Everything new is old again: Vic Firth Heavy Hitter series pads

Vic Firth has made a new version of their Heavy Hitter pad series, in all models. It’s scheduled to officially drop sometime in early July, but some of the pads have already been sent to select retailers who have sold them individually, allowing a few drummers to try them out before the official release.

I have not seen one in person. I have seen a couple of illicit video demos, all pulled down after I saw them “out of respect for the official release” or something.

Based on what I’ve seen and heard, I won’t be buying one. Here’s why:

It appears that the only meaningful difference between the old model and the new model is a larger platform and the addition of a rim. Curiously, the rim looks just like the rim found on any number of pads from Prologix, and made me wonder if there was any input from them on the new design. I suspect not, but it did raise the question for me.

Here’s the old style pad, which came in Stockpad (1/4” thickness) and Slimpad (1/8” thickness).

It was a perfectly good, and pretty popular, model for over a decade. Students and teachers alike kept them on hand for daily practice, and the Slimpad model showed up regularly at drum corps auditions and camps.

I have a Slimpad from this era. As a marching-specific pad, it does the job pretty well, and is lighter and more portable than a similarly sized tunable pad would be.

It retailed new for between $40 and $50.

Look below at its successor.

(This is a Stockpad, but the only difference between it and the new Slimpad is the thickness of the rubber playing surface.)

As you can see, the materials are pretty similar in both models, with the only differences being that the diameter is larger now, and has an addition of a black rim, which may be either hard plastic or very hard rubber (not sure which). The nonskid foam on the bottom remains the same.

But take a look at the difference in price, as evidenced by one of the few retailers to release a listing this month.

That’s right. The new pad costs  almost twice as much as the old version.

Inflation has something to do with that, I’m sure. But that cannot be the entire reason for the jump in price. My guess is that Vic Firth felt the hype was worth the significant increase, and if they hyped it properly they’d sell a bunch.

Another thing that Vic Firth did was to change the logo color and placement, back to something close to how it was with the first generation of these pads some twenty years ago. 

Here’s a first generation VF Slimpad for comparison.

I suppose I’m being a little crass, but honestly so is Vic Firth for taking this route. It plays on the emotions  of kids who were too young to have experience on the first generation pad, and dangles the possibility of returning to that model in front of them. I believe this visual choice was no marketing accident.

(To further ensure good sales on the newest version, the previous version was discontinued. Of course, if you want one of the older second generation pads, they can be found online from any number of sellers, new or used. The photo at top is of a used Slimpad currently being offered for $30 on eBay. Feel free to grab it if you want.)

Before they were yanked, I had a chance to see a couple of demo videos from guys who’d had the good fortune to snag one of the new pads, courtesy of a retailer or two who’d released them for sale prior to the official date. Those videos were yanked only a day or two after being posted. Each owner explained they pulled the videos “out of respect” for Vic Firth’s official release, scheduled for July. Is this true? I have no way to know, but based on the protestations of one of the two designers of this pad — who also designed the original Heavy Hitter pads before selling the rights to Vic Firth some twenty years ago — the early release by select retailers was nothing more than an attempt to prime the pump by priming the hype, and the pulling of those videos may have been encouraged with enticements of goodies or threats of legal action. I’ve seen this thing before in other industries and would not be entirely shocked if either were to be the case here.

Of course, I will never know. 

And perhaps that’s not the real point.

Based on my viewing of those videos, I cannot determine a significant difference in the sound of these new pads from their predecessors. So I asked one of the early adopters about it. (I have removed all last names but mine to respect their privacy.)

And there it is. Consumers are being asked to spend twice as much on a new version of a pad that doesn’t stray very far from the older version.

I have some suspicions about the marketing of this product.

(I also have questions about the sustainability of making yet another rubber-on-MDF practice pad when so, SO many already exist in the world, but I know that’s a battle I cannot win.)

In any case, before running out and buying Yet Another New, Mass-produced Pad, it wouldn’t hurt to ask yourself if such a consumer choice is actually necessary. There are literally a million used pads on the market already, and giving one of those a home would cost a lot less both financially and environmentally. If you MUST have a new pad, consider one that’s more sustainably made, or make one yourself out of recycled/repurposed materials.

Happy drumming. 

Coming soon to my studio: the OG Slimpad. Yes, really.

 I woke up much too early this morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I got up, fed the cats and slipped into my studio to play quietly on a soft pad. I also checked my messages and feed, and I’m glad I did.

Because something popped up for sale I never thought I’d see. 

YeeeeUP. The one, the only, the very first Vic Firth Slimpad. A guy in the Facebook Drum Pad group had just posted one for sale. And I was the first in the group to see it. So of course I contacted him, and two minutes after that I pad for it. I should have it in my hands by later this week.

