Which are the best electronic tom pads available for your edrum set? Almost everyone likes to have a few extra toms whenever possible, since they give you so much additional voices on your kit. If you want to add toms, or replace your current tom pads, which should you choose?
My studio set has 5 toms. I can certainly play with just 2, but for metal and hard rock, huge toms fills are just an inherent part of the musical genre. More is better! I have tried a variety of pad styles on my kits and have lots to report to help you to make the best choice possible.
This post delves into the best electronic tom pads for your edrum set.
Best Electronic Tom Pad Options
Most toms pads use a dual piezo design with one sensor for the rim and one for the head. An older style that is still in use by some manufacturers is a single piezo with a switch that activates the rim. This is generally thought to be a cheaper and inferior design and I agree with this sentiment. Switches are never as good as separate piezos, since the threshold needed to activate the switch is never as low as the softest hits.
Tom can be very flat in profile, half shell design or full shell design. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each:
Flat pads do not look cool. They do not have stage presence. They do not look at all like acoustic drums. However, flat pads tend to be the least expensive design. They are also the easiest to transport and generally the lightest in weight. They are also the best for positioning around your set, since they do not have any real depth to accommodate. Like your toms flat, low and close to you? Nothing beats flat pads! Notable examples include Roland PDX-8 and PDX-12 in mesh heads and basically all the rubber pads on the market…
Half shell pads are made to look more like acoustic drums of smaller scale. They have some stage presence, but certainly not as much as full shell sizes. They are generally more expensive than flat pads, heavier and more cumbersome to transport. However, they do look cooler and set up similar to acoustic drums with a shallow profile. They can also usually be recovered in any number of different wraps, making them easy to customize in appearance. I like half-shell pads due to their flexibility. Notable examples are the Roland PD-128 and PD-108 pads and the newest Yamaha pads from the DTX8 and DTX10 series.
Full shell pads are basically just acoustic drums that have been converted into electronic pads. They might have a basic trigger design or a very complex one, depending on manufacturer and price. These drums look just like acoustic drums and really can not be differentiated from normal acoustic drums. This is a selling feature, for sure. They can be recovered in any type of wrap and some are even available in real wood finishes, just like fine acoustic drums. These full shell toms are generally the most expensive pads, as well as the heaviest and most difficult to transport. Notable examples include the Roland VAD pads, like the PDA-100, PDA-120 and PDA-140. Other good examples include the ATV aDrums, the EF Note 5 and 7 series toms and many others.
Best and Worst Edrum Tom Pads
So which pads are the best? Well in order to quantify this, I took into consideration many factors, including price, compatibility with different modules, quality, triggering performance, feel and overall appearance. Let’s take a look at some of the best and the worst tom pads on the market for your electronic drum kit:
The ones I DO NOT particularly like:
I am not a fan of any of the rubber tom pads on the market. Rubber pads are loud, can injure hands and wrists (especially on young and novice players) and are just so uninspiring to play on. I say skip all of them! If I had to choose the best (of the worst), they would actually be the cheapest! I would vote the unnamed pads on the Roland TD1K kit and Yamaha DTX400 series as feeling the best and producing the least acoustic noise.
I am not a fan of the Yamaha textured silicone pads. I find them very dead and spongy feeling. Worse, most of them look like they escaped from a bad Sci-Fi space movie, with their 80s video game silver color scheme and strange rim design. On top of it all, they are really, really expensive. No thanks! If you love them, that’s cool. I just can’t recommend them based on price, really specific feel and now being mostly discontinued…
I am not a big fan of any of the center mount trigger systems due to hotspotting. This includes the very best pads in the category, like the Roland PD-128, and the worst, like the cheaper PDX-100. These are all fine, but hotspots are not cool and they are easily avoided with newer pad styles. I also do not like the center mounted triggers in virtually edrum acoustic conversions I have played.
Ok, so here are my favorite tom pads:
Roland PDX-12 pads are very large and not at all expensive. They are flat and easily mounted in a number of ways. They work with almost every module. They look flimsy, but actually have a robust construction that has won me over with time and lots of testing. They trigger great. They are perfect for a budget set up and for drummers who want big toms all around. The downside is a rather pronounced dead spot near the top of the pad opposite the bottom mounted cone. You are not likely to hit it under normal playing circumstances, especially when used as toms. These are cheap also!
ATV aDrum aD-T10 and aD-T13 are awesome. They look beautiful, play wonderfully and work with so many different hypes of modules with no special adjustments. The free standing floor toms are superb. Multiple trigger cones are offset to prevent hotspots. The main downside is the price and the tendency for them to scratch in transit, since they are lacquered wood. The heads are a bit bouncy too, but I grew to love them with a bit of time.
Roland’s full depth VAD series shells like the PDA-100, PDA-120 and PDA-140 are excellent. Roland raised the bar on the competition when they came out with the VAD drum sets. These toms all have offset trigger cones that eliminate hot spots and the tri-cone design on the bigger drums tracks each stroke perfectly. The floor tom provides plenty of feedback just like a real large sized tom without the noise. In love!
And the Winner Is…
My choice for the very all-around best tom pad is the Roland PDA-120L. The PDA-120L is a half-shell design that triggers excellent, has 3 trigger cones offset for no hotspots, looks cool, is low weight, easy to transport with a durable wrapped finish and just works so well. I now have them in use for every tom on my kit. They are a dream to play and I can not complain about anything when it comes to the PDA-120L. Want a real winner at a great price? PDA-120L is my King of the Hill here today when it comes to the best electronic tom pad.
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