Camco is back!

Expensive yes but it gets you access to the super secret web site.
 
A few years ago Ludwig re-introduced the Speed King for about $120.00
They said that it was new and improved. It looked and played the same as the original to me!
It certainly wasn't worth $120.00.
 
"First introduced 30 years ago..."

Okay, so it's not the GOOD Camco, but the crappy, post-1977 Camco. I'll pass.

A few years ago Ludwig re-introduced the Speed King for about $120.00
They said that it was new and improved. It looked and played the same as the original to me!
It certainly wasn't worth $120.00.

Yeah, reintroducing older products is a cool thing when the original product was good. Some people swear by the old Speed Kings, but I never liked them. The "new and improved" claim was a bad move, because the reissues were so similar to the original that people wanting to buy them because of the "new and improved"-ness were disappointed, and the people who liked the originals didn't buy the new ones because of the "new and improved"-ness.

However, their reissues of the flat-based stands are SOFA KING cool! AND cheap!
 
Yeah, reintroducing older products is a cool thing when the original product was good. Some people swear by the old Speed Kings, but I never liked them. The "new and improved" claim was a bad move, because the reissues were so similar to the original that people wanting to buy them because of the "new and improved"-ness were disappointed, and the people who liked the originals didn't buy the new ones because of the "new and improved"-ness.
Reissuing a product is a two edged sword.
I played a Speed King for about 30 years.
I saw the new Speed king in a shop a few years ago and I hooked it up to a bass drum.
It was exactly the same as I remember it being.
It wasn't bad, It wasn't great, It was just the same!
I wasn't going to buy it again, I had already moved on to different things.

I think that there will be few buyers for this Camco pedal.
 
You're probably right Bob, had I noticed the price I probably would not have been excited enough to even start this thread. But I guess when I saw my very first pedal being reintroduced .. well most of us here know how we can get attached to gear for sentimental reasons.

While I got you guys, I was wondering about the "Ghost' pedal from Ludwig. I never owned or played on one. Were they any good? http://www.billyrhythm.com/drums/ghost/ludwigghost.html
 
The Ghost was weird, I passed it up to buy the Speed King In the mid 70's.
 
I've played on a few Ghosts. Smooth pedal. It's pretty weird because it works counter-efficiently. Let me try to explain:

You know how modern pedals give you that extra "throw" at the end of the cam? That extra little "oomph!" during the last 15-20º of the beater's path? That's what the Speed King is missing...it gives you just what you put into it, and nothing more. If you've been raised on modern pedals, the Speed King seems ridiculous to play on, because of the direct relation between the effort you put in to the effort the pedal exudes on the drum head. Take it one step further, and imagine that the cam actually "absorbs" some of the throw, or makes it so the beater slows down in the last few degrees of its path. THAT is the action of the Ghost pedal! It's pretty durable, but makes it hard to put any real power into your playing when you need it (or perhaps it allows you more room to finesse your expression...???). I dunno. I've also heard that when the springs break, they're a real pain in the butt to fix...
 
Doesn't DW own all the patents and tooling for everything Camco ever made? DW's pedals have certainly evolved from the original Camco design. Is this just DW trying to cash in by reissuing the original Camco pedal?
 
I still like my Camco pedal. I don't use it because I LOVE the Eliminators I have.
The Camco feels good though, and the double pedal was nice because it had 2 springs for the left foot. One spring on the pedal itself, and one on the main section.
It made the two sides feel a lot more even than other pedals did.

It'd be cool if they had gone to a double chain to keep the footboard from swaying though.
 
Considering it is Their name on the site, I would say so. :)

OK. Now I see it. I have a tendency to not see stuff that's right in front of my face. LOL! I was a little confused about this Tama, Camco, DW thing so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here's what they had to say.

"In 1977, Drum Workshop (DW) and Hoshino Gakki (the parent company of Tama Drums) jointly purchased Camco's assets. DW would receive Camco's inventory and manufacturing equipment, while Tama would receive the Camco name, the original design blueprints, and engineering rights.

At the time, Camco was producing what was thought to be the best drum pedal on the market. DW continued production of the pedal using the original tooling, rebadging it as the DW5000. Tama began production of the same pedal under the Camco name. The Tama version of the Camco pedal is commonly referred to as the Tamco pedal to distinguish it from an original Camco pedal."

I'm sure most of you already knew that. I thought I'd put that in here for those that did not.
 
I played the Tama versions for years. I absolutely loved them but pedals have been improved upon. I might get one, simply for nostalgia .
 
I've played on a few Ghosts. Smooth pedal. It's pretty weird because it works counter-efficiently. Let me try to explain:

You know how modern pedals give you that extra "throw" at the end of the cam? That extra little "oomph!" during the last 15-20º of the beater's path? That's what the Speed King is missing...it gives you just what you put into it, and nothing more. If you've been raised on modern pedals, the Speed King seems ridiculous to play on, because of the direct relation between the effort you put in to the effort the pedal exudes on the drum head. Take it one step further, and imagine that the cam actually "absorbs" some of the throw, or makes it so the beater slows down in the last few degrees of its path. THAT is the action of the Ghost pedal! It's pretty durable, but makes it hard to put any real power into your playing when you need it (or perhaps it allows you more room to finesse your expression...???). I dunno. I've also heard that when the springs break, they're a real pain in the butt to fix...


When the spring on GHOST pedal breaks? That would be somewhat unimaginable, as its a flat coil, compression spring that sees little movement through the pedals cycle.

In a tighter settings that coil spring will also give the your foot noticeable feedback in the form of vibration.

I don't see the benefit to the customer when TAMA brings back the CAMCO complete with all its proven weaknesses- heel plate hinge that will wear out causing the lower teeth on the sprocket to wear resulting is side to side pedal board movement. Also back unimproved are the weak main posts, which collapse inward when the beater makes hard contact with the batter head.

IRON COBRA was a slow fix to these problems, its where TAMA went to get away from the CAMCO's weaknesses, the evolution thereof. What IC lost (or got away from) was the feel the CAMCO produced via weight ratios of the cam, footboard, beater head, you can throw the chain in there too.

A big part of that feel is a light cam, light footboard with a heavier beater. IC crept away from that formulae and to this day still remains in mediocreville, minus CAMCO's weakness of course.
 
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