mesh pads/magic box
2005-09-24 by epvk_jahoe
A long story, sorry for that... I finally finished the 2nd upgrade of my DTXII. It all started because of RSI problems, presumably partly due to the relative inelasticity of the rubber pads - I recently read people asking questions about similar problems so I guess the issue is still relevant for others. I purchased three 10" Pintech ConcertCasts on eBay - in an awful condition. At Pintech Europe I ordered new triggers and foam columns, and I did some more to get them into good shape again. It took some cutting of the columns, trying to find the right (Pearl Mufflehead) mesh head tension, and tweaking the brain, but they all work fine now. For the snare I wanted something 12" sized, but I considered the 12" ConcertCasts too expensive so I bought the Hart ADC-12-G acoustic trigger which was in the Bargain Basement at Drumbalaya. Essentially this is a slice of foam containing the trigger, but it's attached to a peace of plastic which falls over the shell of a acoustic drum. The drum head falls over the device, and together with the drum head (also Pearl Mufflehead in my case), it's being tightened with the tension rods. I guess this is what makes the trigger quite sensitive. Btw the acoustic 12" drum I bought was simply the cheapest I could on eBay find at the time. The result is in the photo section (ErikPaul). It really feels great playing the drums now - much, much better than with the rubber pads. In short: the effort of making/buying mesh drums is certainly worth it! The 3rd upgrade has already begun as I have made the 1st dtxpander electronic circuit. It seems to work (I only had the chance to test it briefly late last night), but similar to what some other experienced (sorry, forgot your names), I had to drop R1 to 10k at least to make the 'rim' trigger. Thanks to the previous posts I was prepared for this: I used a sensitive potmeter for both R1 and R2. I haven't been tweaking R2 so far, however. Further tests (and of course the other three circuits) are planned. In short: the effort of making the dtxpander seems to be certainly worth it! If you're interested, I'll keep you updated. Erik Paul