Drumnetics conversion

[Eand]

Hi,

So I took the plunge and sent my Yamaha pedal to Michael at Drumnetics and had him convert it. And it's awesome!

He retrofitted my pedal so that it has magnets that provide the resistance and repulsion that the spring usually takes care of. Plus, he took off the double-chain, and installed a direct-drive instead. The action is just incredible.

The spring is actually still on the pedal. Now, it's only job is to stop the beater after the bounce-back from the drum.

Obviously, I'd be way into getting one of the actual Drumnetics pedals since they're supposed to be even better. But this was way more economical, and I couldn't be happier with the results.

The entire experience was fun, because Michael is a really nice guy, and we had a couple good phone conversations about the entire process. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, and I'd be happy to answer any questions.

-E

[Reggae_Mangle]

Pictures! And price quotes too!

- Reggae Mangle

[Jeff Almeyda]

Drumnetics are nice pedals. I played them at NAMM and was impressed. This conversion idea seems pretty cool.

[Eand]

O.K, so I've attached some pictures of my modified pedal. This was originally a Yamaha double-chain single bass pedal.

I sent it to Michael at Drumnetics, and he installed the magnets, as well as a custom direct drive. He let me know that the magnets work best with direct drives.

You can see that the spring is still on the pedal. It's only job now is to stop the beater on it's return from the drum. The actual Drumnetics pedals don't have any springs. All of the action of pedal comes from the magnets repelling each other.

It's totally cool. Right now, the pedal does exactly what my foot does. It's pretty amazing.

I'm not associated with Drumnetics in any way. I contacted Michael through the website about this conversion process, and I'm super happy with the results.

[toddmc]

Originally Posted by Eand

O.K, so I've attached some pictures of my modified pedal. This was originally a Yamaha double-chain single bass pedal.

I sent it to Michael at Drumnetics, and he installed the magnets, as well as a custom direct drive. He let me know that the magnets work best with direct drives.

You can see that the spring is still on the pedal. It's only job now is to stop the beater on it's return from the drum. The actual Drumnetics pedals don't have any springs. All of the action of pedal comes from the magnets repelling each other.

It's totally cool. Right now, the pedal does exactly what my foot does. It's pretty amazing.

I'm not associated with Drumnetics in any way. I contacted Michael through the website about this conversion process, and I'm super happy with the results.

Very interesting indeed. Would love to see a vid of this pedal in action since the conversion (and maybe how it compares to the "old fashioned" spring mechanism)?

[Eand]

Originally Posted by toddmc

Very interesting indeed. Would love to see a vid of this pedal in action since the conversion (and maybe how it compares to the "old fashioned" spring mechanism)?

The pedal is just a lot smoother now. And I can reliably play some quick stuff all at a consistent volume that was difficult for me before.

The thing is, Michael actually did three things to this pedal:

1) He refurbished it. He took it apart, replaced some parts, and basically put it back to the way it was when it was brand new.

2) He installed a custom direct drive made just for this pedal, and tested and tweaked it a bit.

3) He installed the magnets.

So, as soon as I started playing it, it was just a night-and-day difference. It was so much better. I wasn't "fighting the pedal" anymore, if that makes any sense. In fact, I inched the front of my bass drum off of the riser! Was that because I needed less power for the same sound? Is the direct drive a better mechanism for energy transfer? Did the magnets have something to do with it? Or was I just excited to be playing with the new pedal?

And that's kind of where I'm at right now. The pedal is wayyyy better but is it because of the magnets, the direct drive, or the refurbishment? (Probably all three, is my guess).

A few of my friends pointed out that it's odd for the spring to still be on there. And I suppose that I can see their point. But the spring works fine as a catch for the beater, so I'm guessing that Michael kept it on to avoid having to design one more thing which might increase the price.

But then a friend pointed out that if somebody has a spring-based pedal converted, they always have the option of tightening up the spring to the point where the magnets don't come into play anymore. So in theory you could switch back and forth between the two methods. I never really played with a tight spring, so it's difficult for me to compare the spring to the magnets that way.

[toddmc]

Glad you're happy with it but my main concern is- how do you adjust the "spring tension" (magnet tension?) which now doesn't exist? It seems to me you are stuck with just the one setting with the magnets?

[Eand]

Originally Posted by toddmc

Glad you're happy with it but my main concern is- how do you adjust the "spring tension" (magnet tension?) which now doesn't exist? It seems to me you are stuck with just the one setting with the magnets?

Yeah, I suppose you are locked into that one tension setting with the magnets. I played with adjusting the angle of the beater a bit which can increase or decrease the distance between the magnets upon contact with the drum. Plus, you can always tighten up the spring to add tension too.

I know that on the actual Drumnetics pedals, you can adjust the magnets, but I have no complaints at all with how the magnets are set right now.

[Basswood]

That's awesome! Wish I could finally try one of his pedals.

[konaboy]

Originally Posted by Reggae_Mangle

Pictures! And price quotes too!

- Reggae Mangle

Directly from the Drumnetics website.

Pricing

Chain Drive Pedal Conversion, with solid base plate – $125.00
With wire frame base – $140.00

Direct Drive Pedal Conversion, with solid base plate – $60.00
With wire frame base – $75.00

All pricing includes return shipping.

Link to their site http://www.drumnetics.com/page13/index.html

[wildbill]

I'd really like to try one of those. Looks like it'd be fun, but feel a little different.

The main thing I can see that might be an issue for me, is that it doesn't seem like you'd be able to adjust the pedal height. That would affect the magnet's action unless you could also raise and lower the lower magnet too.

[Les Ismore]

Originally Posted by wildbill

The main thing I can see that might be an issue for me, is that it doesn't seem like you'd be able to adjust the pedal height. That would affect the magnet's action unless you could also raise and lower the lower magnet too.

They thought of that, the magnets move.

[Reggae_Mangle]

Originally Posted by konaboy

Directly from the Drumnetics website.

Pricing

Chain Drive Pedal Conversion, with solid base plate – $125.00
With wire frame base – $140.00

Direct Drive Pedal Conversion, with solid base plate – $60.00
With wire frame base – $75.00

All pricing includes return shipping.

Link to their site http://www.drumnetics.com/page13/index.html

Eep! I really should google search more often! After a long day at work, I guess my brain is in deep freeze.

Judging by the pictures of the converted pedal, the prices do indeed seem reasonable. Interesting to note how it's costlier for a wireframe base pedal than one with a solid base plate. Guess it would involve installation of additional housing parts for the magnet at the bottom.

I almost asked what the price of a Drumnetics pedal is, but caught myself in time. Sometime to do the next time I'm in the gulag (cough cough).

- Reggae Mangle

[Eand]

Check out these Axis pedals that were modified by Mike at Drumnetics. Sweet!

http://bcwtj.forumotion.com/t168p120...magnetic-pedal

(The pictures are at the bottom of that page)