Electric / Practice Kick Drum

[THX]

I've got a Roland e-kit that came with the awful rubber kick drum.

I'd like to swap it with one of those lovely full mesh kicks, but I cant justify near £500 on one just now.

Are there any alternatives? Main issue being the thud the basic rubber heads produce - they don't make much 'noise', but, with it being so solid, the thud travels through the entire building. Pissing off both neighbours (terraced house)

[OldSkoolRS]

Which one do you have? Is the small rubber type like the TD-4KP has on it? You can buy the 'cloth' bass drum pad for £139 which is what comes with the TD15KV I've just bought, it doesn't seem unduly loud with the sound turned off.


http://www.drumwright.co.uk/store/electronic-kits/...

I tried looking for the more expensive model you mentioned, but didn't find it on the site I bought mine from.

[THX]

I've got the KD-8.

I think the KD-120 is the all singing, all dancing model.

The KD-9 looks ideal (although from the pics on Amazon you cant see the actual head! It's photographed from behind, and is why I overlooked it when first searching) but I've read on a couple forums that you still have the beater impacting the plastic / rubber behind the cloth. It's not the sound that's the trouble, it's the impact traveling through the kick, the floorboards, through the walls and into next door.

I figured the KD-80/120 would negate that impact, given it's entirely mesh. The only nuisance would be the actual sound it makes (which would be fine)

If you've got the KD-9, and suggest there's very little 'impact' (i.e. it hits an absorbent surface) then we could be onto a winner!

[OldSkoolRS]

Just to caution: I literally only bought my kit today and don't pick it up until tomorrow. I don't have any direct neighbours, so it's not something I overly worried about. I did play the kit with the sound off, just to hear how much noise it makes incase it would disturb others in the house and it didn't seem too noisy to me, but as you say it's the transfer effect.

I'll make a point of checking more thoroughly tomorrow once I get it set up.

[singlecoil]

Once possible answer to this problem is to prevent the vibration getting to the structure of the building. The best way to do this would be to bolt the pedal unit to something very solid and very heavy such as a paving slab, and then to place the slab on some suitably compliant material such as rubber.

It's the same basic technique as shock mounts for studio microphones, only working in reverse.

I realise that so doing would raise the pedal above floor level, if that was a problem the rest of the kit would need to be raised to match.

[OldSkoolRS]

Sorry THX...at the last minute I decided to upgrade to the TD30K which comes with a different bass drum pad (very nice too). I still think it's worth you having a look at the pedal I mentioned last night, though Singlecoil's suggestion might be worth trying as well.

[GnuBee]

I have a KD120 and had the same issue - cured by going to Scats Countrystore and buying some of their cheap rubber matting for stables (about 25mm thick, very heavy) which was big enough to get the whole kit on. No more issues with vibration... cost around £40 if I remember correctly.

[THX]

Cheers fellas!

Rubber matting could be ideal. I know a Horse-Person so I'll ask her if there's anywhere local that does the stuff!