Need advice on best snare drum upgrade for TD6V

[Fenderman]

I bought the TD6V kit, the PD8X pad for snare is just not that great. It seems to trigger really loud when struck near lower half of pad and has dead spots on upper half of pad.

I was wondering which pad to upgrade to for a better snare drum sound/feel.

Thanks!

[daveybabes]

Hiya

I bought the TD6V kit, the PD8X pad for snare is just not that great. It seems to trigger really loud when struck near lower half of pad and has dead spots on upper half of pad.

I was wondering which pad to upgrade to for a better snare drum sound/feel.

Thanks!

Never used the PD8X, sounds faulty to me ... is it fixable ?

I use a PD105 and it's fab with a TD6V

http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLPD105BK

[ige87]

That'll be because the trigger is mounted under the Roland logo rather than in the centre. Have you tried increasing the tension a little, may well help with the dead spots. Other than that, all the Roland pads will work perfectly.

[KevH]

I have to say look at the Hart snares too. I use an Acupad and it's great, and the Hart pro snare is awesome and built like a tank. It depends on your budget really.

[ige87]

I'd say do all you can with what you've already got before you go spending your money! Many are very happy with the PDX-8 so I'd get tweaking!

[Ruffneck]

I have just ordered a Field 13" Snare drum. For 299USD i could not resist the temptation. It will take a couple of weeks before i get it, but if you are interested i can write a report/review. Currently i have a PD-105.

Thx,

Kari

[Fenderman]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did take the pad back to Sam Ash and the guy there said it was working fine. It seems tightening the mesh pad further makes the pad even less sensitive. Overall not very good to me.

I was wondering if the PD105 or PD125 would be worth the money and be Huge improvement. I don't have a way to try the Hart snare since the music stores here don't carry them.

[Greenbutmean]

I was wondering if the PD105 or PD125 would be worth the money and be Huge improvement. I don't have a way to try the Hart snare since the music stores here don't carry them.

Well my TD-6SXT came with the PD105. I have played the PD8X and found the 105 to be well, yes a huge improvement.

And I recently replaced the 105 with a PD125 and that was a huge improvement over the PD105.

So replacing the PD8X with a PD125 would be a GIGANTIC improvement.

My opinion.

[CKae]

I was wondering if the PD105 or PD125 would be worth the money and be Huge improvement. I don't have a way to try the Hart snare since the music stores here don't carry them.

I have a TD6-KW kit that came with PDX-8. I have to say PDX-8 sucks, just like u said, too sensitive at the "lower" part, dead for the "upper" part due to the trigger's position. I've adjusted the head tension for so many times and still am not satisfied with the result.

I bought a PD-125 to replace the PDX-8 and it's definitely a huge improvement. Never tried other brands though, cause I can't get them in Hong Kong.

[Fenderman]

Great information! Sounds like the PD-125 would be a good choice, glad to hear they are much better. Now how to hide the additional $395.00 charge from the wife boss lady after the recent drumset purchase.

[SuperPuss]

Another bump here for replacing your PDX8. I originally had a PDX8 with my TD12 module and I could improve it with a lot of tweaking but was never happy with its response.
I replaced it with a PD105 and the difference is night and day.

[rbressers]

I just swapped my PD-105 with a PD-125 and that also was definitly a good decision. I don't know if it's the bigger surface or just a faulty PD-105, but the positional sensing has got better and ofcourse, a bigger surface is always better for a snare.
It just feels right better.

[Fenderman]

On the advice from others here, I ordered a 10" Roland snare PD-105. Just arrived today, i have been playing on it for several hours and it truly is a HUGE improvement over the PD8X pad. The playing surface and size feels more realistic, the sensing is much more even (no more dead and hot spots), and the rim shot sensing is much better.

Now on to improving the hi-hat, the FD-8 pedal and CY-5 just ain't very good with TD6V. I'm considering VH11 versus an acoustic hi hat.

[Swaledale]

You can upgrade to a VH-11 - better still, upgrade the module and you'll notice a dramatic difference.

[vdrummer20]

I would tweak the parameters of the FD8 on the TD6. I noticed a huge difference on the FD8 with the upgrade from a TD6 to a TD12, which to me means that the FD8/CY5 should be able to trigger as well as any other product out there on the TD6 with some tweaking.