The Sabian Practice Snare Drum Mesh Pad BK is a 10" black snare drum mesh pad, featuring a quiet tone, with a tuneable hoop. Practicing in silence is no longer a problem with these Practice Pads from Sabian. The use of a real hoop which holds the mesh head in place offers the player perfect play feeling which almost perfectly imitates that of a genuine drum. A further advantage of this construction is that the heads can be tuned to fit your personal demands. The Quiet Tone Practice Mesh Pad can be comfortably placed on a table top, secured in a snare stand or directly onto a snare drum and always offers the ideal practice circumstances. This snare drum practice mesh pad features special sound absorbing mesh that reduces volume by up to 99% so you can practice quietly. A triple-flanged metal hoop is ideal for rim shots and cross-sticking, just like a real drum, and adjustable tensioning lets you control the response and feel for diverse styles of playing. Finally, patented non-slip rubber feet transfer the energy from your drumstick to the drumhead.
The main features of the Sabian Practice Snare Drum Mesh Pad BK include:
The pad is good. If you’re going to be playing an electronic kit, this is very similar in feel. It is very quiet, more so than a rubber practice pad. It is seemingly put together from ‘already available’ components if that makes sense, in that the design could be better. The nuts for the skin-tightening lugs rotate when adjusting tension which is a bit of a design flaw.
Also, applying a big blob of silicon sealant in-between the cross-braces is a good thing to do, as it further reduces noise.
They could have also added a thread at the bottom so that you could screw it to a stand.
Size-wise, a ten-inch pad is more than large enough for practice IMO.
I’m being quite picky... but with all that said, if you’re looking for a quiet pad over everything else, and are going electronic for your main kit then this is a great choice.
Is it expensive for what it is? Yes.
Would I buy it again if I had to? Yes.