$8 ION Drum Rocker Mesh Mod 

Almost 10 years later, this mod still works in 2021, easily bought all components on amazon and its quieter than ever.

Unless you need less materials between you and the sensor for higher sensitivity, I highly recommend keeping the thin rubber adhered to the sensor. I put mine back on to see how well the pad would work, and it works great! It might even work better, but that could just be the placebo effect talking. The reason I put mine back on was because I felt better having more materials protect my sensor from my hits, and I am glad I did.

Thanks for this video... it worked great for me on my DD502 style kit. I am in the UK, so I couldn't get the exact materials you used, but for others in the UK, the builders band I used was the universal buildres band from Wickes (it's 20mm wide), I could find any affordable foam, so I got a cheap 6mm thick foam sleeping mat from "Go outdoors" and used double thickness. Thanks again for the help :-)

Hi, nice idea.It is worth mentioning that the whole purpose of my mod was to make this drum as sensitive as possible!

Thanks for the great tutorial! I used exactly the same things as you other than the metal pipe strapping. I picked up some plastic strapping in hopes that it will prolong the life of the mesh head. I found the Frost King filter material at Lowes, and the Mesh Heads on Amazon. Roughly 2 hours to do the whole job from start to finish (I'm meticulous). Love the way they play now. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again!

Performed the mod yesterday. So far I can't believe how well it works! Should have done this long ago. Thanks for the video

just modded one drum using your tutorial. have not had a chance to play the drums yet, but very happy with the diy. Thank you.

@lucyferina I did mention sensitivity issues that existed on another mod but not this one. I don't use this setup for gaming. I plug the ION PS3 module into the PS3 so it thinks there are drums attached and plays the song without the drum track. At the same time I have my kit running through an amp and I just do my thing. I use to watch the screen and try to play by the game notes but found its better practice to just play what feels and sounds good. Going to check out your dual zone vid.

Thanks a lot for this video ! I did it yesteday on my Eagletone edrum and i'm very happy with it now. I didn't remove the thin rubber and the sensivity is quite the same, maybe a very little bit less. I just change the U curve value to 5. unfortunely, the kick's rim cracked. I think the screws are too small now to do it carefully. After playing a week like that, I changed screws for longer one (6mmx40mm). So i can easier control the "tune" of the skin to reduce rebound on the toms and kick pads.

Nice mod man, Just did it and wow, work's like a charm !! NO MORE NOISE !! Absolutely love it !! Thanks dude, appreciate it !

To modify to a mesh kit, take plastic rim and head off, then: I removed all the foam, metal plates and simply mounted the piezos on the plastic circle, then made a cone (from foam furniture supports, stacked on top and shaped) to fit on the transducer. Simply trim some plastic off the bottom insert threaded lugs(using a hacksaw) then u can tighten the heads sufficiently....... I.e. ___ to I I ___ I I I I

Nevermind on that one, I just read that there is a resistor in series with the piezo, but if it doesn't affect sensitivity don't remove it, if there isn't one then it will be just the piezo. some modules need to attenuate the sensitiviy by using that resistor, but I think that if you use an Alesis module you don't need to change anything. do a little more research before you decide to remove anything as I am not totally clear on why some people made that change.

This is a great idea but I'm in the uk and trying to find the foam is impossible, might aswell buy a mesh head drum pad for the costs I'm looking at :(

Great Video! Will definitely have to try this

@lucyferina You have me curious now about what circuit your talking about removing in the ION drums. Is this something in the heads that come with the ION kit ?

@bestpctips not sure which heads to which you are referring simply replacing the rubber with mesh will not give the same results as this mod.

i have a question. does the air conditioner filter have to be 2 layers or can it be one layer? and you cut out 4 circles, but you only used one right? thanks

hey what about the dual zone snare?

@lucyferina Im not having issue with mine in regards to sensitivity. What will removing this circuit accomplish ?

How's the sensitivity? Ever miss notes because of the equipment and not playing ability with this mod? Because I want to do this.

i dont know if i did something wrong but if i hit my pad a little heavyer than in your demonstration at the end, i hit directly on the metal plate wich makes it much more noisy then before... unfortunatly you didnt mention the height of the metal band...maybe its because of that

also, do i have to use metal plumbers tape or can it be plastic?

With the risk of sounding stupid will this mod work with all electronic sets ? I'm looking at the Legacy dd505's or Alesis md6's.

Will regular 'duct' tape offer enough protection?

Based on my mod? Good vid.

would this mesh fits the alesis mesh head.

Would like to see a video of it in action. How's it holding up?

@rz22g I thought I heard you say that you had a problem with sensitivity but I guess I misunderstood, anyway, you may need that circuit for the ion when you play games, a lot of people don't know how to play so they bang the hell out of the drums so that resistor may be needed to avoid overloading the sensor and misreading hits, but a real drummer knows that you don't really hit the drums all that hard, you just pretend to. (to make it look cool) Examples of that Tommy Lee's 80's Crue videos..

Hi Mate, I have these drums as bought and I have find them very unresponsive. Will this mod make them respond better or is there a mode to upgrade the triggers? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How is the sensitivity with these? How have these held up? Anyone else who has done this mod, feel free to chime in!

What size metal band are you using?

any one know if i can still buy these mesh heads anywhere?

@rz22g Check also the instructable it has pictures that explain the process a lot better than words can. I tried to play rockband drums and I totally sucked, I am a decent drummer in real life but I just can't adjust to the game's way of "playing" and yes it is much better for you to learn to play by yourself trying to do a song than using the game. good video and keep practicing!

or spend less on this and get better results in an easier mod than the mesh heads sold on rockbandparts

Was there an earthquake going on while you filmed this or do you need to go to rehab for caffeine?

www.reddit.com/r/rockband was here!

Hi Rick, nice vid. I say this to everyone who uses this method, please give me a little shout out - this is my idea, even if you use it in part or full. Thanks.