Roland BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad

Firstly the Good: this is a great idea and it is a very well made peice of kit. It's robust and definaty suited to giging drummer who want to either expand the playing surfaces on the electronic kit, or want to incorprate it as part of a hybrid solution. I do both. I use one on my Roland TD20 kit and I use two on my accoustic kit via a Roland TM2.

Now the Not So Perfect: this trigger fits very well onto Roland V Drums, however I've use on two differnt accoustic kits (Gretsch and a DW) on floor tom and snare, and in both cases the fit is less than perfect. The BT-1 comes with spacing adapters, but these didn't really help.
Also this is a single trigger surface, so in principal it should only need a mono jack lead, however it only works with a stereo jack which is provided. Whs is this an issue you ask...? Well on the TM2 Roland Trigger Module, you can split each stereo input - of which there are two - into monos using a 1 x stereo - 2 x mono Y cable, therefore allwing you to have four triggers instead of two.

I was eyeing the Roland BT-1 for a long time and watched many YouTube videos about it before finally deciding to buy it. The result left me with mixed impressions.

Pros: The pad is made of very high-quality and durable materials and will probably last for decades with proper care. The trigger responds quite well and accurately, and there is velocity sensitivity. You can attach this pad to the rim of a snare drum or another Roland pad. I have a Roland TD-27 and I attached the BT-1 to the Roland PD-140 DS snare drum.

Cons: When attaching this pad to the rim of the drum, the BT-1 picks up hits on the snare drum and triggers a double hit. This can be adjusted in the module, but it won't be easy for beginners to do.

Overall, this is an excellent pad and will work best if it is not mounted on the rim of the drum but on a separate clamp or cymbal stand.