For an explanation of why this is such a holy grail among practice pad enthusiasts, feel free to check out my post from 2020 about the other offering from this series, the original VF Stockpad:

http://drumlove1.blogspot.com/2020/08/vintage-rewind-vic-firth-stockpad-first.html

These pads had a response that was unsurpassed. Designed by Bill Bachman and a couple other stars from the marching arts in the mid-1990s in conjunction with Vic Firth, and when they were introduced they made a big splash. Non-marching drummers discovered that the Stockpad, with its 1/4” gum rubber playing surface, could also be useful for concert and rock practice, while the 1/8”-topped Slimpad was pretty much strictly a marching-specific pad — possibly the first of its kind in the industry. 

Because kids in the late 90s didn’t have the kind of pocket money that today’s kids do, the pads didn’t take off quickly at first. Finally, when they did become popular, production costs forced the company to switch to a rubber compound, rather than a pure gum rubber used in the beginning.

While they swear there was no change in the rubber playing surface for either model, a few thousand drummers who’ve tried both still beg to differ. 

As a result of the change in rubber “recipe,” the original versions of the Stockpad and Slimpad are highly sought after by drummers and pad collectors, and especially hard to find. I scored my first Stockpad when it came out and I was teaching privately. One of my students stole it and I never saw him or the pad again. I was able to replace it a couple of years ago, but I basically gave up on ever finding the rarer Slimpad.

(The Slimpad is harder to find because, being marching-specific, it was slower to catch on, fewer were sold before the change in materials and most ended up being played literally into the ground by their owners.)

So when this one showed up, I was very surprised. And I had to act fast before someone else bought it.

I look forward to laying my sticks on this beautiful pad when it gets here.

Happy drumming.

How important is a miniscule difference? 1st gen VF Stockpad vs. 2020 RockJam pad

 We're heading into a mini heat wave this week, and it's already getting warm in my studio.
(I live in Oregon and most Portlanders living in older houses don't have A/C.)
Tonight, as a way to distract myself from the heat, I did a little contrast and compare between two pads I'm enamored of:

1. Rock Jam practice pad, circa 2020. This pad is made in China and sold around the world. It's shockingly cheap for a new pad, selling for as little as $10 including shipping. I bought a little stack of six of them during the shutdown last winter, looking forward to a time when I might take them to pad jams and clinics. I like the pad so much that I've kept one for myself. It's smaller by an inch or so all the way round than a Real Feel pad and weighs only a few ounces more. The playing surface is a gray silicon-based rubber that's slightly over 1/4" thick, mounted on a platform made from fine-grain, compressed wood and plastic laminate that's similar to Valchromat (used on Reflexx and other workout pads today). It has a nice rebound, good articulation and reasonably soft volume for indoor use.

Here I am farting around with a little bit of "Downfall"

2. Vic Firth (first-generation) Stockpad, circa early 2000's. This pad was developed by some heavy hitters in the marching percussion scene in the early 2000's. Using a gum rubber playing surface about 1/4" thick mounted on a large-grain particleboard platform. The first generation of these "Heavy Hitter" series pads (1/4" Stockpad and 1/8" Slimpad are very hard to find now, and very desirable among marching drummers who came of age in that era.)

Here I am laying down a little of "Crazy Army," one of my favorite snare solos.

I can tell you that, based on feel alone, there is very little meaningful difference between these two pads. The difference in feel is almost the same. The difference in sound -- specifically, in the pitch of each padbv -- has less to do with the playing surface and far more to do with the construction of the platform; if you were to mount the Vic Firth rubber on a heavier, denser Valchromat-style platform similar to the Rock Jam the difference in feel and sound would become almost imperceptible, even for experienced drummers.

I know I'll get pushback on this, but honestly I am not making this up.

If you've been dying to get one of the first-generation Heavy Hitter Stockpads, consider taking a break from your search and trying one of the Rock Jam pads. They're so well-made -- and durable -- that I'd recommend one not only to a beginner, but to any marching arts member who needs an affordable pad to take on summer tour.

I am only basing this on feel. If you're not convinced and you happen to own one of each, try it blindfolded, playing the same piece of music. The difference in feel will be small.

Happy chopping.

Vintage Corner: First-generation Vic Firth Stockpad, circa 2000?

Kind of a holy grail among marching drummers. First-generation Vic Firth Stockpad. Extremely hard to find. (The Slimpad is even more scarce, and those who own one aren't letting go.)
The first generation Stockpad DOES look, feel and sound different than subsequent generations of this pad.  Marching drummers who came up with this version of the pad swear by it.

I now find myself with two, which is sort of unheard of. I will try to sell one. If I can't, I'll know that the end of the world is nigh.