New pedal advice

2bsticks

Platinum Member
Hi All,

Thinking of a new pedal, currently use DW 5000 with Yamaha hard felt beater. The pedal is 12 years old and last night the beater fell out of the holder, I screwed it back in and two songs later out it comeas again?

Anyway, I was toying with purchasing a Yamaha direct drive pedal. Any of you use one and how much of a feel difference is it compared to a double chain pedal?

I could just go with another DW because it playes well and it's built like a tank. Just thinking of switching things up a bit.
 
Hi All,

Thinking of a new pedal, currently use DW 5000 with Yamaha hard felt beater. The pedal is 12 years old and last night the beater fell out of the holder, I screwed it back in and two songs later out it comeas again?

Anyway, I was toying with purchasing a Yamaha direct drive pedal. Any of you use one and how much of a feel difference is it compared to a double chain pedal?

I could just go with another DW because it playes well and it's built like a tank. Just thinking of switching things up a bit.

Yamaha pedals are nice. The direct drive is going to be a bit of a lighter feel. Best thing I can tell you is, if you have a music store near you that has any kind of direct drive pedal in stock, to go down and give it a shot, see how you like it.

Yamahas are price-comparable to DWs, so you're not really out any money going with a Yammie. The chain-drive pedals are nice because you can change the chain out for a belt yourself if you want to try a different feel.
 
Honestly bang for your buck (literally) try the Speed Cobra as part of your choices. I was at a Gavin Harrison clinic recently and he talked about how his engineer couldn't get over the sub harmonic frequencies that were registering on Pro Tools from the kick channel. They swapped out many pedals and none created the same peaks that the Speed Cobra did.

I have been trying them lately and am seriously considering trading in my Pearl P2000's.
 
After playing an Eliminator strap/chain drive for 6 years, and then buying a Demon Drive, my advice is that if you're already comfortable and used to the chain drive then stick with that. Or at least find the cheapest used direct drive pedal that you can and play it for a few months. I have spent about 9 months with the Demon and I'm still not totally comfortable with it. And when I go back to my Eliminator I feel right at home and can play just as fast, but louder and more relaxed at the same time. The 'lighter feel' people talk about isn't necessarily a good thing, to me it's a bit like playing with sticks that are lighter than what you're used to.


(edit - my Demon is a double and my Elim is a single, in case anyone wonders "why don't you just sell the Demon then?" :p)
 
I started on speed kings, went to dw 5000 back in the mid 80's and had two different versions of the 5000 pedals, then got a 9000 a year after it came out and last year I wanted to try direct drive again and found a new in box yamaha fp9410 direct drive pedal for $99 and snatched it up. All I can say is that one was for church and two days after getting it there was one on the way for my kit at home. I absolutely love the direct drive yamaha's, lighter and more responsive feel.
 
You can try the Mapex Falcon, it comes with different cams and drive modes, it can have the optional direct drive fitted too, plus an innovative beater on which you can insert 2 weight (10 & 20 g) or no weight at all, built like a tank, super smooth and fully adjustable, a real little gem, the best pedal I ever played.

http://www.falconpedal.com/
 
Direct drive would be perfect if we had perfect control over our feet. I'm going to switch my demon drives to chain at the next opportunity. Not saying it won't work for you (depends what you do) but that's my view on direct drive after using them for a couple of years.

I've been trying a few pedals here and there lately and I think you'll probably be better off choosing something heavier if you don't get another dw that is. I found mapex falcon's had a weighty feel, maybe they might suit you.
 
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