PorkPieGuy
Platinum Member
Used DW 5002 is a great choice.
Best double bass pedal for under or around $200
- Thread starter drummom
- Start date
trickg
Silver Member
If you can, bump up your budget and get a Tama Iron Cobra 600 - $279 on Amazon.
There are a few reasons I suggest this.
1.) It's VERY well made - not quite to the same level as the 900, but close, so it's going to last
2.) It's highly adjustible - the 600 has pretty much the same features the older 900 had in terms of adjustibility
3.) Choice of cams - the way it's set up, it's pretty easy to go from the Power Glide cam configuration to the Rolling Glide cam, which gives a significantly different feel. I prefer the Rolling Glide cam because I feel I have more control with it and I don't need the harder hit and acceleration of the Power Glide, but he'd at least have that choice.
4.) Certain things can be upgraded later at a reasonble cost - it uses the same basic base plate as the 900 series pedal, so if he wanted to add the Cobra Coil spring later, he could.
I recently purchased an Iron Cobra 600 single pedal because I'd accumulated most of the gear necessary to have a duplicate setup for practice - basically, I have a kit in the cases to gig with, and a kit set up to practice with. My main pedal is an older (10-11 years) Iron Cobra 900 Rolling Glide (pre-Cobra Coil) and I wanted to get as close to the same feel on the second pedal without having to search for a good deal on a decent used one, and without having to spend what it would cost for a new 900.
Shortly after I got my 600, I added the toe piece - I'm not sure that I needed to, but that's what my 900 has - and I put the IC 900 beater on it, (older style felt beater, not the newer one) although I'm not sure I needed to - the IC 600 beater was fine. The feel of pedal is virtually indistinguishable from the feel of the 900, which is significantly more expensive - $449 as opposed to $279.
Many have suggested trying to find something used. I don't recommend this for you. If you were a drummer and knew what you were looking at, it would be a good way to go, but you'd have to take the time to hunt for the right deal, and there's always a chance that you're going to pay for someone else's problem - maybe everything looks fine, but something is stripped, bent, cracked or otherwise not working correctly - kick pedals get a lot of abuse. Iron Cobra pedals have a reputation for durability, but they will wear out and break, just like anything else.
Another option that is almost as good but not quite as versatile or adjustible, is the DW 3000. At $249 it's slightly less than the IC 600, but it's very very solid. I had a double for a while but mainly used it as a single. I had a lot of control on it and it feels good to play, but it has a significantly heavier feel than the Tama IMO. If I recall correctly, at the time I got mine, the biggest difference between it and the 5000 series pedal was the heel plate hinge, and I swapped those out with 5000 series bearing hinges. Between the two though, I still think the IC 600 is the better of the two.
There are a few reasons I suggest this.
1.) It's VERY well made - not quite to the same level as the 900, but close, so it's going to last
2.) It's highly adjustible - the 600 has pretty much the same features the older 900 had in terms of adjustibility
3.) Choice of cams - the way it's set up, it's pretty easy to go from the Power Glide cam configuration to the Rolling Glide cam, which gives a significantly different feel. I prefer the Rolling Glide cam because I feel I have more control with it and I don't need the harder hit and acceleration of the Power Glide, but he'd at least have that choice.
4.) Certain things can be upgraded later at a reasonble cost - it uses the same basic base plate as the 900 series pedal, so if he wanted to add the Cobra Coil spring later, he could.
I recently purchased an Iron Cobra 600 single pedal because I'd accumulated most of the gear necessary to have a duplicate setup for practice - basically, I have a kit in the cases to gig with, and a kit set up to practice with. My main pedal is an older (10-11 years) Iron Cobra 900 Rolling Glide (pre-Cobra Coil) and I wanted to get as close to the same feel on the second pedal without having to search for a good deal on a decent used one, and without having to spend what it would cost for a new 900.
Shortly after I got my 600, I added the toe piece - I'm not sure that I needed to, but that's what my 900 has - and I put the IC 900 beater on it, (older style felt beater, not the newer one) although I'm not sure I needed to - the IC 600 beater was fine. The feel of pedal is virtually indistinguishable from the feel of the 900, which is significantly more expensive - $449 as opposed to $279.
Many have suggested trying to find something used. I don't recommend this for you. If you were a drummer and knew what you were looking at, it would be a good way to go, but you'd have to take the time to hunt for the right deal, and there's always a chance that you're going to pay for someone else's problem - maybe everything looks fine, but something is stripped, bent, cracked or otherwise not working correctly - kick pedals get a lot of abuse. Iron Cobra pedals have a reputation for durability, but they will wear out and break, just like anything else.
Another option that is almost as good but not quite as versatile or adjustible, is the DW 3000. At $249 it's slightly less than the IC 600, but it's very very solid. I had a double for a while but mainly used it as a single. I had a lot of control on it and it feels good to play, but it has a significantly heavier feel than the Tama IMO. If I recall correctly, at the time I got mine, the biggest difference between it and the 5000 series pedal was the heel plate hinge, and I swapped those out with 5000 series bearing hinges. Between the two though, I still think the IC 600 is the better of the two.
I am hesitant buy anything used as if its broken I wouldn't be able to know.
I ordered (but it hasn't come yet) the PDP By DW Double Bass Drum Pedal (PDDP502). It was $125 on sale at Amazon.
