Playing the Compact Traveler at Home Part 1 - Does the Mesh Drumhead Work?

The most common problem for drummers is, without a doubt, practicing.
Even though going to a nearby studio is time-consuming and expensive, many people feel that just playing on a practice pad at home is not enough practice.
One way to prevent noise is to set up an acoustic drum set with a mesh drumhead on it. I would like to show you how to set it up in this blog post.

This time I used a compact drum set PCTK-1810BG.

PEARL / PCTK-1810BG Compact Traveler

A snare with a 10-inch diameter and an 18-inch bass drum set. This set can be used together with the dedicated tom set PCTK-ADDKIT to create an attractive one-tom setting.
The set has no shell for easy portability, so I thought, "If I put a mesh drumhead on it, it will be perfect for home practice."
So let's get to work right away.

First, open the packaging!
The set contents look like this.

I will be replacing four heads: 10" snare, 18" bass drum, 10" & 14" tom toms. Looking at the hoops, everything looks the same as a standard drum set, and it looks like I can also use the mesh drumheads and other common heads that I’m trying out this time.
The other key point is what the shell section looks like.

Now, let's go ahead and remove the hoop.
Without the rim, the top view looks just like a regular snare or tom.

It comes with the same tuning key as a standard drum, which is used to remove the head.
The head has never been used, so it’s very clean.
If I have another chance to play outdoors, I will use this head.

I removed the head and found that it was mountainous in shape so that the tension is applied evenly to the head as well as the Top section of a typical shell.
As for the snare, it’s designed with a snappy cut in half as shown in the photo below. When the screw on the bottom is tightened, the snappy hits the head and produces a snare-like sound.

I put a mesh drumhead, which is used for a typical drum set, on it, and it fits perfectly!
Can you see that the edge of the shell is slightly stuck?
Now, if I tighten the hoop, the mesh will be tensioned without any problem, and it will be fine!

The head is tensioned and the feel is very good, just like a real drum.
The construction of the hoop is also very much like a real drum. I think it’s good practice hitting the rim without hitting the stick.

In the same way as I would set up a snare, I put the heads on the toms and bass drum.
The bass drum looks like this when attached to it.

Bass drum hoops have a unique shape, so be careful about the heads you put on, but since they are held close to the metal hoop, the heads for metal hoops used on toms or other instruments, seem to be easy to attach.

Here is an example of the product I used for this blog as a reference. This is the most recommended product among the mesh drumheads. Please give it a try.

EVANS / 18" DB ONE Tom Btr

What I found especially nice was the floor tom, which is 14 inches in diameter!
The snare drum has a strong bounce from the head, and the floor tom feels like the tip sinks the moment it is struck. I think the appeal of the Compact Traveler is that it gives a feel similar to that of real drums.

How was it?
That's all for now.Next time I will assemble the hardware and actually set it up.
For home practice, I am definitely a mesh drumhead fan!
If you have never used a mesh drumhead, I hope you will give it a try.