Alesis DM10 Mesh head Pad Upgrade Video!

[eugenecp]

g, are ur beaters felt?

[Guinness]

yes

[Hellfire]

Felt beaters should be fine with the Billy Blast mesh heads. The Billy Blast are not abrasive like other mesh heads. This is even more true with the patch on the head.

I know that people are normally told not to use felt beaters with mesh but, Billy Blast heads are different. They are not abrasive. They don't even hurt the bearing edge of a drum from what I can tell. Something to keep in mind.

[eugenecp]

that's good to know phil.  does it mean there's no need for a patch on it as well like the falam slam with the felt beaters?

[Hellfire]

that's good to know phil.  does it mean there's no need for a patch on it as well like the falam slam with the felt beaters?

I would say, get the patch on the Billy Blast mesh head just to make the head last longer. I don't really see a need for the falam slam on these BB heads. Other mesh heads is a different story. I hope that helps.

[Guinness]

I checked my kick last night and noticed where the beater hits, it is getting pretty worn.  My plan is to get a patch... like the one to repair knees on a pair of jeans, and glue it to the surface... where the two beaters strike.  Before I apply it, I thought I'd take a hole punch and punch some holes in the patch.  This will ensure there's still air flow, and thereby not creating a drum head and thus accoustic noise.  Maybe I don't need to do that.  Just thinking about it, I suppose.
 
The other heads are holding up well.  I assume it helps that I switched to 7A nylon sticks.

[MoonlightBob]

You guys have been busy!

Still too early for me to start messing, but when I need replacement skins I think I'll be tempted.

This whole Roland patent thing about 2-ply mesh heads, why not import from Europe if the lawyers can't reach that far? I can recomend a good 'reliable' retailer who will ship to the US.

have a Google for 'Drum-Stop Sheffield'. The dollar is quite strong versus the pound at the moment. Grab some bargains!

[Guinness]

The exchange rate is better than I thought.  £899.00 = $1237 USD for a Alesis Pro kit.  Not bad.
 
I didn't see mesh heads on Drum Stop's site.  Do they carry?

[Guinness]

It's been one week of sporatic use and the pactch on the snare is starting to come up and off.  Otherwise, it's holding up pretty good.  I still need to add a patch to the kick.  I'm pretty sure that head is going to break soon. 

[MoonlightBob]

The exchange rate is better than I thought.  £899.00 = $1237 USD for a Alesis Pro kit.  Not bad.
 
I didn't see mesh heads on Drum Stop's site.  Do they carry?

Hi G. they can get them. Also, if you ask, you may get a little discount on the Pro Kit too.

[Guinness]

Well, the snare is pretty much toast.  I put a patch on the first snag/hole, and that seemed to work for awhile.  Now I have a new one. 
 
I don't recommend the Billy Blast heads in regards to durability.
 
I just ordered a Roland 10" mesh head.  $48 with shipping.  So, we'll see how that is on my snare.
 
the other heads are working fine (toms and kick)...  although, i did put a patch on the kick.

[Hellfire]

Well, the snare is pretty much toast.  I put a patch on the first snag/hole, and that seemed to work for awhile.  Now I have a new one. 
 
I don't recommend the Billy Blast heads in regards to durability.
 
I just ordered a Roland 10" mesh head.  $48 with shipping.  So, we'll see how that is on my snare.
 
the other heads are working fine (toms and kick)...  although, i did put a patch on the kick.

You won't have a problem with that Roland head. It will most likely last you 4-6 years. Assume you don't break a stick and that broken stick doesn't hit the mesh.

Roland and Hart are the most durable but they come with a big price tag.

[H3RB]

got round to changing my heads today but i have really bad hot spotting on the first tom... i did all pads the same way. the other toms work fine but for some reason the first tom only triggers as it should when  its hit dead center. any ideas?

[eugenecp]

you could check if the reflector plate is properly positioned in between the holes of the white foam.

[Hellfire]

got round to changing my heads today but i have really bad hot spotting on the first tom... i did all pads the same way. the other toms work fine but for some reason the first tom only triggers as it should when  its hit dead center. any ideas?

Sounds like a couple things could be the issue. First off did you do the conversion just like the video or did you do something different?

A couple of things to check might be how tight is the plate in there. In other words the foam that is attached to that plate (the thin stuff) might be keeping the edge of the plate from vibrating. You might need to trim it down.

You may not have enough material in the drum itself. If top foam (the black stuff) is not slightly above the bearing edge of the drum shell (before you put the head on) it may not trigger outside of the center. That's because the edge will be sitting below the head deflection causing the head to never make contact on the outer edges of the foam.

Make sure you didn't knock a wire loose on the piezo. Sometime a wire can come loose and you only get contact when you hit dead center because there is a enough deflection to push the piezo back onto the wire momentarily.

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe you could take some picks of the inside. That might help. Just a thought.

[H3RB]

i trimmed the foam around the plate so it fits inside the wooden shell. under the bottom layer i added some 6mm foam
so my drum goes
6mm foam
white foam (cd size hole cut into it)
plate with the original foam
black foam
mesh head

the black foam sticks up above the rim out 1cm. the only thing i did different is i didnt remove the resistors.
2 of the toms i did are fine but the first tom is really picky about where its hit.

[H3RB]

would adding another layer of 6mm foam above the plate make it any worse or could it fix the problem?

[Hellfire]

would adding another layer of 6mm foam above the plate make it any worse or could it fix the problem?

