Axis Longboards vs. Bigfoot Trick Pedals

Hoosier Drummer

Junior Member
Drummers,

I'm close to makin a decision on a purchase of drum pedals. I have narrowed it down to the Trick Pro 1-V Bigfoot longboard or the Axis A-L longboard.

I have a set of the DW 9000's as a replacement for the 5000's (older style) that finally wore. I'm not happy with the DW 9000's. First, the 9000's are great pedals and well built but they are much different than the 5000's I'm used to.

Second, they are noticeably heavier and I play a lot of faster double bass. I gave myself around 5-6 months to try to get used to the pedal before adjusting anything.

I really like the adjustability of the Bigfoot Trick Pedal and I watched a short video from the NAAM show for the pedals and was amazed. The features totally made sense but I've never played on them.

The Axis pedals have a great rep for a speed pedal and the longboards were key for me as I like the additional leverage gained by the longer board. The only drawback is I'm reading about some quality and customer service issues with the pedals.

Any imput on this would greatly appreciated.
 
Don't know about either being an "issue".

I can only assume the quality of my AL-2's is high. I beat em' and they haven't so much as budged or worn badly or anything Springs are still strong and there hasn't been any slippage to speak of.

Which also means, I know nothing of their customer support/service. I've never had to reach them for anything.

Pedals are amazing and if you're patient enough to get used to using DW's (or anything for that matter) than the Axis should be no worse for wear.

Good luck in your choice.
 
The Tricks are my choice, 100%. The quality is superior to that of Axis. They also feel super-smooth and much more natural and powerful. As soon as you get your foot onto one of those Tricks, you'll never look back.

The only thing that comes close are those new Pacific BOA pedals, they are also amazing.
 
I have both and much prefer the feel of the Axis. The Tricks do have some nice design features, but I find the Axis feels much smoother and fits my style better.
I've had no trouble with their customer support, and the pedals have held up just find over several years.

Pedals are like shoes, to me. You HAVE to try them on to make sure they're going to fit, and even if they do you still need to find what suits your style.
It's all about personal preference here.
 
Great info...thanks guys...I'm looking for a place that sells the Tricks around my area so I can go try them out. I really like the DW 9000's but I haven't been able to give them the feel I'm looking for. I have ordered some iron cobra beaters and they might help eliminate the top heaviness of the DW 9000's. In the mean time I'm reading about and deciding what choice to switch to. I should be able to get good money out of the DW 9000's as they are almost brand new. This won't hurt the pocket book too much.
 
Not sure this helps, but I've owned and played the normal single pedal Trick, Axis, DW 9000 and DW 5000. To give you an indication of my judgement, my favourite is the DW5000. I LIKE the top heavy feel and though the 9000 was smoother, the pedal board couldn't come up high enough without hitting the cam - I've tried both with a Cobra beater, but missed the heaviness of the throw and the big sound.

The Axis was very very light and if it's light you are after, the Axis wins by a mile. But with the lightness of feel and physical weight, I found the sound of the bass drum to be much thinner than with the DW. I don't think this is just my playing - I've seen Axis pedals demonstrated on many occasions and they always sound lacking - fine if you are miced I guess. I tried it with a DW beater and it started to sound better to me, but that sort of defeats the object.

So I tried the Trick. It felt more substantial to me (and looks amazing). The build quality is superlative. One thing that I was disappointed with was that there are only three options for the throw feel (link between cam and footboard).

But I kept on going back to the DW. The main reason I think was that I didn't get used to the feel of the direct drive of both of the pedals. The pedal board stays with your foot, whereas the chain pedals I'm used to can be 'bounced' more easily. I guess that's become part of my technique and I missed it. However, millions of amazing players play direct drive pedals to a much higher standard than I can play mine so I'm not saying it's bad, just different to what I was used to - maybe I didn't put enough time into it?
 
