JoJo M - Perfect Balance Pedal - How does it play?

I just got one, and it's by far the most natural feeling pedal i've ever played. I've owned some cheap Premier pedal(similar to Yamahas), an Iron Cobra PG, DW5000Turbo and my previous favourite, the Pearl eliminator. There's something about the Jojo pedals design that just makes it feel better to me than the Eliminator. Which I has a round cam and a belt on it also. So everyone who say it's just a belt drive pedal with around cam haven't propably played it, that's exactly what I thought it would be... Only thing that I don't like about it is the fact that the heel plate hinge has some lateral play. The pedal board doesn't wiggle at all, it's perfectly stable. but it's not perfect. Any of my previous pedals(minus the cheap Premier) had no play in their hinges even after years of heavy use...
 
The heel plate hinge seems to be an issue with these pedals. From the reviews I've read and seen, its either too loose with some play or too tight making the pedal stick and become very sluggish.

I just got mine today and it also has a little jiggle in the heel plate hinge. Not too big of a deal but when I compare it to the zero play in the hinge on my Speed Cobra its very noticeable.

As far as how it plays, it's very light and responsive. Certainly not as powerful as my SC but I didn't buy it for power. Playing heel down on it is an absolute joy because responds to the slightest movement giving me complete control. I may give more feed back later on after I've played it more.
 
Sorry to report that I have just put my Jojo pedal out to pasture.

First pedal : wrong strap, stretched a lot, I think it caused some damage to the hinge ( foot board bottoming out, smashing on rim clamp)- got replacement strap from Sonor.
New strap- ahh...better but now the whole upright was wobbling, yes with everything tightened down correctly. Too much ' play ' in the hinge. Back it went.

Got a replacement pedal....
The replacement pedal's right spike/ spur stripped right out...the spike won't thread at all anymore. The hinge is very hard to move from the folded position to playing position , and it usually took two thumbs pressing very very hard on the hinge button to get it to release.

So I returned it, got my money back 100% and put the money on a deposit for a set of Club Dates. Had more than enough...it's clear that the pedal isn't going to hold up. At all.
I really take care of my gear and I'm not hard on stuff. I can hit hard but nothing out of the ordinary for a pedal. I have a 25 year old $50 Yamaha strap drive that's still going strong.
And my Eliminator...played week in, week out for 10 years...zero issues.

Being in a playable condition after 6 months and only about 5 gigs ain't asking much for a $300 pedal....
Sonor should be ashamed of this pedal. Not in keeping with their brand.


Neal
 
Everyone got so excited when they saw the promo video, it was a bit silly IMO.

I played one last week... it's not very powerful. Too much effort for me.

Stick with your dw 9million
 
I have had mine since the day they were available in Canada and can't report any issues with it. I did change the strap out for the newer less elastic one. I play heel down for the most part. I don't find this pedal to be too light at all. Guess different strokes for different folks.
 
If you are happy with your 9000, then stick with it.

I've had the Perfect Balance pedal since January, and I can definitely say that I love it. It is incredibly smooth and articulate, and it works perfectly for my needs.

I've been on the journey to find a pedal like this for about 3 years before I picked mine up. I had an Iron Cobra Rolling Glide single pedal for 6 years, and I felt I needed something that wasn't doing so much of the work for me (I felt like my real pedal technique was lacking). I switched to a vintage Camco, then a Speed King, but found that they were not reliable enough for the continuous set-up/tear-down that I have to do (they needed a lot of maintenance to be used to their fullest).

What makes me love the Perfect Balance pedal is that it has the feel of a vintage pedal, with hardware features of a modern pedal. The folding feature of the pedal works amazingly, I've never had an issue with it.

But in thinking of getting this pedal, don't expect to have Jojo's technique with this pedal immediately. It is not like a DW9000, or any pedal currently on the market. It will not do all the work for you like most modern pedals will. You have to develop your technique to be able to play this pedal to its fullest, which will only make you a better player in the long run. It definitely doesn't have the same sense of power that a 9000 has, but if you're gigging, your kick will be mic-ed through a PA, so power and volume should never really be an issue.

I've let other drummer friends try it out, and it gets a very mixed response. Either its the pedal that you've been looking out for a lifetime, or its just not for you.

For me, its the pedal of a lifetime.
 
I've had the Perfect Balance pedal since January, and I can definitely say that I love it. It is incredibly smooth and articulate, and it works perfectly for my needs.

I've been on the journey to find a pedal like this for about 3 years before I picked mine up. I had an Iron Cobra Rolling Glide single pedal for 6 years, and I felt I needed something that wasn't doing so much of the work for meI've let other drummer friends try it out, and it gets a very mixed response. Either its the pedal that you've been looking out for a lifetime, or its just not for you.

For me, its the pedal of a lifetime.

I currently use the IC Flexi-Glide (I'm not sure how that cam differs from the Rolling Glide) and have contemplated switching to the Perfect Balance Pedal since trying one out at a store.

How do they compare after using it for a while? How does the IC do the work for you? I actually found a few things to be immediately easier on the PB Pedal. I think I need to get my foot on it again to compare a few things.

I'm a little concerned about the amount of issues folks have had with them too; straps, hinges, not folding corectly, etc.
 
I currently use the IC Flexi-Glide (I'm not sure how that cam differs from the Rolling Glide) and have contemplated switching to the Perfect Balance Pedal since trying one out at a store.

How do they compare after using it for a while? How does the IC do the work for you? I actually found a few things to be immediately easier on the PB Pedal. I think I need to get my foot on it again to compare a few things.

I'm a little concerned about the amount of issues folks have had with them too; straps, hinges, not folding corectly, etc.


I've been enlightened with a recent purchase, one of the benefits being the effects on the bass drum pedals ease of manipulation.

