Strange Pedal Indeed

S

Stickit

Guest
This is a Jacques Capelle pedal made in France, I was told they made these in a bycycle factory back in the seventies....
 

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Stickit...I don't know about that. Interesting concept of a pedal but I don't see how you couldn't help but catch your pants leg or bump your foot while playing. Do you use it very often? If so, what's your take on it's playability? If nothing else, I'd keep it for it's uniqueness and rarity. I say let the Germans, Japanese, and Americans build drum gear. Let the French keep their wine and crepes!
 
Well, I got that imformation from a very reliable source and if you look at the design, it's got the chain and sprockets just like a bike has. I just aquired it Thursday, so I haven't really used it, I probably will just keep it as a conversation piece.
 
Jacques Capelle was (is?) a drum builder well known in France and also in the rest of Europe. He became rather famous because of the extremely deep bass drums he introduced at the beginning of the 80's.

I heard some Capelle sets in France and I remember they were very powerful. They sounded a little dry to my hears, but the overall construction seemed OK.

Concerning the pedal you posted, I owned myself a more recent but basically identical version around 1987, and I found it not bad at all. Well, probably by that time I did not have that great experience with pedals (and drums), and to be honest I think that compared to the DW's I play today it was rather poor. Nevertheless, the "in the air" spring system was easy to use and reminded me of the Rogers Swiv-o-Matic I had by the same time and to some old Tamas (the concept was not exactly the same as far as Rogers and Tamas only had one spring, but anyway ...).

It would be nice to hear from some French members here: they certainly have seen and played some of these Capelle pedals.
 
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What's interesting is that under the "air spring" as you call it, is a screw that you can loosen, it then allows you to change the beater angle. The whole chain and sprocket moves up or down along with the beater. I'll try it out tonight and give a review tomorrow.
 
Re: Jacques Cappelle bd pedal = if you would like to sell it, please contact me = drmfd Thanks
 
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It would be nice to hear from some French members here: they certainly have seen and played some of these Capelle pedals.

I'm from the French speaking part of Switzerland, so I'm giving myself permission to reply ;-)

I've played those pedals on occasion in the last 70s and didn't really like them although they weren't bad. As far as the spring is concerned, I've always seen them more or less vertical, and you could get injured I thought...

They used to do a hi-hat pedal with the same footboard, and at the time it was considered very good, I owned one and liked it a lot. Many pro drummers used it in fact, it was kind of standard. I think, although I'm not 100% sure, Christian Vander (Magma) used it as well.

Also, I don't know the exact details, but I think Cappelle drums started with the name brand Orange, through some kind of association with the British brand of amps
www.orangeamps.com

Now, as far as saying the French shouldn't make drums, well...
There was a fine French maker of drumsets by the name of Asba, and their standards for quality were just excellent. The hardware was fine, the chromes were top quality, they had die-cast rims, their hi-hat and bass-drum pedals were excellent (I still own a foldable hi-hat, maybe I'll post pictures of it). They sounded great too, and I think they also did fine conga drums.

Google "Batterie Asba" to find more info

Hear samples

Google translated from the French Wikipedia:
ASBA, created in 1928 by Alfred Boudard, is a French brand of drumsets and percussion, which went bankrupt in 1983.

In 1928 the company only produces accessories for orchestra. It's only after the Second World War that ASBA diversifying its production coming from the instruments of percussion as well as drumsets.
When Alfred Boudard died in 1970 Jacques Perin is taking over the company. During this period the brand is successful and binds with famous French drummers such as Christian Vander ( Magma ), Rene Guerin ( Martin Circus ), Willy Lewis ( Wild Cats ) etc. ....
After a period of success, the company which had about twenty employees faced competition from increasingly aggressive Asian companies and closed its doors in 1983.

Cheers

Alain
 
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It is a pretty cool design.
The springs control both the up and down motion by pulling against each other and balancing out the action.
The size of the sprockets provide power.
I would like to try it.
It does look a bit strange compared to what the norm is for pedal design.
I can see the left side mechanism needing some getting used to while playing.
You couldn't slide your heel to the left very far.
 
I don't think so, if you pull the chain vertical, the beater goes straight up, I'll take a picture..
If you jumped the chain a few teeth on the left sprocket could the springs be pointed more upward?
 
Here's a picture with the chain vertical, as you can see the beater moves too far foward.
 

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Say that you centered the left chain by jumping it a few teeth so that it was equal on the sprocket. the springs would be at a 45 degree angle
Could you then jump the right chain to set the beater back when it was at rest?

It is a puzzling looking mouse trap!
Kind of like the clutch lever on and old fifties vintage Harley Davidson!
 
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Thank You, The vid explains a great deal about the function.
It was hard to grasp the concept from the pics.
 
Stickit...I don't know about that. Interesting concept of a pedal but I don't see how you couldn't help but catch your pants leg or bump your foot while playing. Do you use it very often? If so, what's your take on it's playability? If nothing else, I'd keep it for it's uniqueness and rarity. I say let the Germans, Japanese, and Americans build drum gear. Let the French keep their wine and crepes!
i had this pedal on the road in the mid 80's and yes it got caught on my pants and leg when I
was moving around from hi hat to BD we now call these simple MPO's
its angle is quite a bit higher than most so it takes getting use to.
Tim
 
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