I doubt it. You can try it however. Something has to be different about that trigger than they others or you wouldn't have an issue with it. Double check everything about it. Maybe there is something wrong with the piezo? At this point you will most likely have to do a visual comparison to one of your other triggers. Double check the sub plate too. How did it trigger before you did the conversion? Outside of that, I don't know what else to do.

[H3RB]

does it matter if i trimmed the foam pad on the sensor plate  too much? the foam is about .5cm away from the edge of the plate. also the hole in the white plate is a bit bigger then a cd can it be cut too big at all?

[Guinness]

white foam hole too big wouldn't be an issue, as you don't want it touching the reflector plate.  So, i doubt that's the issue.
 
It's strange that you did the same thing all on pads, and this is the only one that isn't working properly.  If indeed you did the exact same thing on each, I'd guess the piezo is defective.   Which isn't a big deal to replace.   (I don't know if piezo's go bad, but just as with anything electronic, it may.)
 
You could try putting it back together as it was originally, and see if the hot spot is still there.

[Hellfire]

white foam hole too big wouldn't be an issue, as you don't want it touching the reflector plate.  So, i doubt that's the issue.
 
It's strange that you did the same thing all on pads, and this is the only one that isn't working properly.  If indeed you did the exact same thing on each, I'd guess the piezo is defective.   Which isn't a big deal to replace.   (I don't know if piezo's go bad, but just as with anything electronic, it may.)
 
You could try putting it back together as it was originally, and see if the hot spot is still there.

At this point I would have to agree with Guinness. I guessing something is wrong with the piezo or how it is mounted. A new piezo is anywhere from $1.00 - $3.00 depending on where you get it from. If you decide to change the piezo out, you will be looking for a 27mm piezo.

One other thing I thought of and this is just to double check before you start changing out the piezo. Double check your settings in the DM10 and make sure they are just like the tom next to it. Just in case it is a setting issue. Heck you might even want to try plugging the trigger into an other input to see if it matters. It never hurts to double check.

[DeeDubs]

Hey HF,

Just wanted to drop a line and say thanks for the vid. It helped last night when my kick pad stopped working. After taking the steps that have been suggested (checking all settings and connections and trying different inputs) I took it apart and it looked like part of the foam flipped over (?) preventing a good transfer from the head (wierd eh?). I checked all the connections, shook my head at how thin the piezo leads are (I've broken a couple on my KD-7) and was able to get everything reassembled and working again in under 10 minutes.

Has anyone else had issues, or modded the kick pad for heavy use?

Does anyone have any leads (pun intended) on some 27mm piezos with thicker wire leads (just in case)?

[H3RB]

well i kinda fixed my problem. its still not perfect but its much better then it was.
i cut an ever bigger hole in the white foam just to make sure it defiantly wasnt touching. then put it back together and tried it, seemed to work abit better but then i noticed some of the foam around the edge wasnt actually touching the mesh head. so took it apart again and looked at the foam.  part of the edge of the foam was squashed into a point and sat below the rim of the drum, i puffed the foam back out and tried it again. much better this time but still not as good as it should be. so i took some 6mm foam and cut out a circle to fit inside the wooden shell, then i cut the center out of it so it made a donut shape. i put the new extra piece of foam on top of the plate's foam and then put the black foam back on top. now all of the foam touches the mesh head and it triggers alot better then it did. its still not perfect but its much much better then it was. i turned the sensitivity up quite high also and thats helped some more.
that probably doesnt make sense lol but they ya go

[Hellfire]

well i kinda fixed my problem. its still not perfect but its much better then it was.
i cut an ever bigger hole in the white foam just to make sure it defiantly wasnt touching. then put it back together and tried it, seemed to work abit better but then i noticed some of the foam around the edge wasnt actually touching the mesh head. so took it apart again and looked at the foam.  part of the edge of the foam was squashed into a point and sat below the rim of the drum, i puffed the foam back out and tried it again. much better this time but still not as good as it should be. so i took some 6mm foam and cut out a circle to fit inside the wooden shell, then i cut the center out of it so it made a donut shape. i put the new extra piece of foam on top of the plate's foam and then put the black foam back on top. now all of the foam touches the mesh head and it triggers alot better then it did. its still not perfect but its much much better then it was. i turned the sensitivity up quite high also and thats helped some more.
that probably doesnt make sense lol but they ya go

Well I guess that is good news. I'm glad you got it working better.

[ccie5754]

Howdy from the frozen wastelands of Canada!

I'm about (not "aboot") to perform surgery on an out-of-the-box DM10 dual-zone pad but I have a few surgical questions before hacking away at my patient:

1. In the video, considering that all that is done is moving the order and replacing a head with another, why the need for an additional piece of foam to lift the assembly?  Is it because of the circled out white foam no longer provides the desired thickness?

2. For that same foam lift, is a mute pad too thick for that job?  I still have some from a drumrocker mesh mod, so it would save me a trip to the most emasculating store in the world (Michael's)

3. Anyone try with a Peal Muffle Head mesh?  They don't carry BB's over here so that would be my only choice in mesh heads short of trying to use a V-Drum head which I know isn't a standard 10in fit and would require a second mortgage on my house.

4. I'm using this primo trigger on an Alesis DM-6 module (tight budget you see).  DM-6 does not have trigger sensitivity adjustments (but it does have a kick-butt Bossa Nova midi practice track!  ).  How has the sensitivity changed after the mod?  Better? worse?  Would you recommend surgery in my case or is it an at-risk patient considering the DM-6?

All opinions and comments welcomed.  Thank you.

- Ben