If it is the superman color scheme, Red and Blue, then it definitely has the shit pads, unless someone installed the good ones on there of course. But if it is an unmodified Superman 1000, then it is 100% guaranteed to have the shit pads. Its not the end of the world if you get the bad pads, just put up with them until you can order the $180 good ones from VST, I got my mpc 1000 yesterday with the shit pads and thats what I am going to do. If the mpc's full name is the MPC 1000 BK-N, it has the good pads, if it is just the MPC 1000 (Which is the red and blue one), or the MPC 1000 BK (The black one with the bad pads) then it has the bad pads. I have never actually seen a MPC 1000 BK in real life although I dont think that it is any cosmetically different than the MPC 1000 BK-N although I could be wrong. It should say the full official MPC name with the BK or BK-N at the end on the box or the manual, or inside the manual. Another way to check is by grabbing a pad and wiggling it around, if the adjacent pads move with the one you are moving then they are the good pads, the good pads are all on one sheet and the bad pads are all their own individual pads, also use it, if they feel like shit and annoy you then they are the bad pads. The bad pads are also really soft around the edges and really hard in the center.
Hope that helps.
