Inside the Yamaha KP-125 Pad

[alviswesley]

Over the last few months I have had some double triggering problems with my KP-125. Over time I have had to move the self rejection up to about 90ms to stop it. Since my pad is way out of warranty I decided to take it apart and see what might be going on in there. I found there is a thick foam pad that sits on top of 3 or 4 layers of floss material. These floss layers had become loose and seperaterd allowing the harder foam pad to fall out of position from the middle of the pad. In one photo you can see the wear pattern where the pad has changed position over time. Anyway I fixed mine by placing the hard foam pad at the bottom and some more packing foam on top. I removed the flimsy foss all together. It works much better now. The self rejection is set to about 10ms with no doubble triggering. The floss was the problem I think. It`s not very durable at all and I think Yamaha could have done better in my opinion.
I forgot to take photos of my fix before I put all back together but I am attaching some of what the KP-125 is like inside. Alvis

[alviswesley]

The photo of the inner rubber pad showing contact points with the foam pad and piezo. I put some heavy duty tape inside the pad at these points. I was afraid the piezo might wear a hole in the head someday.

[TAKnipe]

Hey Alvis, Thanks for posting the pics, that layer od loose material looks like cotton candy. Are you going to replace that foam with something more durable? Mayber closed cell foam or even an upholstery foam. Let me know if you need anything, I have some spare foam both open and closed cell foam from previous Frankenstein experiments.

Thanks again for the pics Alvis :), Tom

[Scorch Whammin]

Yamaha really needs to get back to their original xtreme pad design. Here is some pics of what the inside of the orig. xtreme KP 120 looks like. No offense to owners of the new pads, it's just, my pads are 8-9 yrs. old.....no problems, no issues and a simple design that works.

[alviswesley]

Tom, Thanks for the offer but I already made my own fix. What I did was I put the large foam pad down in hole in the center of the pad. It can`t fall down now. Then I added two layers of thin foam ( simular to the type Why-Man5 shows from the original DTXtreme pad) on the top. Put it all back together and it works great. Feels great and has good rebound. I don`t think it will fall apart again anytime soon. Yamaha should hire you to show them how to build a quality kick pad.

Why-man, I agree. They should go back to that. Love those pads like yours. There must be a better material than pillow floss. After all I found something laying arround the house that works better. haha

[CaTaPulT]

Alvis, thanks for posting the pics of the inner workings of the KP-125.
After seeing these pics, I too am so not impressed to see how the thing is put together at the factory or the materials used. You would think Yamaha would do some better product testing before putting something out, many people have complained about this pad not having enough sensitivity, and also the rubber surface wearing out prematurely (Which I came up with the fix by using a Evans EQ patch and proved it worked, now from what I understand, Yamaha ships a Bassdrum patch with new KP-125, I didn't hear a thank you from Yamaha for a cheap and easy fix to their problem). On the sensitivity issue, that floss crap and the unstable foam would be the reason I would think. When my kick pad starts acting up, now I know what to try, thanks to you! :)
Take care

Regards: >>>> Jack <<<<

[NPYYZ]

Yamaha really needs to get back to their original xtreme pad design. Here is some pics of what the inside of the orig. xtreme KP 120 looks like. No offense to owners of the new pads, it's just, my pads are 8-9 yrs. old.....no problems, no issues and a simple design that works.

I agree, those Yamaha mesh pads you have are the best I've seen. If they start making those again I'd buy them for sure.

[CaTaPulT]

The Original KP-120 (DTXtreme 1 kit) didn't use mesh, they originally came with mylar heads, Yamaha didn't want to infringe on Roland's patent of mesh heads. I'm not sure, but I believe Roland holds the patent for mesh heads in general, even Pintech heads (which are single ply) say "Patented under license Roland Corporation". If this is the case, I can't see Yamaha ever going the mesh head route. What they could do though, put out pads with cheap mylar heads on them or no heads at all and leave it to the buyer to buy their own mesh heads for those Yamaha drums? This would work without infringing on Roland's patent.
Take care

Regards: >>>> Jack <<<<

[Scorch Whammin]

Your right Jack...these pads did come with mylar heads new from Yamaha...it is easy to change over to mesh, though....which is obviously what I did:)...mainly for the reduced noise level....and yes I am hoping that Yamaha goes back to some kind of design very similar to this in the near future!:)....I've played roland mesh, yamaha rubber, DIY, etc....these are my favs.!:)

[Sir Spinsir]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but I'm planning on doing my own fix this weekend. I was wondering when you repadded your kick, was the center pad flush and even with the outer pad before you put the head on or did it portrude any?
Thanks in advance.
Jon Spencer

[TAKnipe]

Welcome to the forum, I am sure Alvis will be along to answer you, we revive threads all the time. Its a relevant topic and the pad is still in production. We would be interested in your fix as well and as always please post pictures. Thanks, Tom

[alviswesley]

Hi, Sir Spinsir. I wish I had taken photos of the padding I replaced in the pad but in my zeal to get it back together I forgot. I'll tell you what I did though. I removed the white floss material altogether. I used the black hard foam disc and placed it in the center depression. Then I placed two layers of about 1/4 inch packing foam on top of that placed inside the hard outer ring cut to fill the full area with a couple of pieces of tape just to hold it in place when I put it back together. I believe the padding did protrude above the outer ring by about 1/4 inch. My problem was a double triggering sensitivity issue but I've not had any problem with it at all since I replaced the padding. Best of luck with your fix and let us know how it works out. Alvis