Beetle Percussion enters the fray: a tuneable practice pad

Beetle Percussion has entered the arena of high-tension tunable practice pads with The Last Pad.

There are some significant differences between Beetle’s pad and everyone else’s.

(By everyone else, I mostly mean Rudimental Drummer, Drumslinger and Rudimental Control, all of which make single-sided, tunable pads with a wood or fiberwood base. I do NOT include RCP’s tunable pad because it’s made in China and is a behemoth at over twenty pounds.)

First, Beetle uses a Valchromat base, an environmentally friendly wood compound that does not give off noxious gases like MDF. Secondly, both sides of the base have tensioned heads with rims and tuning bolts, so that the base will not collapse under the tension on only one side. This allows for the higher tension desired by modern marching drummers, and allows for a lower-tensioned side that can be used for concert work. Finally, a series of small foam discs are included that can be positioned under the head to fine-tune the sound and response. A nice added bonus is an integrated carrying handle, which frankly will be needed because the finished pad weighs around 16 pounds.

I’m not likely to need one myself, but I think it’s an exciting development in high-tension practice pads because it’s more environmentally friendly and it’s made in the USA. I hope that at some point I’ll hear from someone who can run this pad through its paces.

(Photos taken from Beetle Percussion web site)