Drum instructor said it would be good. Gets good reviews. But, not as fancy as others recommended.
I ordered (but it hasn't come yet) the PDP By DW Double Bass Drum Pedal (PDDP502). It was $125 on sale at Amazon.
Drum instructor said it would be good. Gets good reviews. But, not as fancy as others recommended.
Double BASS pedal (now you're saying it right)
Yours sincerely,
The Spelling Police
Thank you.. It took me forever to figure out what he was asking for. I kept thinking we needed two bass drums and two pedals and we have no space for two bass drums. We saw a drummer using one at a concert and finally figured it out. I'm learning.
trickg
Silver Member
I just took a gander at it - it should get your child where they need to go, and it's going to be a decent entry level piece - I've seen entry level pedals that were not as robust as that one, so I agree with your child's instructor - think you made a pretty good choice.
I think some of us, myself included, sometimes forget that what we like or want, isn't necessarily what we "need." I'm a fan of the Tama pedal I talked about above, but when a budget has to be considered, you saved $150 off of what I had suggested, and it will do basically the same things.
I think some of us, myself included, sometimes forget that what we like or want, isn't necessarily what we "need." I'm a fan of the Tama pedal I talked about above, but when a budget has to be considered, you saved $150 off of what I had suggested, and it will do basically the same things.
trickg
Silver Member
It's tough to say - a kick pedal gets used probably more than any other single piece of drumming gear, with maybe the exception of hi-hats. However, just because a piece of gear isn't expensive doesn't mean that it won't be perfectly functional and last a long time. My snare stand is a good example of that. It's a humble Pearl 800 series snare stand that I bought in early 2004 when my entry level PDP snare stand* stripped out in spite of the fact that I never over-tightened it. That snare stand has been used a lot in the 15 years I've had it, and there's no indication that it's not going to continue to work for many years to come.
Tama has a solid reputation for durability and reliability - that's part of why I suggested the Iron Cobra 600 pedal, in addition to the fact that it's just as adjustable as the IC 900 pedal I picked up around 2007. You should be good with that PDP pedal though.
*Personally, due to failures on several pieces of PDP hardware back when I was first getting involved as a drummer, (all inexpensive entry level stands) I have never gotten any more PDP gear. With that said, they likely have improved their products since 2003/2004.
Thank you. Its a catch-22 as do I buy what we need now or do we get what we also can still use in the future/better. He's an easy kid so he'll be happy with anything. If I am not sure, he tells me to ask one of you all to choose. I just want it to last through high school but I say that now but if he's that good eventually we might upgrade him later but we got a decent set so we wouldn't have to. We have a Mapex set and folks who tried them years ago said no, the instructor we had (changed as he moved to his old instructor) was a Mapex guy and I got a good price so we went with that but its a really nice kit.
I'll keep looking around for deals but at least if I don't find anything I have this as a backup.
PorkPieGuy
Platinum Member
I wish you were my mom.
trickg
Silver Member
I'm probably not the right guy to ask. As a parent and musician myself, I kind of indulged my kids. With my son, he is a guitar player, and when he started showing some real promise at around age 14-15, I decided to upgrade his gear. He was on some decent but entry-level gear, and I figured I'd do with him what my parents did with me - I put the gear in his hands that was at a point of quality where he'd stop thinking so much about gear, and start focusing on his craft. I did a similar thing with his amp.
I got him a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Peavey Valve King 112 tube combo amp. (pretty sure I got him the amp first)
It worked too - he stopped lusting after top end gear because he HAD top end gear - not boutique, but certainly solid stuff. That kid literally would play that guitar until his fingers were too sore to play, he'd take a break, then he'd go after it again.
At this point he's been involved in one signed indie band and has toured the country 7 or 8 times, and he's working on another project that is likely to get signed pretty soon. I look at it as an investment that has paid off.
Thats really helpful. My son doesn't really ask for upgrades and is really appreciative of what he has. I'm pretty lucky with that. He does notice the better stuff - he really liked the new head for the base drum (after he accidentally busted his as I didn't know about the patch) but he's really cool as I can take him somewhere and he'll say, oh, that looks nice but not asking for it. He has expressed an interest in a double pedal so it makes far more sense then buying toys at this age that he rarely will play with. I don't want to go so cheap I have to upgrade in a few years. He really enjoys it and it is one of the few things that seems to come naturally, so I'm glad to do it. Its also been great for us as a family as we now go to concerts (thanks to groupon/living social) and other things I would have never done otherwise the we've all really enjoyed.
So, now my sweetie wants to learn guitar too - any suggestions as we got a gift card to guitar center (prefer to keep it under $150) - he wants to dabble in it via youtube videos. A lot of the guitars were too big but the kids size was too small.
Ok, the update. I have that one on the way. However, grandma got a gift card to Amazon I was thinking about spending more and getting a better one. Which of the ones on here would be a good choice I can get off Amazon (or somewhere where i can convert the gift card like Guitar Center)?
Is there a huge difference in the DW 500 vs. the 5000 - Guitar Center has a few used 5000 and which one:
harryconway
Platinum Member
DW 5000 is a great pedal. The 5000 series pedal and hardware is one of the cornerstones of the house of DW. Back in the 80's, there were a ton of drummers who played Tama, Pearl, or Ludwig drums ..... but used DW hardware.