What's the deal with Kieffa Drums/Pads?

Kieffa was is a hollow practice pad that has a tuneable head and beads under the head for a snare sound. It is louder than a typical practice pad, feels more like a drum, and has a wider dynamic range. There is an electronic trigger version with a 1/4” jack for plugging in to a sound source like a synth/samplerdrum machine/computer..There are no sounds on board - just the trigger.

the company is out of business.

Do you happen to know when they folded, or why?

Also, my pad shows no sign of a 1/4" jack input. There iw a metal grill on the bottom that I can't figure out the purpose of. I've heard from at least two drummers who have wooden-bottomed versions of the pad and I'd like to find out which version came first.

I don’t know when they folded or why. Most likely from poor profits. Also I don’t why there were two types of bottom surfaces

Most rare drum inventions, designs, models, finishes are not rare because they were popular when they were introduced. They are rare because they were not popular, didn’t have successful marketing, discontinued for one reason or another.

So while current Kieffa owners swear by their pads, they must not have caught on at the time. Thanks for the insight!

Kieffa had a great deal of promise. The practice pad variants were meant bridge the gap (financially) to the production of performance products. Essentially, I had much grander vision in mind but didn't have the runway.

Btw Beth, your model was no 13 of 2011. I think we only sold 500+ of that acoustic resin model. We didn't plan to sell that model at all. I messed up, lol. Essentially, I had made the die for the mold too shallow. The depth of the cavity didn't permit the real estate for electronics. At the eleventh hour we rolled out the acoustic pad as an add on product. Cheers!