My Pearl Demon Drive Double Bass Pedal Review **Pics Included**

I just bought a Axis X double pedal, how would it compare to the the Demon Drive?
 
I was excited about these pedals at NAMM, but after closer inspection at my drum store was less impressed. There are many cast parts on it with more tolerence than the all CNC machined Axis and Trick pedals. The pearl demon pedals have play in the hinge and play in the upper axle for the beater shaft. Those other two brands and DW as well don't have that play.

That said I do like the longboard conversion option is neat and the pedals feel good. At that price though I'd personally want or expect an all CNC machined work of art.
 
I just ordered MY DD today.

I have all pearl hardware including a powershifter eliminator double pedal that I've had since they first came out about 4 years ago. I love the eliminator but I've been wanting a long board direct drive for a while now, but was afraid to part with the cash in case I didn't like it.

With the DD,I can always switch back to standard length if it's too weird or something.

Anyway I had to tell somebody because I can't tell my wife..... she'll cut my nuts off. ;-) if she finds out.

BTW: I got a great deal on it with a 10% off coupon. Cost me $584 out the door, from an internet vendor.
 
I wasn't sure if giving the sites name is permitted here, so I didn't. There's also a coupon code required, and I'm almost positive that is against the rules.
 
This looks like a pretty good pedal. I read an article about it in a magizine and I heard they use the best skateboard bearings on it. I really want to upgrade to this and not just because I'm convinced my dad bought my double pedal for about 60 bucks.
 
Correct. This is a major problem many will have with this pedal. The single cannot be upgraded to a double, and I am unsure if the double can be separated into 2 individual pedals.
It's kind of a drag considering the amount of money they are charging you for.

Oh, and I went to the one in Huntington, New York. That's the closest one near me.
They only had 2 in-stock: one singe and one double

It doesn't appear by this photo of the slave that it can also be made into a single.
 

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I posted this in another thread. I'm still a little confused as to how the conversion pedal will work with a single.

Well here is something interesting. The Pearl DD conversion pedal is listed from Memphis Drum shop on Ebay with a buy it now of $400! Add that to the current price of a single and you're talking well over $700, right into Trick Pro1V territory. This makes buying the double at $650 (or maybe less with discounts) more attractive vs the Trick double which is about $740.

It looks like if you got the single and then bought this double conversion, the single you had would end up being the slave pedal. I think.

Here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pearl-Demon-Dri...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50
 
I bought the single demon drive pedal because;
1. I did research and I found you can convert from single to double.
2. I am just starting to play again after a long absence and buying the double is too much right now for me.
3. I also selected the Pearl Demon drive because it was very hard to find the Axis or the Trick to check them out. The stores had tons of DW, Gebralta, Yamaha, and Pearl pedals, but no high end pedals. It is amazing that Trick and Axis could not get their gear into Guitar Center or Sam Ash to demonstrate for the user.

I have had my Demon Drive for about 2 weeks now, and love it. It is the best pedal I have owned. I was looking for a long board, direct drive pedal, and that is what my Demon Drive is now.
 
I bought the single demon drive pedal because;
1. I did research and I found you can convert from single to double.
2. I am just starting to play again after a long absence and buying the double is too much right now for me.
3. I also selected the Pearl Demon drive because it was very hard to find the Axis or the Trick to check them out. The stores had tons of DW, Gebralta, Yamaha, and Pearl pedals, but no high end pedals. It is amazing that Trick and Axis could not get their gear into Guitar Center or Sam Ash to demonstrate for the user.

I have had my Demon Drive for about 2 weeks now, and love it. It is the best pedal I have owned. I was looking for a long board, direct drive pedal, and that is what my Demon Drive is now.

I cannot speak for Axis but I know Trick is a very small company that does not have the market presence to get it's pedals in stores like GC and Sam Ash for other than special orders. I was lucky to FINALLY come across one in my Sam Ash and I ordered it through a friend. I love it.

The Pearl pedal is great also though. Congrats on the purchase.
 
It doesn't appear by this photo of the slave that it can also be made into a single.

wow what terribly misleading information, as its just been stated that the pedal CAN be changed from double to single. it takes a few minutes, but its definitely easily done, i've done it myself on the pedal in our shop...



I was excited about these pedals at NAMM, but after closer inspection at my drum store was less impressed. There are many cast parts on it with more tolerence than the all CNC machined Axis and Trick pedals. The pearl demon pedals have play in the hinge and play in the upper axle for the beater shaft. Those other two brands and DW as well don't have that play.

That said I do like the longboard conversion option is neat and the pedals feel good. At that price though I'd personally want or expect an all CNC machined work of art.

what do you mean by play? how the linkage isn't always exact? cause the spherical bearings are def gonna feel different than the straight ones use in other Direct drive systems
 
I was excited about these pedals at NAMM, but after closer inspection at my drum store was less impressed. There are many cast parts on it with more tolerence than the all CNC machined Axis and Trick pedals. The pearl demon pedals have play in the hinge and play in the upper axle for the beater shaft. Those other two brands and DW as well don't have that play.

