to mention that you'd "lose" the tuning on your drums, and would have to start from scratch tuning-wise when you put the regular heads back on. Seems to me you'd spend 30 minutes or more getting ready to practice if swapping out regular for mesh heads, then even longer to replace and tune the regular heads!

 

I teach lessons and use an inexpensive set of pads on the kit in the teaching studio and recommend you take this route.

I spent about $30 for a full set of pads, drums and cymbals, and find that the sound is about 75% to 90% reduced (drop the snares for less SD sound). The rebound and feel is different, but close enough to have your practice benefit you.

Best of all, you can slap the pads on your drums in a few seconds and yank them off when packing for a gig.

 

Years ago, I tried this approach for my practice routine and found that it took me several days following a gig to get excited about setting my drums back up, and then throwing the Sound Off pads on the drums and cymbals so that I could practice.

So, I broke down and bought a Remo practice pad set, and got much more use out of it, since it was always set up and ready to go. This approach will cost you between $125 and $200.

 

Nowadays, I practice on a Yamaha DTXpress electronic kit, which helps in teaching as I can leave it plugged into my stereo and can record drum patterns, fills, etc. in just a few minutes.

I don't teach on the electronic kit, because the store I teach for isn't a Yamaha dealer.

I spent just over $1000 for the DTXpress kit, and, for me, that was money well spent. Without being able to use this for my lessons, it would have been hard to justify spending $1000 for a kit I rarely play out with (did it twice for low-volume gigs - seemed like more trouble than conventional drums, to me).

 

Hope this helps!

 

[ 11-26-2001: Message edited by: larrytkennedy@excite.com ]

[oyajipunk]

Thanks for your input guys!

I think I am pretty much sold on the muffling pads. Easy, cheap, and they provide me with the flexibility of using my drums live whenver I want.

Much appreciated!