The topic title pretty much says it all. What's your opinion and why?

You didn't say whether you wanted 5 or 6 pads to play on or full size or mini size.�� However, my youngest�� son has the full sized 5-pad Sean Vega made by Xymox.�� Its over 3 years old and has held up very well.�� He uses a piano keyboard stand (folding metal x-frame) to place his on when he practices.�� Its relatively easy to carry to the car, etc. I ts the best money I ever spent.�� There are 6-pad setups available, too.�� ��

There is also a Murray Gusseck 5-pad setup made by Xymox that's available for basically same price.

As far as the cheapest place to get it, try Google-ing and compare.  I bought my son's from the Xymox table at the regional DCI show in Atlanta back in 2004.  The guy sold it to me very cheap since he didn't want to haul it back to his van after the show.

Have fun!

Hmm good point... I forgot to mention the details. [b]Looking for a full sized sextet pad.[/b] Trying to emulate a 10";, 12";, 13";, 14"; with 2 spocks set.

How does that Xymox pad perform with rebound and scrapes? Is there a horrible amount of drag (like Quadropads without laminates)? What about placement of the pads? Does it promote proper stick placement while sweeping?

Basically, I'm trying to find a pad that doesn't promote bad sweep/scrape technique. I find that a lot of the time, as soon as I start practicing on pads, I start hitting rims on the real drums. It could just be a placebo effect - I really don't know.

I've got an indoor competition this Friday. I'll bring some cash - just in case I might be able to luck out like you did ;)

Paint Cans. ;-)

Some of the best tenor pads I have seen have been ones that guys end up making themselves. Some I have seen have taking the gum rubber pads and then layed them out on new wood and mounted them using liquid nails or sumn of that sort. The final product is a pretty close replica of the tenors that they are actually playing on. Sounds weird and like a lot of work, but one of my buddies has a set to match both the Pearl and Yamaha sets.

The benefit of the Xymox pads is they have little raised sections to simulate rims.

I have this old RealFeel pad, but I don't think it's made anymore.  The black part sounds different than the tan part, so you're forced to play on the correct part of the head.

[img]http://www.drumsontheweb.com/DOTWphotos/manunewsphotos/HQPerc0201.jpg[/img]

MAN I miss that pad ^^  Unfortunately, I didn't get one before they stopped making them.  BOO!!!