I tried both the Trick and the Axis pedals mentioned (double kick). I chose to go with Axis (should arrive in a week or two). It's a phenominal pedal!!
Personally, I liked the feel better on the Axis. The Trick was great too, don't get me wrong, but I felt the Axis was superior. The spring system on the Trick seemed a bit "gimmicky" to me. Keep in mind that Axis originated this style of pedal (notice all the similarities between the two - especially how the Trick footboard looks identical to Axis'), so I get the feeling that Trick may have copied the idea from them and changed a couple of things to make it their own. This is just my opinion of course and I could be wrong, but nevertheless.

I didn't like the beaters on either pedal so I'm going to experiment with some other options, but will likely throw some Pearl quad-beaters on them.

As you already know, it's a matter of personal preference and which feels better for YOU, so try them both if you haven't already. Just thought I'd share my experience if it helps you at all. They're both great pedals so either way you can't lose.

- Mike
 
I am really torn here and unfortunately I don't know which way to go.


I haven't played either, but I do know my DW5000s are getting old and I can't keep adjusting the tension to get them where I want them every night.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a store that will allow me to play either trick or axis so can someone tell me the differences in playing between the two?

Thanks

http://www.myspace.com/musicofwolvesatthedoor
 
id say trick. both pedals feel very nice. incredibly smooth and fast.

trick to me is jsut way easier to adjust and tune to what you want and after all the best pedal in the world can be useless if you cant fine tune it. with axis you have to use all those random allen wrenches and i think tricks adjustments are way easier

as for playing idk about you guys but i love the compression spring. easier to adjust and i find it to be way smoother when playing at high speeds.

axis did it great the first time but now trick has taken over as its superior brother
 
I prefer the non-gimmicky engineering of the trick. That being said, the action on the axis simply has a different, not worse feel.

The Trick has better convenience and features as well as a more conventional feel than the AXIS.

That being said, choose the pedal that best suits your style. Made in the USA performance and quality are (as far as I am concerned) pretty much equal.

It's about subjective personal preference.

I have the Trick bigfoot pedals, but would have no issue with the axis-A longboards.
 
i have had both pedals.

I now only have the Trick.

I had 3 Axis pedals in the span of about a month. All of the adjustments would slip within 5 min of me playing. I don't understand how they expect a thumb screw to hold anything when adjusting the throw.

I recently played the trick and I must say ain't nothin' slipping now, lets hope it stays that way.

Having said all this, i play hard so this is why the axis just couldn't hang at all.

The spring on the Trick is something to get used to, even on mine cranked all the way, you are built for speed. The axis did have a more normal pedal feeling that we are used to in chain driven ones. But the Trick just feels so smooth.

I'm sorry but i'm a fool for egineering, I would go with the Trick.
 
I am really torn here and unfortunately I don't know which way to go.


I haven't played either, but I do know my DW5000s are getting old and I can't keep adjusting the tension to get them where I want them every night.

Unfortunately, I haven't found a store that will allow me to play either trick or axis so can someone tell me the differences in playing between the two?

Thanks

http://www.myspace.com/musicofwolvesatthedoor


Well despite not playing them, I bought me a pair of Pro V1's. They come in week. I will let you know what I think!
 
Drummers,


I really like the adjustability of the Bigfoot Trick Pedal and I watched a short video from the NAAM show for the pedals and was amazed. The features totally made sense but I've never played on them.

The Axis pedals have a great rep for a speed pedal and the longboards were key for me as I like the additional leverage gained by the longer board. The only drawback is I'm reading about some quality and customer service issues with the pedals.

Any imput on this would greatly appreciated.


I've never heard any quality issues with the axis, it's an awesome pedal. That being said, i bought the Trick bigfoot as a direct replacement for my dw9000. My blast beats went from 204 bpm to 216 bpm sixteenth notes almost immediately and now 220 bpm after being on a plateau for 10 years. The coolest thing ever though, is now i can maintain that speed on my old Yamaha double pedal also. So i think it's the drummer, not the pedal, but using the Trick was crucial for me to build up to that.
 
After much deliberation and multiple sessions trying both out, i have to agree with what Barry from indoorstorm (kick ass store to buy high end gear!) said to me:

If your picky, go Trick.
If your not, go Axis.

