High end pedals? Tell me why...

It like saying you drive a used Honda Civic and cant understand what you get out of a more expensive car. Sure, they all serve the same purpose, but they do it in very different ways. I play a DW 5000 on my practice kit, and its a good pedal, but it has a looseness that I have never cared for. My gigging pedal is a DW 9000 and it is solid as a rock. I have played 10-15 nights in a row and never had to think about it. Another factor is that a backline pedal will feel exactly the same as the one I play every day.
 
Even the cheapest of the cheap pedals you can find nowadays will be way better than the stuff Krupa, Buddy, Moon or Bonham ever got their feet on, so don't overthink or overspend! I like my Tama HP600, even though it's the cheapest link in my kit by far. I just set up a new Pearl Export for a local school, and the included Pearl 930 was swell as well!
 
Even the cheapest of the cheap pedals you can find nowadays will be way better than the stuff Krupa, Buddy, Moon or Bonham ever got their feet on, so don't overthink or overspend! I like my Tama HP600, even though it's the cheapest link in my kit by far. I just set up a new Pearl Export for a local school, and the included Pearl 930 was swell as well!

The mighty speed kings were around then. A well maintained speed king is as good as any pedal around nowadays. But I'll agree with other pedals, the build quality has vastly improved.

I'm not really a fan of newer top end pedals, they feel too heavy and unresponsive. It feels like they keep reinventing the wheel when the Camco and original DW5000 are perfect and are very easy to maintain.

I use an original strap drive DW5000 I paid £15 for and I have a single chain Camco I paid £25 as a backup. Still have a Speed King but it needs some TLC
 
Go into a store and play with a Tama Speedcobra, a Yamaha FP9500D or a Sonor JoJo Mayer-Pedal for some minutes. It might cause you to change your opinion.

Not played the Jojo pedal or the Yammy but the price of the Jojo pedal puts me off. My local store only does Tama/DW and Ludwig (I think) pedals

The beaters on Iron Cobras feel too light.

I will say the the new Pearl pedals are amazing.
 
I think the modern day mid range stuff is more than adequate, it's all probably a reaction from those of us who suffered on crappy pedals of the 80's and earlier. We just want to get as far away from them as we can, so we're happy to drop $500+.

They may not be necessary but they are honestly superior IMO.
 
Like a lot of drum stuff it's probably a case of diminishing returns. You can buy a very very good pedal for £150. It will be obviously sturdier and more solid than a no-name £30 pedal and it might be a touch more solid and have a few more features than an £80 pedal......but the leap from the £30 to the £80 will be far bigger than the one from £80 to £150. So even though a £300 pedal may be "better", it won't be THAT much better.
As for massive degrees of adjustability, here's an analogy. Years ago I used to be into Mountain Biking and I read an interview with a downhill racer who was always getting beaten by his team mate. To try and win he would set his bike up differently for each course on the Tour so that it would perform at its' optimum for the terrain. And he still kept getting beaten. Until his Team mate told him that his method of bike set up was to set everything 'in the middle setting' so to speak. This meant that he was riding the same bike on every course and using his ability to adjust his body to the course, instead of having to constantly re-adjust to what was effectively a different bike each time. Now this is different to drummers and pedals, once it's set up it stays like that but just perhaps there's an argument for not stressing over micro adjustments and instead getting used to a pedal instead of trying to make a pedal get used to the drummer.
 
I'm quite happy with my high end pedal!
 

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The mighty speed kings were around then. A well maintained speed king is as good as any pedal

Allright, if you say so :)

The only vintage Speed King I ever played was a very rickety and squeeky old contraption. No way for me to tell whether had ever been a good piece of hardware!
 
Allright, if you say so :)

The only vintage Speed King I ever played was a very rickety and squeeky old contraption. No way for me to tell whether had ever been a good piece of hardware!

Before I got my Axis pedal, I used a SpeedKing through the 80's and 90's. I always figured, "if it's good enough for Bonham, then it's good enough for me."
I recently picked one up for $25 at a GOB sale. It was dead and hardly moved at all. I tore it all apart & reconditioned it. It was brought back to life and worked great again. Sold it for $50 bucks.

But my favorite pedal is this one called the Asba Caroline. It was High End back in the day, but I got mine from a Mexican Swap Meet for $15. This pedal works so nicely that it's not for sale.
 
I'm quite happy with my high end pedal!

I've broken straps, chains, hinges, cams, sprockets, snapped a footboard in two and broke a mallet in the middle of the rod, not to mention how many replaceable parts I've burned through. I would literally crush that thing. Put it in a museum.
 
I've broken straps, chains, hinges, cams, sprockets, snapped a footboard in two and broke a mallet in the middle of the rod, not to mention how many replaceable parts I've burned through. I would literally crush that thing. Put it in a museum.

Yes, it's a very good pedal :)
 
My main go-to pedal is a shortboard Axis that I bought used and refurbished with factory parts. it can do exactly what I need it to.

Lately though I have been using my Speed king on my home kit and it feels really good under my foot. It did take some getting used to but it is still a great pedal after all these years.

Edit: I have a good friend that worked at a Guitar Canter for many years and told me about all the repairs that had to be sent out for DW pedals. Apparently they are a bit prone to breaking.
 
Even the cheapest of the cheap pedals you can find nowadays will be way better than the stuff Krupa, Buddy, Moon or Bonham ever got their feet on, so don't overthink or overspend! I like my Tama HP600, even though it's the cheapest link in my kit by far. I just set up a new Pearl Export for a local school, and the included Pearl 930 was swell as well!

