Buyers Guide

Need a Low-Volume Drum Practice Solution?

For serious drummers striving for incremental improvements in skill that will translate to their performance on an acoustic kit live on stage or in the studio, a lack of authentic playing feel while practicing matters a lot.

Good in a Pinch: Electronic Kits

While electronic kits let you practice silently with a set of headphones, their main focus is on sound quality, flexibility and technical features. Delivering these puts a limit on the materials and construction that can be used, and therefore how close to an acoustic kit the playing feel can come.

Although we’ve recently seen the rubber drum pads on some electronic kits replaced by mesh pads, there’s still a lot of rubber involved somewhere on the kit, so the overall experience still isn’t quite authentic. The cymbal triggers on electronic kits remain a particular culprit here. No effective replacement for the rubber cymbal pad has been introduced as yet.

So what's the best solution available?

For authentic playing feel, speed and character, the combination of Zildjian’s L-series low-volume cymbals combined with Remo Silentstroke drumheads fitted onto a standard acoustic drum kit is a far superior option. Let’s look at the ranges individually.

Zildjian Low-Volume Cymbals

Zildjian developed the L80 Low Volume range to deliver an accurate cymbal playing experience whilst being up to 80% quieter than a traditional cymbal. They are the perfect solution for practice spaces, small drum lesson rooms, low volume gigs or anywhere you want to play and not be loud.

Available as sets and individual cymbals in a variety of popular sizes, there’s a selection to suit any drummer wanting to recreate their live or studio setup.

The LV348 set includes a pair of 13″HiHats, 14″Crash, and 18″Crash Ride cymbal. The LV468 keeps the 18″Crash Ride, but replaces the 13″HiHats with 14″ HiHats and a 16″crash instead of a 14″Crash.

Remo Silentstroke Drumheads

Featuring single-ply construction, the Silentstroke™ drumheads are fitted to a standard acoustic drum kit and give you a soft, spring-like feel at very low decibel levels.

They are the ultimate in low volume drumheads, designed for quiet practice applications where standard drumset volumes are an issue.

The Silentstroke drumhead range is available in sizes ranging from 6″ to 24″. For tom and snare drums, the available sizes are 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 18″. For bass drums, you can select from 18, 20, 22, or 24″sizes.

Get an EXTRA 10% off your ZIldjian & Remo Low-Volume setup

Purchase a Zildjian LV348 or LV468 low-volume cymbal set with any selection of Remo Silentstroke drumheads and get an extra 10% off your order total. Simply use the code GO-QUIET on checkout to claim your discount.

Offer valid until 15 August 2020 and while current stocks last.