The Remo practice pad with a tunable drum head is one of the more common and easily found practice pads on the market. These pads have excellent feel, rebound and definition, but are also one of the louder options.
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Feel and Playability
The Remo practice pad provides a great feel that isn’t much different from a typical snare drum head. The pad employs an Ambassador coated drum head for a familiar feel. There is a layer of padding underneath of the coated drum head, which helps keep it from getting overly loud while still feeling very familiar. The amount of rebound is just right. The sticking definition is great for working on all types of techniques.
There is also a rim that is about the same height as a traditional snare drum rim. This allows you to play rimshots and cross sticking techniques, which is great.
I find this pad easy to play and it translates very well to playing on other drums.
How Loud Is The Remo Practice Pad?
This is actually a pretty loud practice pad. It’s one of the noisier options for sure, and it’s noticeably louder than the practice pads that employ rubber batter surfaces. This practice pad doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be quiet at all. I actually wear earplugs when I’m playing this one, but that’s mostly because the rim shots can be pretty sharp. The Ambassador head has a snappy, quick sticking definition but with no resonance or overtones, and it’s easy to hear exactly what your sticks are doing on the drum head.
Portability and Design
This drum pad is available in 6 inch, 8 inch and 10 inch sizes. The price scales with size. In this case, we were using the 8 inch version, which is a good combination of being portable yet not too small. The 8 inch version easily fits in my backpack and is pretty light, it weighs a little under 1.5 lbs.
This practice pad has a rim with 8 screws for adjusting tension. You can tune this head by adjusting the tension. The tension features and the rim are neat, it offers something different when compared to the rubber drum practice pads.
Once thing that’s kind of funny about this pad is that the tension screws are flathead screws instead of something like a typical drum lug. It’s more likely that a drummer will have a drum key on hand than a screwdriver. But they do include a small screwdriver tool with the practice pad, which is nice. Just don’t lose it.
On the bottom is a ring of padding for placing on flat surfaces and also a mounting point in the center. I didn’t find the ring to have very good grip and the pad moves around on flatter surfaces for me when I play it harder.
The mounting point is used for attachment to a cymbal stand, which works pretty well. Using a cymbal mount allows you to tilt the pad a little more easily if needed.
Durability
These pads are very durable and you can play them hard. They’ll stand up to a lot of play and a lot of practice. The head is replaceable if you do manage to wear it out. These are built to last and most drummers will usually only purchase a practice pad like this one time and then it pretty much lasts until they lose it.
Pros
- Has a rim with adjustable tension
- Very durable
- Lightweight
- Plays great with good rebound and stick definition
- Multiple sizes available
Cons
- Tension adjustment is flathead rather than drum lug style
- Slides around a little on hard, flat surfaces
The Verdict
This is a great practice pad with it’s only real drawback being it’s louder volume. This pad offers excellent playability and the adjustable tension is a nice feature for dialing in the feel or sound you prefer.
If you’re looking for a quieter practice pad, you’ll maybe want to check out the Silentstroke version of this one. It’s pretty much the same except for a quieter drum head.
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