Gear Friday: Triggered CB Drums

As I stated last week, I had previously used a Yamaha kit that had pads. Since the feel and cymbals were always an issue, I took an old CB kit and modified it.

To start with, I bought mesh heads. That gave a more realistic rebound feel. I added in piezo elements as trigger sensors, mounted them below the head itself with pieces of felt pulled tight, and then put 1/4" connectors on them in the vent holes. The result was an acoustic looking kit with an electronic sound.

Since I was intending to get rid of the Yamaha kit, I bought 5 cables to hook up the pieces and then got an Alesis Sample Rack. I'll have another post about that at some point, but it has some pretty nice sounds that come standard, and with the SD slot you can use your own sounds. Adding in some vintage Zildjian Avedis hardware made for a much better sound as well.

If you'd like to hear them, Alex's first four videos were shot using this kit. Cymbals were swapped out with his for the recordings, but the general kit is all the same.

His videos are linked below for your convenience.

Atreyu Becoming The Bull
Sidewise Come With Me
3 Days Grace Misery Loves Company
Shinedown Sound Of Madness