I was invited to take this pad for a ride by its owner. Gary McLucas, a lifelong drummer and fellow practice pad enthusiast who now serves on the board of directors of the Cincinnati Tradition drum corps, invited me to put this pad through its paces and write about it.
He shipped his pad to me with a postage-paid return label, and I spent some time hanging out with it in my studio.
The pad was designed by Danny and Beth Gottlieb, two drummers with different backgrounds. Danny Gottlieb was a founding member of the Pat Metheny Group and has gone on to tour with Michael Franks, Airto Moreira and many others. Danny's wife Beth came up through concert percussion and the drum corps movement, playing snare in the Spirit of Atlanta drum corps and eventually earning a Master of Music at Eastman. She has played for too many artists to list here and is a sought-after studio percussionist and drummer. Beth tours with Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan Band and, with her husband Danny, conducts workshops and clinics around the world as a Remo Percussion ambassador.
They designed the Scout Pad as a portable pad with two different playing surfaces (Offworld's Dark Matter on one side and softer tan rubber on the other) and metal beads sealed inside for a snare sound. The playing surfaces and snare beads are held in a very stout laminated birch frame. The pad is held to a platform by four magnets that connect to large bolts on the pad. The magnets are so strong that removing the pad to flip it around takes some effort. Curiously, the Allen bolts that run through the pad itself seem there to provide a metal object for the magnets to grab, and serve to hold only the decorative wood trim in place. I can't find that they serve any other mechanical purpose, making this a slightly over-engineered practice pad. That said, the whole thing makes a really attractive, nicely finished package that anyone would be happy to have and use regularly.
The platform is contoured to fit atop the drummer's thigh and is held in place with a leather strap and a cam buckle.
There are four hard rubber "feet" on the bottom of the platform so you can set it on a tabletop or a drum if you don't want to use the strap.
The pad and docking platform measure 7.5" across, with playing surfaces of 5.5" on each side.
The leather strap does not stay put when you tighten the cam buckle. I would guess that this is because the cam buckle has worn down from use, or because the leather wasn't a good choice to begin with, or the cam buckle wasn't the good choice.
Replacing the leather strap with a thick webbed nylon strap would probably improve the grip of the buckle. However, I suspect that leather was chosen to compliment the overall deluxe look and feel of this pad.
I cannot find an original retail price for this pad, but I suspect it wasn't cheap. According to Gary, it was made in a very limited run of only 350 pads, so finding one today is going to be very difficult.
The Darkmatter side feels exactly as advertised; anyone familiar with Offworld's Darkmatter will enjoy playing on this side a lot. The material is a bit thinner than what is used on their original Invader pads, but still offers a crisp and articulate response.
The tan rubber side is meant to be a softer surface for a different feel, and certainly offers that. However, this sample pad is over a decade old and the tan rubber is showing its age; the surface exposed to the air and light has begun to harden just a little, and I can feel it when I play. Still, I imagine this side felt buttery when it was new.
Danny Gottlieb wanted a Scout pad without snare beads for an even quieter experience, for warming up backstage at gigs. So Offworld made him one. You can see it in his demo video, below. I don't know how many of these alternate pads were produced, or if the pad came with both options as a package.
I admit that while I don't often chop on my Offworld Invader pad with its hard, black Darkmatter surface, I did enjoy chopping on this pad quite a lot, especially with concert sticks (my default: Artifact's Etude sticks). The thinner Darkmatter surface felt responsive and sounded great to me.
I understand the purpose behind the tan rubber reverse side, but wish I could have tried it when it was new for a more accurate experience.
Here's the YouTube video of Danny Gottlieb's demonstration of the Scout Pad. Note that he's also using smaller sticks rather than marching sticks.
All in all, this is a really beautiful little pad. A few minor improvements would make it even nicer. (Of course, it's been out of production for awhile so my thoughts are moot. If Offworld ever decided to reissue this pad I'm confident it would find a new and appreciative market!)
I'm keeping my eyes peeled for one to add to my collection. But I'm not holding my breath.
Special thanks to Gary McLucas for the loan and the opportunity to try out this remarkable pad. I'll box it up and send it back shortly.
