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Sanders Practice Kit

Article from One Two Testing, August 1985

semi-silent drumming


IN 1972, London drummer Bill Sanders decided to knock himself up a practice kit. Feeling rather pleased with it, and being something of a handyman, he reasoned that other drummers would possibly be willing to part with their cash for such a product. Thus the prototype Bill Sanders practice kit was born. The original was of similar concept to this latest version except that it was made of wood and had much more of a 'home-made' air about it.

I must straightaway tell you I've been the owner of one of the earlier versions for years, and would still be using it but for the arrival of the new model which I've been thrashing for a month or two. I'm therefore reviewing it from the point of view of a long-established user. But consider: there are only two types of practice kit readily available in this country. One is the Sanders, the other is the Remo. Since I've got both types I hope I can here give you a more balanced view of the Sanders.

The Remo set-up is an all-metal affair consisting of steel-rod stands with circular steel-rimmed pads. These are, of course, fitted with Remo drum heads tensioned down onto foam-cushioned pads. So you're playing a real drum head — albeit very damped — and getting, to an extent, a real drum feel. I bought my original Sanders before buying the Remo. But a few years ago I got a bit bored tapping on the rubber Sanders pads, and decided to try the Remo, which I assumed would feel nearer to a real kit. The trouble was I soon discovered the Remo was quite a bit noisier, the feel was only marginally more drum-like, and the stands flimsier. Now I'm not knocking the Remo — I still believe the real-head surface is the best idea in theory — but for my purposes I returned to the Sanders because of its quietness and indestructibility.

So what is the Sanders kit like? Well, as I say, the earlier wooden affairs were sort of homely, prompting the regular query from visitors, "did you make those yourself?" So when I got the new ones, my immediate reaction was, "this bloke's really got it together now". A simple idea, perfected over the years, to the present excellently designed product.

It comes broken down into a surprisingly small package containing full instructions for assembly; a ten-minute job for the standard five-drum set-up. The unit is fully adjustable so you can accurately mirror your own acoustic kit layout. In fact Sanders claims that any drum set (including double-bass drum multi-tom kits) can be copied using extra pads and stands. There's also a heavy-duty extra-freight pad if you run to double tiers of toms, etc.

The system comprises aluminium square-section stands and inserted into them are the steel tubes which support the pads. The pads are circles of ¾in chipboard covered in 3mm thick, hard rubber and bounded by chrome-steel rims. The pad sizes are arbitrary, and are normally 10in square, 11in tom, 12in floor tom (although they're interchangeable as you wish), and a 5in bass drum. This latter has foam rubber underneath so it's much spongier than the other pads.

The aluminium stands have plastic collars into which the steel tube pad-supports slide. Once adjusted to the required height, they are then locked by chromed-steel lever rods. The stands are joined by horizontal side sections. These are secured by an ingenious locking system. A plastic locking plate inserts between the stand and the side section. A steel lever bolt with a fibre washer screws through the section into the stand. This enables the stands to be positioned at the correct distance apart, and once tightened the locking plates ensure the whole assembly can be lifted without collapsing like a baby giraffe.

The pads themselves are adjusted for angle via heavy-duty chromed wing nuts screwed into the tubular steel supports. The bass drum pad is mounted centrally on the back section and has a steel plate for the mounting of your bass pedal. There are a pair of screw-down bass spurs to anchor the whole unit. These have optional rubber tips, if needed.

Sanders has invested £40,000 in having the whole set specially tooled-up so that every part in the system is custom made. This is the result of 12 years of experimentation and feedback from drummers, and it shows in the functional economy and simple neatness of the design. It works.

As you can see, I'm impressed; so what are the criticisms? Well, a couple of niggling things. The bass drum is only 5in in diameter, and set at the optimum height. This is undoubtedly fine for 99 out of 100 drummers. But it occurs to me that just occasionally someone might set their pedal beater unusually high or unusually low, in which case the 5in pad may not offer sufficient leeway. Secondly the pads themselves, secured by the pretty solid wing-nuts, nevertheless do sometimes work loose if you play very hard for a long period. This is not as disastrous as it would be on a real kit/real gig, but could prove a nuisance. Again this only occurs rarely, and part of the trouble is in tending to leave a practice kit set-up for ever, while a real kit gets set up (and tightened) on a day-to-day basis. These are small moans, however; the only major discussion point I feel is with the playing surface. This is a special hard rubber which does not wear out. I can vouch that my old kit doesn't have a mark after years of bashing. But it is hard. Now traditionally this is what practice pads are about. It's essential to remember a practice kit is not a real drum kit. It is there for two main purposes: (1) to enable you to practise technique and work out rhythms, etc; (2) to enable you to play at any time without alienating the neighbours. Whether you use a Sanders or Remo the feel is quite different from when you're playing a real drum kit. This is a fact. One good aspect of the traditional hard practice kit surface is that it points up all your flaws. There's no big sound to hide in and kid yourself. You know when your sticking is tatty. Conversely, the bounce given by the hard surface makes certain things easier to play than on the more giving surface of real drums. Personally I do sometimes wish the surfaces would give a little more — perhaps the addition of a thin layer of foam beneath the rubber? — but in truth it's forlorn to ever expect a solid pad to feel like a drum, which is a thin membrane tensioned over a cylinder of air. They're different things, and by coming to terms with this, the practice kit can be accepted for what it is.

The proof of this is shown by the increasing success of Bill Sanders' cottage-industry endeavours. He's having difficulty keeping up with orders for the new kit. He's had no help from the drum companies in the past, although Premier are endorsing the new kit which is getting much bigger response from the dealers. For the future he's working on the possibility of a T-section frame (two pads on a single post), to make things even more compact and light. And experiments have just been made with trigger mikes, under the rubber surface, to convert the pads into a synth-driving electronic kit. This, he assures me, works fine and is an obvious step for anyone waiting to combine a practice set with a budget — but sturdy — electronic kit.

Electronics aside, I can understand a lot of drummers resenting spending £145 on something which isn't a real drum or cymbal. All I can say is once you've got one, it becomes indispensable — and it's built to last a lifetime.

SANDERS BS715 practice kit: £145

CONTACT: Sandrum House, (Contact Details).



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Publisher: One Two Testing - IPC Magazines Ltd, Northern & Shell Ltd.

The current copyright owner/s of this content may differ from the originally published copyright notice.
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One Two Testing - Aug 1985

Donated by: Colin Potter

Gear in this article:

Drums (Acoustic) > Sanders > BS715

Review by Geoff Nicholls

Previous article in this issue:

> Propping Up A Video

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> Letters


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