I dont know if I agree, the Ludwig Speed King, and one of the best pedals I ever played was the Rogers Swivimatic were around then.
 
Feel.. Every pedal has it's own feel.. I don't buy based on high end or low end.. I based on how good it feels to play.

High end pedals are built well but still can have their issues.. I have owned Cobras, DW5000, DW9000, Eliminators, Demons, Axis etc etc.

Right now I use my Axis pedals exclusively. They are a high end pedal and they feel the best to me.. They have been rock solid for 10 years and I find I can play faster on them than anything else. I also have an old single speed king on my electric kit that I use for practice and it feels good too.

The DW9000 is a high end pedal and personal I hated it. the 5000 being low-mid range I loved.

Going to a music store and trying them all is your best bet.. and don't even look at the price. If you end up being happy with a $200 pedal that is a bonus..

An exception is in extreme speed stuff though. For death metal stuff long board direct drive pedals are WAY faster. There isn't really any low end pedals in this market.. YET. so all the guys playing stupid fast stuff usually have high end pedals for this stuff. The speed cobras kinda hit the mid range in this market but are still pretty decent. I have heard of durability issues with them though. I am waiting for someone to come out with a cheap double direct drive pedal in the next year or 2 and making a killing.

Having expensive golf clubs doesn't make you a good golfer.
Having expensive skates doesn't make you a good hockey player.
Having an expensive pedal doesn't make you a good drummer.
 
Feel.. Every pedal has it's own feel.. I don't buy based on high end or low end.. I based on how good it feels to play.

High end pedals are built well but still can have their issues.. I have owned Cobras, DW5000, DW9000, Eliminators, Demons, Axis etc etc.

Right now I use my Axis pedals exclusively. They are a high end pedal and they feel the best to me.. They have been rock solid for 10 years and I find I can play faster on them than anything else. I also have an old single speed king on my electric kit that I use for practice and it feels good too.

The DW9000 is a high end pedal and personal I hated it. the 5000 being low-mid range I loved.

Going to a music store and trying them all is your best bet.. and don't even look at the price. If you end up being happy with a $200 pedal that is a bonus..

An exception is in extreme speed stuff though. For death metal stuff long board direct drive pedals are WAY faster. There isn't really any low end pedals in this market.. YET. so all the guys playing stupid fast stuff usually have high end pedals for this stuff. The speed cobras kinda hit the mid range in this market but are still pretty decent. I have heard of durability issues with them though. I am waiting for someone to come out with a cheap double direct drive pedal in the next year or 2 and making a killing.

Having expensive golf clubs doesn't make you a good golfer.
Having expensive skates doesn't make you a good hockey player.
Having an expensive pedal doesn't make you a good drummer.

You say the speed cobras are sort of mid range pedals? Just curious because I'm between them and a direct drive like the axis or trick. I'm looking for something that will have a good feel for playing fast metal like lamb of god, gojira, arch enemy, ensiferum,etc., plus other styles if I want. Mainly metal though.
 
Depending on your level of experience and pedal preferences, axis/trick might be the better option for maximizing your speed as direct drive has proven superior in this regard. Speed Cobras are still great pedals.
 
Depending on your level of experience and pedal preferences, axis/trick might be the better option for maximizing your speed as direct drive has proven superior in this regard. Speed Cobras are still great pedals.


Speed cobras are much cheaper as well. so if you don't want to spend $1000 it might be in your best interest. I never said they were bad, I just know that for fast fast speed metal the Axis pedalas are VERY fast.

Now, on that note, Axis pedals can sometimes be too fast, I have had issues where my feet run away from me when i'm playing and its harder to play slower. They take some getting used to but once you do they are amazing.

Being new I would suggest a slight upgrade but not going to crazy. If your pedal is worth more than your drums there may be something wrong. I can play pretty quick on a cheap pedal. Until you NEED to upgrade for any reason just work on hitting consistently and tight.

That said.. If you can afford it, and want to go fast, Try the Axis. They are tanks too. I have had a set that has been beaten to heck for over 10 years without an issue.

I personally don't know your ability but most of the time the pedal isn't the issue. I usually upgrade parts when the previous one is falling apart or failing. I even have an old ludwig speedking single pedal i pull out sometimes that is about 20-30 years old. It has Zero adjustments and plays just fine.
 
Direct drive and chain drive pedals are purely a matter of personal preference. I've known drummers who've tried the direct drive pedals-in this case Axis-and he switched back to chain drive pedals because he couldn't get used his pedal moving directly with his foot position so try each for a period of time and then choose.

There are well respected metal drummers who play chain drive pedals, Mike Portnoy for example.
 
Direct drive and chain drive pedals are purely a matter of personal preference. I've known drummers who've tried the direct drive pedals-in this case Axis-and he switched back to chain drive pedals because he couldn't get used his pedal moving directly with his foot position so try each for a period of time and then choose.

There are well respected metal drummers who play chain drive pedals, Mike Portnoy for example.

.. I think if your going by my post you might have mistaken me.. There are plenty of fast great drummers who use chains and short boards, but it is EASIER to play faster on direct drive. But it comes at a cost of relearning how they feel. I hated mine for a few months when I first got it, but i stuck it out.

and I do think once you get into the super fast tech death metal and stuff over 240 BPM 16th you don't see many people on chains and pretty much ALL the drummers in that range are using direct drive so that has to say something.
 
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