Future Vintage? RCP Premium Pad

When this pad was released six or seven years ago, I was mildly curious. The RCP Premium Pad was the company’s first offering, and a clear response to the Xymox Reserve Pad. Xymox’s pad was popular with HS and college marching drummers, but the company had serious issues with delivery and many hundreds of customers paid for pads they never received. One of those customers was the son of RCP’s founder.

RCP’s Premium pad is of a different design than the Xymox Reserve pad. For one thing, it weighs much less. It’s also made of a high-strength polyurethane that resists chipping and is much more durable than the thin rim found on the Xymox Reserve pad.

The Premium Pad offers a playing surface made of woven carbon fiber and aluminum. Underneath this you can choose from three different rubber or foam-rubber inserts of different thicknesses, each giving a slightly different sound and response. I haven’t been able to find out where the pad was manufactured.

The pad was priced comparably to other pads of its kind, roughly $100 for the 11” and $120 for the 13” size.

I wasn’t doing a lot of research on modern pads at the time, so I had only a passing interest.

A used 11” Premium Pad came up for sale at a price I could justify, so I bought it. It arrived earlier today.

Since my collection now includes more modern marching-focused pads (including a Xymox Reserve Pad), I was glad to add this to the stack. 

Below are photos and videos of my pad.

The rim is held in place with anodized aluminum bolts that fit a drum key. They’re meant to be just slightly more than finger-tight, just enough to keep everything together; and provide NO adjustable tensioning. 

Underneath the woven playing surface you can choose from one of three different inserts: tan gum rubber for a firmer feel, gray foam rubber for a medium feel, or orange foam rubber for a softer feel. The different between the inserts is subtle, but discernible.

I tried the pad with each of the inserts before finally settling on the orange insert, which provides good articulation and a nice response for the kind of playing I do. A pair of videos below provide a sense of some difference in sound, but really the greater difference can be felt in response as you play.

First, with the gray insert:

Then, with the orange insert:

Finally, with the gum rubber insert laid on top. (The pad doesn’t work well with more than one insert under the carbon layer at a time because of the precise fit involved.)

Interestingly, this pad apparently never sold in the same quantities as the Xymox pad did, even with Xymox’s horrible business practices. Eventually, RCP introduced what they call their Active Snare Pad, which is a Chinese-made HUN M-12 pad that’s been rebranded for several companies (including Salyers and others). It’s considerably more affordable than the Premier Pad, sold far better, and became the flagship of RCP’s pad line. Eventually the Premier Pad was quietly discontinued.

I emailed Robert Pettry at RCP to find out the timeline of the Premium Pad, and here's what he share with me:

BH: When did this pad enter the market?
RP: May 2018.

BH: Who designed it and why?
RP: Father and Son Brian and Robert Pettry designed this pad after a bad experience with the company that starts with X. We wanted to over a superior high quality product and offer good customer service and fast turnaround.

BH: The pad does not appear at the RCP web site, and I'm wondering when it stopped being offered.
RP: After Covid we saw a large increase in material cost from our US Supply companies and the cost to keep producing them was way to higher and we didn’t want to raise the price any higher then they already were. Following there we started outsource some of our manufacturing to keep cost down not just for us but ultimately for the students that buy our practice products. We started by partnering with HanFlag to be the first company to bring this pad to the US Market. Since then we have create a number of original RCP Product Designs. One of the most popular being our trademarked Pizza Pad. 

BH: When did you discontinue the pad? 

RP: May 2022

BH: Are any spares (laminates, inserts or lug bolts) still available?

RP: We have taken them down from our website but we do have a backup supply of hardware and laminates. 

	So I am glad to have found a used one at a good price to add to the stack. The bolts are still working, though kind of beat-up. I may reach out to buy replacements from them.

RCP Drum Company can be found online at their website, with links to Facebook and Instagram.

Getting super drum-geeky: Percussive Arts Society

So, in the interest of furthering my historical research and connecting with other drum history geeks, I signed up for a membership in The Percussive Arts Society (PAS).

Since retiring, I've been casting about for Something To Do.

I can't sing properly right now (and don't know if I can sing at a professional level again, more on that later). I have more limits on my physical energy than I used to, and I don't want to spend my so-called golden years (UGH -- that monicker just makes me SQUIRM) just sitting around.

SO I decided to go down the drum history rabbit hole and pursue deeper research on my favorite drum topic. What comes of it I can't yet guarantee. But I'm diving in.

I'm hoping that PAS will help connect me with other drum history geeks.

I am also entertaining the notion of attending PASIC. It's just a twinkle in my eye for now, but if I COULD attend some November, who'd want to meet me there? I'd be looking for cheap housing and food (and seeing how public transit in Indy is, because I'm THAT gal) before I take a leap.

Anyway, I'm not committing to anything, and it might not happen for another year at least. But it's in the hopper.

If any of my Drum Geek people want to chat about possibilities, please contact me here or on Facebook Messenger.

(photo: from 1960 Ludwig drum catalog)

 

Pad, customized: Loyal Drums Eviction Pad

I did the thing. I took it apart and painted the wood (with leftover house paint), let it dry all afternoon in the warm sunshine and reassembled this morning.

(It turned out well. Paint, like mud, adds weight to things but I don’t mind.)

Loyal Drums Eviction Pad, 10” head of their own design and construction. Can be tensioned low to simulate rope drum or higher for concert work. (Kevlar kids, this pad ISN’T for you.) 

I added a mute, a round of yoga mat to the inside floor, to reduce the volume a bit (but it’s still plenty loud). 

It’s grown on me.

#diddleseveryday

#drumpracticepad

#sharethetradition

Pad Hands? I think it's a myth.

When I completed my Moeller homage pad last month, a friend warned me not to spend too much time chopping on it. "You'll get 'Pad Hands' and it will ruin your technique," he cautioned.

I've heard a lot about Pad Hands, which happens if you spend too much time chopping on the same pad and your hands get so used to that pad they can't transition to other playing surfaces.

I think that this may be a myth.

I chop on different pads every day, and mix them up to keep things interesting and fresh.
I seldom get to practice on a drum these days because of where I live (and with whom).
But even if I chopped on the same pad every day -- as I did when I was young -- I'm not convinced that it would be so terrible.
Drummers' hands can and do adapt.

When all I had was my little Remo tunable pad, and I was able to play real drums at school, there was no difficulty in adjusting to the difference in the size and feel of a real drum head. None.
The purpose of learning good technique is not only to play all the rudiments, but also to get to know your hands. Playing in all kinds of weather, in varying conditions, on days when you feel great and days when you feel subpar -- all of this informs how you get to know your body and your hands, and you learn to make adjustments depending on the variables at hand.

Pad Hands could just as well be Drum Hands, if you keep practicing but don't pay attention to the signals your hands and your body send you. If you practice smart, you won't get Pad Hands -- or Pad Brain.

Happy chopping.

(video: hanging out with the Moeller pad, just for fun.)