Balance doesn't come from the pedal, no matter what pedal you have/use the balance of your body is centered in your core, body positioning can be changed/shifted to produce varying degrees of resistance on the bass drum pedal. The angle of your lower and upper legs, the distance... varying these body positionings produce an effect on your pedal.

What Im getting at is its not the pedal. Most are looking for a pedal that feels good, one that while there's other factors considered in the purchase, the main factor (quite possibly unbeknownst) is that it fits in with their sitting posture. Change your posture/seat positioning and you change the feels of your pedal.

Problem is when you change your positioning you also change the feel/mechanics of your upper body, your arms and what your hands can do. These two pieces of the pie rarely line-up in harmony, and when they do its usually not lasting b/c the body goes through changes that effect balance, even while playing.
 
I got one, but find it too wimpy on my acoustic kit. It now lives happily on my edrum kit.
I prefer my good old Tama Iron Cobra.
 
How do they compare after using it for a while? How does the IC do the work for you?

My Iron Cobra uses all of its engineered tools (Cobra Coil, Speedo Ring, etc.) to make the pedal feel like its stuck to your foot. Which is a great thing! But I found that I relied on that feeling too much, and my real, balanced pedal technique was lost and never fully realized. This was because of the fact that I didn't have to think about where the pedal would be, it was always stuck to my foot. So as long as I put my foot down, there would be a consistent hit.

That's why I love the Perfect Balance pedal, it doesn't do all of the "heavy-lifting" for you, like most of the modern pedals do. It relies on your technique much more so than others on the market. You have to be able to find the balance, much like you would with a drumstick, to be able to play it efficiently. Which will make you a stronger player in the long run.

Some people may think the opposite way, in that their pedal should be doing the work for you. Which is great! If there is a pedal that works best for you, then use it. I personally love my Perfect Balance pedal, and am happy that I no longer have to gig with my Speed King or Camco, but can still get that same feeling of balance from a modern piece of hardware with modern features.
 
I find not everyone knows how to adjust these things either...for example, there's no reason for it to bottom out regardless of the strap...the beat hub is adjustable itself.. I pointed it out to the salesman selling it to me....
 
Some people may think the opposite way, in that their pedal should be doing the work for you.

Isn't that the shame of musicians in the modern day? I think that's where this whole "swag-core" thing came up: we're not willing to put in the effort to learn something, we just want instant gratification from our gear. I've been guilty of it too and it took one hell of an attitude adjustment (and a good long look at my eviscerated bank balance) to realise what was lacking in my playing. And it wasn't the gear by a long shot.
 
Isn't that the shame of musicians in the modern day? I think that's where this whole "swag-core" thing came up: we're not willing to put in the effort to learn something, we just want instant gratification from our gear. I've been guilty of it too and it took one hell of an attitude adjustment (and a good long look at my eviscerated bank balance) to realise what was lacking in my playing. And it wasn't the gear by a long shot.

well said, yet i also finds that brands now tends to over engineer things too.
 
well said, yet i also finds that brands now tends to over engineer things too.

One of the reasons I'm not a fan of DW's stuff. For me, there is just no reason for stuff to be that heavy, over-engineered, over-built, and gimmicky. Plus they're just ridiculously expensive for the most part.
 
To be honest, this pedal has piqued my interest again...I feel like I want to tweak it more to see if I was missing something the first time...
 
One of the reasons I'm not a fan of DW's stuff. For me, there is just no reason for stuff to be that heavy, over-engineered, over-built, and gimmicky. Plus they're just ridiculously expensive for the most part.

I played DW for many many years and have a DW double pedal, but as I get older and my tastes changed I wanted to switch to a single. I tried the newer DW's at first because I've basically always had a DW pedal and they are much heavier and over-built than my 20 year old DW double pedal is, and I thought my old pedal was heavy and laboring.

I wanted something lighter and more articulate and ran across the Perfect Balance pedal at the drum shop and was instantly hooked. I realized that you basically have to really rethink how you play a pedal with it, especially if you come from the DW line, but once I figured out its nuances I was doing things with it that I never was able to do on my DW.

I was able to get a good price on it so I took it home. Made sure I screwed down everything on it (strap screws were a little loose, but I love that it uses standard components for everything). Can't say enough about it. If you're playing metal or want to be loud then no this is not the pedal for you. If you want to be articulate and do some crazy stuff you never thought possible with a single pedal then yes, I'm not sure there's a better pedal. It takes a bit to get used to, but I absolutely love it.
 
To be honest, this pedal has piqued my interest again...I feel like I want to tweak it more to see if I was missing something the first time...

When the pedal was working, I loved it. But it just didn't last long ... Twice. And I know two others that had to return them. I (and the other two) are not metal players, don't play exceedingly hard/heavy and generally take good care of gear.
The JoJo pedal is just not up for the long haul. I can't be the only one with this experience...?
Like I said...I have 10 years in on a Pearl eliminator...no problems...hell...I have 20 years on a Yamaha 700 pedal...also zero issues.
 
I tried out a Perfect Balance at a local music store, and I liked it. I love the balance and the way the pedal feels. It feels like you have more control over the beater, as appose to firing a catapult at the batter head.

That being said, anyone who has the chance, if you like the feel of the Perfect Balance, check out the Yamaha 7210 single pedal. The chain drive version of the pedal is like seventy bucks, but for I believe $135.00 you can buy a strap drive version of the same pedal.

I bought mine second hand barely used for 30 dollars, but you can find them on Amazon in the chain drive version, and in a magazine I looked it they mentioned the option for strap drive.

I adore this pedal. It is absolutely perfect, and feels as though it was designed specifically for my foot. The only issue I have is it's got the prongs as appose to a footboard, but I've even grown used to that in the months I've been using the pedal.
 
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