These are two products people ask about a lot since they solve some of the more common problems all drummers, beginners, amateurs and pros share. The ability to practice when it fits your schedule without getting killed by your neighbour or significant other in the process.
First the Super Pads.
Reality is that I can hardly contain my excitement about these things.
Apart from the old Remo pads we all know as well as the much too realistic volume they also produce, this is the only real option for me, and trust me, I've tried them all, more or less.
Rubber pads sort of have their place for a beginner learning to bounce or as a bit of assistance when learning finger control, but that's it IMO.
Mesh heads are a popular solution, and we all know them as the standard choice on most electronic snares and drum kits, but you are basically playing on a trampoline and that's really how it feels, too.
Super Pads offcourse have the same amount of rebound regardless of size. People that generally tune really low might feel a bit differently, but to me personally I find that the type of rebound is what concerns me, much more so than exactly matching the amount of rebound, which varies depending on the drums, your tuning for the situation, types of hoops, heads and so on anyway.
On that same note, Super pads on their own are really quiet, so if you're a "basher" you'll have to learn to be sensitive to the surface you're playing on, be loose and let the rebound work for you, but those are all good things in my book.
The pads are offcourse dual purpose and they do sit best mounted on a drum. If you have seen some video clips on youtube you might think that drum pitches aren't accurate with floor toms sound higher than the rack toms and so on, but that's more a case of lower frequencies not being picked up on the mic used for recording the vid. They're quite accurate and toms sound like a pleasant tonal waterdrop sample. Put on any sort of headphone or anything that reduces stick attack a bit and it's even better.
Super pads by themselves are pretty much dead sounding when tightened down on a stand placed on an all covering surface, but they do have a pitch. If you rest them on only two claws and then support them slightly off centre on the back side they do sing and have their own clear tone. I have 10, 12.14 and 16 pads as toms and they are a perfect 4th apart, just as I tune my toms, so with a little ingenuity you even have practice toms with accurate musical pitches.
We all know, in various degrees, the dreaded "pad-hands" sydrome. These are the only pads I know of that don't hurt my touch or technique in any way. Though I generally just deal when I have to, I pretty much find myself hating other pads with a passion at this point. Probably not 100% perfect in every way, but the best so far.
Pros:
The positives are offcourse the low volume, the realistic feel, they are dual purpose and the fact that as opposed to other solutions you can put these things on and take them off in mere seconds. A big deal for many of us, I would think.
Cons:
Using the pads as mutes you are offcourse adding close to an inch to the height of you heads and rims are not accessible. I think these are issues that can be solved in future products, maybe with the ability to choose betwen different levels of dampening and so on, but at this point we just have to deal with it either by living with it or maybe rising our thrones a bit.
The travel of your bass drum beater is what's hardest to do anything about. Used purely as a practice pad I'm in the process of making my own little contraption to deal with that.
Zildjian Low Volume Cymbals:
These are offcourse easier to describe. They are basically just cheaper Gen16s and they do work as such, as well.
They give you a realistic cymbal experience and a set of functioning hi-hats at greatly reduced volume.
Now, hitting any metal surface with a stick there is offcourse a lot of stick sound which this product in itself can't do much about, but the open sounds are probably reduced by about 80% as the description says.
As low volume actual gigging cymbals... I'd say; Don't throw out your rods and brushes yet.
Some might disagree and offcourse the Vinnie sticks I use most of the time, known for their oval barrel tips and heavy shoulder have a very pronounced identity of their own, I guess these might maybe serve as special fx cymbals on those occasions. As mentioned the relationship between tip and crashing sounds are sort of opposite of how a normal cymbal would be when these are used acoustically.
Anyway, they do what they are supposed to and volume wise they work well with Super Pads or Silent Strokes for anyone more into those.