I went with the axis and at first i really did not like them...i went from 70$ mapex's to these and the adjustment period lasted about 3-6 months! But a year later I'm very satisfied with them, they are everything i want in a pedal: Powerful, fast, efficient.

I use two singles instead of the double...i had problems with the beaters flying off and the slave pedal in general (ive played 2kicks for too many years to switch to a double pedal!).
NOTE: the sonic hammer is a terrible beater, don't use it.

The tricks are the rolls royce of pedals...but like the dw9000 they seem to have too many adjustments if there is such a thing. The axis only has 3 basic adjustments (beater angle, spring tension, and the VDL cam thing or whatever its called). Yes, using allen wrenches for anything is not fun (i'd suggest buying some of those Allen brand multi-wrench things to keep them all together), and its a little tricky to set the beater angle properly, but once you do they tend to stay that way...you just have to periodically tighten them just like the lug nuts on your car.

Switching to any of these pedals (exc dw9000) will force you to re-learn your foot technique, and they will all make you play faster. Its really just how deep your pockets are.
 
After much deliberation and multiple sessions trying both out, i have to agree with what Barry from indoorstorm (kick ass store to buy high end gear!) said to me:

If your picky, go Trick.
If your not, go Axis.

I went with the axis and at first i really did not like them...i went from 70$ mapex's to these and the adjustment period lasted about 3-6 months! But a year later I'm very satisfied with them, they are everything i want in a pedal: Powerful, fast, efficient.

I use two singles instead of the double...i had problems with the beaters flying off and the slave pedal in general (ive played 2kicks for too many years to switch to a double pedal!).
NOTE: the sonic hammer is a terrible beater, don't use it.

The tricks are the rolls royce of pedals...but like the dw9000 they seem to have too many adjustments if there is such a thing. The axis only has 3 basic adjustments (beater angle, spring tension, and the VDL cam thing or whatever its called). Yes, using allen wrenches for anything is not fun (i'd suggest buying some of those Allen brand multi-wrench things to keep them all together), and its a little tricky to set the beater angle properly, but once you do they tend to stay that way...you just have to periodically tighten them just like the lug nuts on your car.

Switching to any of these pedals (exc dw9000) will force you to re-learn your foot technique, and they will all make you play faster. Its really just how deep your pockets are.

The trick has a few more adjustments than that.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5j1K2EYP1I

I would not downplay the axis. The longboard is great as well. Some people swear by the sonic hammer.
 
OH MY GOD.

My two Pro V 1's came yesterday.

Big pause.

Like nothing else I played before. Smooth, quiet, quick, precise, phenomenal!!!!!

I used to think my DW 5000s were the $hit, but I was wrong. I even tried the Iron Cobra and the Axis now, and even the new DW 9000s. But there is nothing like these Trick pedals.

I bought my two Pro V 1s on ebay for $200 each and they were a steal!!!

I can't recommend them more!!!

Wolves at the Door
http://www.myspace.com/musicofwolvesatthedoor
 
Axis will debut their new pedal at winter NAMM (long wait), but WTH. Don't expect anything radical, 'refinement' is the keyword... the current platform is proven and working for them.

Players have been crying about the lack of independent foot board to beater adjustments and this one just may be addressed b/f NAMM comes along. Axis had already developed an adjustable linkage years ago, at the request of a certain German distributor who whined about not buying/selling them unless they were equipped with such. Axis delivered, but then deemed it 'too much hassle' for the results.

Maybe someday someone will post a pick of one of these 'German issue' pedals by Axis with the adjustable foot board linkage.

Trick is still too young a pedal to have proven itself in the durability arena, not enough years of use to determine how/where these pedals will wear out and need attention. My guess is that one place will be the heel plate hinge on the Trick. It'll wear out eventually and its pressed on, not replaceable.

Remember the first generation DW 5000's with the feeble/pitiful hinge(s)? When it wore it also caused other parts to wear, like sprocket teeth, loosened the chain links etc.
 
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