Just bought new DW 'hardcore' beaters

Been curious about these for a while. I have been using IC rubber beaters and the standard DW 101 two sided thing for the past few gigs, and wanted something more adjustable. So far these are great! they have an adjustable plastic 'core' with a soft rubber surround. basically an allen screw tightens the softer foam part onto the hard plastic core, so you get both the hard plastic attack feel in the centre with the 'give' of the softer outer part. My only reservation is how much punishment the allen screw will take from repetitive stomping. Time will tell! The adjustibility is great and gives a wide variety of feels and so far I love it!

what's the sound like? i always preferred the sound of the plastic/wood beaters to felt, but sometimes that punchiness is accompanied by too much of that gunshot "slap" noise. i'm presuming with a softer rubber outside and what looks to be an extremely large contact area, you get the hard attack of a plastic beater but with a fatter, fuller tone. no?

how much $?

You're right. with these you can dial in a happy medium. No {censored}! You can actually help out your kick batter head tone by adjusting these things to suit. They were reasonably expensive ($108 aust a pair / about $70 us I think) but we pay a lot for DW stuff out here..

close up view of separated soft outside section from core section:

If you wanted, you could even play the core section on its own, I just did, and it felt ok, very lightweight. small contact area though

that's actually not too bad considering you needed 2 and i would only need a single - i just bought a pearl eliminator single, so after i get tired of playing with the quad beater i may pick one of these up. it sounds like just what i'm looking for!

They are on sale for $21.99 HERE I think I will order a pair.

make sure you post your opinion as well - i am thinking about picking one up when i replace my kick batter, which ought to be pretty soon seeing as the previous owner kicked a big dent in it.

I will.

although let the record read that, for the time being, i'm pretty happy with the beater i'm using. it's one of those old DWs where the plastic side is beige and has a faux swirly woodgrain look to it, but the size of the plastic side and contact area are ENORMOUS, easily twice the size and mass of a standard plastic beater. it sounds like the world coming to an end.