One cool thing about playing drums is that because it’s a percussive instrument, the sky’s the limit when it comes to changing the sound or the way we play, so there are always new gadgets coming out.
We have a whole treasure chest (or tickle trunk, for any Canadian readers) full of small kitschy drum-related items. Jared tested 14 of them in the studio so you don’t have to!
The description: Hang this over a cymbal to add tambourine jingles to every hit. It works like a sizzle.
The verdict: It sounds cool, but it’s kind of in the way.
The description: It’s a cymbal topper that keeps the cymbal spinning once you give it some momentum. It’s supposed to give the cymbal a sort of vibrato.
The verdict: It does sound a bit different than striking a ‘stationary’ cymbal.
The description: This gadget is for dampening a snare drum. It comes in different sizes; the bigger it is, the more dampening you get.
The verdict: This is really effective and super cool!
The description: These colored foams replace your standard cymbal felts.
The verdict: They look cool, but don’t seem to make a difference while playing. However, the bigger ones work (from the Moderator series) to reduce unwanted overtones and volume.
The description: Instead of a standard wingnut, these cymbal toppers use a pinch-release mechanism for fast changeovers.
The verdict: These making changing cymbals crazy quick. Total win.
The description: This system makes it easy to quickly change your bass drum beater. Once you’ve connected it to your pedal, you can change the beater head in seconds.
The verdict: This makes it easy and quick to change beater, It’d probably be handy in the studio.
The description: These reusable sound control pads reduce overtones and change the sound of drums or cymbals.
The verdict: We use these at the Drumeo studio all the time, so there’s your answer.
The description: The DrumDial measures the tension of each rod. As you move around the head, it’ll help you evenly tune the drum.
The verdict: It’s a great tool, but it isn’t a replacement for developing your ear. The DrumDial doesn’t tell you if the drum sounds good; it’s to be used as a guide to get the drum evenly tensioned before you fine-tune.
The description: Put this gadget on each tension rod and it’ll help you turn them evenly.
The verdict: It’s not bad, but we find the DrumDial easier to use.
The description: These spiky pads attach to bass drum spurs to prevent the bass drum from sliding on any type of floor.
The verdict: Unfortunately we couldn’t properly try them out in this video.
The description: If you want to make a clapping or whip-cracking sound, that’ll do the trick.
The verdict: Like many percussion instruments, this is probably only useful in certain contexts.
The description: This stretchy ring wraps around a cymbal to mute it.
The verdict: It may have been a little tough to put on, but it works! This is a really cheap solution for anyone who wants to mute a cymbal but have it still feel like a regular cymbal.
The description: Low Boy makes awesome-looking beaters with customizable options.
The verdict: This beater felt really light, so if you usually play heavy beaters it might take some getting used to.
The description: Like a set of hi-hats, this contraption essentially consists of a ‘garbage can lid’ and a piece of wood with chains on it.
The verdict: It’s trashy sounding when you hit it, and jingly sounding when you open-close.
That’s it. What should we test next?
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