That said I do like the longboard conversion option is neat and the pedals feel good. At that price though I'd personally want or expect an all CNC machined work of art.

The Pearl does have a lot of Die Cast parts, but there are no problems, with using them. There are no significant tensile, compression or elastic property differences using Die Cast on these pedals. There is no heat on the pedal other then your feet, and you as a drummer will not use the force necessary to break the aluminum.

Using Die Cast does require a significant investment in the tooling prior to manufacturing. This is something a large company like Pearl can do easier then Trick or Axis. Also, when a tighter tolerance is needed, the Die Cast is machined.

As a mechanical engineer I have worked projects that were at both levels of productions. The Pearl level will reduce its price by selling more to offset the cost of the Dies. The Axis and Trick level does not reduce the price too much by large quantities.
 
It doesn't appear by this photo of the slave that it can also be made into a single.

surely, judging by that picture, it can convert into a single pedal?

there is a latch under the pedal board to conect to a bass drum, and from other pictures i've seen (you can't see it on that) there's a bit sticking out on the right of the upright frame which would seem to accomodate the spring tension system.

i don't know though, and no one else seems to be sure...
 
I cannot speak for Axis but I know Trick is a very small company that does not have the market presence to get it's pedals in stores like GC and Sam Ash for other than special orders. I was lucky to FINALLY come across one in my Sam Ash and I ordered it through a friend. I love it.

The Pearl pedal is great also though. Congrats on the purchase.

Axis is a small time operation, they sell every pedal they produce and cannot keep-up with demand. That's the reason you don't see them in the stores, they're sold sight-unseen weeks/months/years in advance.
 
I am thinking of buying this pedal...but my sort of teacher somehow redirected me and now I want to play single,but the double bass pulls me to itself somehow and now I would like to buy a new longboard double,but I have no money...so please can anyone prefer a good pedal, that is longboard that I can buy in single "mode" and after sometime buy another one and a shaft and connect them to a double...I hope you understood me because I am from Croatia and my english is well but not very well...xD
 
Unfortunately I cannot think of any value longboard pedals, Omen. If you look second hand, you might be able to find some Axis Longboard pedals going for a lot less than retail, but it would be hard to find.
 
I am thinking of buying this pedal...but my sort of teacher somehow redirected me and now I want to play single,but the double bass pulls me to itself somehow and now I would like to buy a new longboard double,but I have no money...so please can anyone prefer a good pedal, that is longboard that I can buy in single "mode" and after sometime buy another one and a shaft and connect them to a double...I hope you understood me because I am from Croatia and my english is well but not very well...xD

Buying single then going double will usually be more costly. Its doubtful prices are going to go down in the future. You say you're thinking about Demon Drive Twin, which is big money, but teacher redirected you to single.

You've waited this long, keep using what you've got and save, save, save for the pedal you really want. What happens more times than not is, once you get that dream piece of gear, the money you spent on it becomes inconsequential/meaningless.

If its a great piece of gear, some people feel 'at ease' knowing it doesn't get any better (for a little while anyway) and they now have a high-value sellable piece of gear if they ever want to upgrade in the future.

Some drummers think of it as 'leasing/renting' and look at the trade-in value down the road, high end is always better.
 
Buying single then going double will usually be more costly. Its doubtful prices are going to go down in the future. You say you're thinking about Demon Drive Twin, which is big money, but teacher redirected you to single.

You've waited this long, keep using what you've got and save, save, save for the pedal you really want. What happens more times than not is, once you get that dream piece of gear, the money you spent on it becomes inconsequential/meaningless.

If its a great piece of gear, some people feel 'at ease' knowing it doesn't get any better (for a little while anyway) and they now have a high-value sellable piece of gear if they ever want to upgrade in the future.

Some drummers think of it as 'leasing/renting' and look at the trade-in value down the road, high end is always better.
Ok...thank you so much...now I play DW 4000 double...and I am satisfied with it,but not how I think I should be...oh, and btw...when I said I dont have the money to buy the pedal it was becuse of the prices in croatia...here is a sample...twin demon drive in croatia costs 5500 kunas(that is like 1020$), but in USA and some other countryes costs 700$...correct me if I am wrong...and the last thing: Can you guys tell how much I can get for my double pedal...It is one year old and I yesterday put new DW Factory Accessories Springs...I aprecciate your answers...
 
Just wanted to throw out there that the Yamaha Direct Drive pedals are really nice as well and are cheaper than Axis, Trick, Pearl DD.

They are at least worth a look. I really like the doubles I got and didn't think the Pearl DD was too different.

Not knocking any of the above mentioned ... just throwing out another option.
 
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