More adventures with Beetle Percussion: rescue pads

I’ve been making it a point lately to search for used Beetle pads and snap them up.

Why?

Beetle Percussion is a guy making practice pads, one at a time, in his garage. 

Each pad is craftmade from the most sustainable materials available, and sourced as close to home as possible. The result is a pad that is solid, sounds and feels great, and is beautiful to look at too.

Beetle Percussion goes into great detail about the dimensions and construction of each pad model, and you can learn more at their web site.

My most recent finds — I call them Rescue pads — are below.

1. Ash Pad. This was advertised by the previous owner as a Grass Pad, which is a different animal altogether. So when it arrived, I was really confused. I confirmed with Bradley Lomax at Beetle that this is, in fact, an Ash Pad. It’s just light enough to take along in a padded bag, and has two sides for playing. The wood is gorgeous. Looking at the edge, it reminds me a little of the poured sand sculptures I made at the shore when I was a kid, in tiny bottles that could be sealed up and taken home. 

Ash is a hardwood, which means that when used as a pad base it will provide a feel that is harder and faster, even though the response is still very pleasant to the hands. Sloppy beats have nowhere to hide on this pad. Also, hardwoods darken as they age, lending a beautiful patina to the base over time.

(The Grass Pad is made from hemp fiber, and the difference in appearance is striking. Check it out on the web site for more details. I may still try to find one of these for my collection later on.)

2. Pine Pad. This model was one of Beetle’s first, and remains a staple in their lineup. Using a much thicker (1.5”) base, it’s also a fairly heavy pad, and for that reason is not ideal for travel. (There was once a single-sided 8” model, which I have, but that size is no longer in production. The 8” version travels well and is fun to play.)

The two different thicknesses of recycled rubber offer different feels, though on a base this thick it might be harder to head a significant difference in tone. I have this one set up in a stand right now and have been getting to know it better.

I’ve already reviewed the Carlos Botello signature pad in a previous post, and continue to be surprised at how much I enjoy this model.

3. Tony Teleky Bus Pad. These were designed in collaboration with Tony Teleky, a drum corps alum and current instructor with Carolina Crown drum corps. He shares my passion for sustainability and is a terrific musician. He designed the Bus Pad precisely for the reason the name implies: chopping on a pad on the tour bus. The pad’s dimensions work beautifully in the confines of a bus seat, and allow for easy transport in a backpack.

(When I marched drum corps in the late 1970s, we traveled on school buses and chopped on a pillow on our lap, or on the tall padded back of the seat in front of us. Heavier, marching-specific practice pads did not yet exist. At home, most of us practiced on Remo tunable pads, or a rubber pad like the Ludwig “keystone” model. Kids with money might find a Trankle Pocket Pad, though they were spendy for the time at over $20 each. Many of us made our own pads from a phone book and duct tape, which was good enough in the days of lower-tension Mylar-headed drums. It was, as we say, a different time.)

There are two generations of this pad in existence: the first was a single-sided pad with a solid wood base and 3/16” recycled rubber surface. It was very popular when it came out. The Bus Pad was later revised and the second generation is now made with a Valchromat base and two playing sides: one is made of naked recycled rubber, and the other is recycled rubber with the same laminate as used on the Botello pad. I obtained mine in a straight across trade for another pad. There are a few very tiny dents in the laminate, but only one is really noticeable, and it’s not enough for me to ask for a replacement laminate.

I have been enjoying this little pad a LOT. The playing surface on both sides is very nearly perfect, and positively dreamy for portable chopping on the bus or at the park. The perfect size for travel — this one fits in my bicycle saddlebag!

I may seek out an older version of this pad for sake of including it in my collection, but it’s not a high priority. If one falls into my lap, great. If not, that’s okay too.

 

4. In addition to these Beetle pads, I also have an original BAP (short for “Big Ass Pad”), made of solid pine and recycled rubber and measuring two feet in diameter. I bought this on sale when the last of them were being offered on closeout. The plan was to discontinue this version because the size wasn’t popular enough for the costs involved in making and shipping it and still remaining competitive.

I’m ashamed to admit that right now, my BAP functions as a bit of a catch-all table in my studio. I hope to rectify that situation soon. 

For quite awhile, there was no word as to whether the BAP’s demise was permanent, or just a long term hiatus.

That question was answered earlier this year when Beetle announced the release of a new version of the BAP, this time made with a Valchromat base and including a smart carrying handle.

If I were holding a monthly pad party in my community (something I’ve dreamed of doing, tried twice and gave up — maybe I’ll try again this fall), I might find the new version of this pad to be a nice thing to add to my stable. If you work with a drumline or afterschool arts program, you might investigate this pad as a useful resource.

I’ve now given myself some impetus to clean up the space a little and use this baby more.

There are so many — probably too many — mass-produced practice pads on the market today, and in my humble opinion, most are overpriced for how they’re made and what you get. (It’s telling that Remo’s tunable pad, first released in the early 60s and still made today in 6”, 8” and 10” sizes, still finds its way into the hands of schoolchildren across the country and around the world — and at a price far more commensurate with its construction cost and long term value. The 8” size, now considered the standard size for student use, retails for around thirty-five bucks. Compare that to the price of a gray Evans pad, with the same retail price of $35, but which is not as durable as the Remo and cannot be refurbished when it wears out.)

All those mass-produced pads have an environmental cost that isn’t taken seriously enough today.

That’s why I try to stick with pads with a higher sustainability quotient, like tunable pads whose heads can be replaced (pro tip: cut up the old head for those little strips to attach the snares to a drum), or pads made more sustainably (like Beetle and, to a lesser extent, Mad Pads, both of which source their components as close to home and/or recycled as possible and use local labor to make them).  

I encourage you to ask better questions about the drum equipment you buy and use, and seek out products that offer as high a degree of sustainability as possible, including buying local and/or used, trading for other gear, and choosing products that are lower on the environmental supply chain where possible.

I’ll share more sustainable drum goodness as I find it.