Prentice is a relatively new company, beginning widescale manufacture of practice pads less than ten years ago. Their adjustable tilt design was patented in 2009, and while you might look at it and think, "well, gee, that's so obvious," the fact is that no one had thought to simpilfy and patent the idea until Georgia Prentice did so a decade ago. Illustrations from the patent application show how the idea worked.
Georgia Prentice Cottingham was a clarinettist and percussionist as a youth and continued to play drums through much of her adult life as a sideline to her career as a pediatric neurologist.
She passed away just last month at the age of 78.
Her obituary can be found here.
Georgia Prentice was competitive in the rudimental drumming contest circuit. She continued to drum throughout her life, playing in orchestras and dance bands.
In 2009, she finalized the design for a practice pad that would allow for multiple angles of playing, to suit everyone from matched-grip rock drummers to traditional grip rudimental and pipe band drummers. With assistance from renown drum tech Colin Hilborne, she was able to get the design patented and brought to market by 2010. In 2012, Prentice Pads made a noticable splash at several drum shows, and by 2015 they were endorsed by a number of major rock and jazz artists.
Below: Georgia demos her pad at the NAMM show, 2015.
The pad is built around sturdy wood panels and heavily coated with paint, finished with a 1/8" thick gum rubber surface that is glued into a partially-recessed platform. This makes for a pad you won't want to practice rim shots on; the design encourages accuracy with the tips of the sticks and is best used for warming up and more traditional chopping out.
The pad is divided into two sections, an upper section with the playing surface and a lower section with hard rubber feet on the bottom.
At the center divide of each section are two wall-like "legs", each trimmed at the edge with very stout Velcro strips. These strips are strong enough to keep the top of the assembly from "creeping" at all during playing.
They also allow the pad to be taken apart and rotated for multiple angle choices, depending on your style of playing and your practice needs.
In the video below, I demonstrate the pad at each of three available angles, taking it apart and reassembling it in between drumming.
I think you'll hear a difference in tone, as I did while playing. The rebound feels natural and the gum rubber is thin enough to make me have to do a little of the work in pulling a good sound from the strokes.
I like the pad and use it periodically as something to switch off from my standard go-to pads (Real Feel and Offworld Invader). The sound in flat/fully open position makes it satisfying to use.
The most recent entries from one of the Prentice artists stated that the pads would continue to be sold on Amazon. A search of Amazon showed nothing when I typed in "Prentice Drum Pad" or "Prentice Practice Pad". I did find an independent web site for online sales of the pad, but there seems to be no further information on an address, manufacturer or distributor for the pad at present. Without more information I'd feel somewhat hesitant to just go ahead and order a pad online -- there's no contact info, not even an email address; but the site shows a variety of colors and offers the pad at $40 retail, a price that's certainly in line with other gum-rubber pads available on the market right now.
Since the inventor died so recently, it's possible that the company is in the process of being transferred elsewhere, which would make sense with the number of artists endorsed by Prentice Pads.
Another possibility is that, without Georgia's presence, the company may eventually fold.
If anyone reading this can provide me with additional information on the future of Prentice Practice Pads, I'd be grateful. I like my pad. Its a good product and I would love to see other drummers give it a try.
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