How much does having a "pro" double pedal help you?

One of the things that I try looking for is something that has parts readily available for repair. I call it my 7-11 philosophy. I want something that I can find a part for at a 7-11. Am I exagerating, probably but I want to have dependable gear that doesn't take a month's wait or longer to get a crucial part for.


Mike

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It's not about having a "top of the line" pedal. It's about having a pedal which doesn't limit you (rust, loose bolts etc.) A top of the line pedal won't make you better, a crap pedal will just make you worse. Am I making sense?

Makes sense. Provided the pedal is reliable and fixable (just in case carry spares) all is fine. Back in the day (1978) i preferred the Ludwig Speedking over the more expensive Ghost pedal. What really matters is that you have a pedal that feels right to you an can play well. Throwing more money does not necessarily mean you are a better player. I.E.: A better racecar driver with a slower car will usually beat a lesser driver who has a faster car.

On the other side of the coin, a pedal with more adjustability may allow you to grow as a player to achieve the best you can. This is why i loved the old Pearl EDP ???? pedal at first because you could adjust... everything. It was a geek-engineer's dream of sorts, though i heard one of the reasons they discontinued it is that some people adjusted them so far out of whack it was hard to get back to square 1.

Using the Tama Cobra dual setup now cuz that is what came with the set, had to mod them a bit tho.
 
i play two double pedals. one of them is my iron cobra. it's nice and smooth and fast, and it's adjusted just the way i like it. the other is an el-cheapo PDP double pedal set up on the kit in my band's practice room. it belongs to the drummer from the other band who also uses the practice room and lets me use his junky kit. i can play most things reasonably well with either pedal, but when it comes to really fast articulate playing, my tama pedal definitely has an edge. it's not a huge edge, but the tama pedal is noticeably smoother and more responsive.
 
a piece of sh!t pedal will feel like a piece of sh!t under your feet, whatever brand it is. tryout as many different pedals as you can and see what feels good under your feet and feels good to you.

yeah, some pedals are more expensive than others, and some are WAY OVER PRICED. but finding a good QUALITY pedal without breaking the bank ain't that hard!!
 
An expensive, top of the line pedal, won't make you play better; but it will make your life easier. I'd rather have my equipment assist in doing work for me than fighting me. Pedals are like computers. A good computer should respond to your inputs quickly while a budget computer leaves you irritated and behind in your task. I know that's a dumb example, but drum pedals are the only element of a drum kit that has moving parts. If it were up to me I'd want a quality, well made pedal with these parts giving me the best possible advantage.

I definately agree with this. And to all of those who say you should be able to play good on anything. In an ideal world yes and i can get by on just about any setting. But if you come to playing a pedal that is as far away from your pedal set up as you can get, you are going to see your performance hindered no matter what anyone says because it has happened to me. It doesn't matter how expensive or what brand it is it's how it works for you!

Here's a good example, i went to the drum shop one day in Newcastle and one of the guys working there had just bought a Trick Pro V1 pedal for god knows how much and he loved them. A couple of month later i was testing out pedals for myself and i started playing the Pearl P-902. I then got talking to another guy that worked there about the other guys trick pedals. And he said to me, he is thinking about selling them and buying two of those pedals that you are playing. That says it all really, there is a major price difference between tricks and pearls and most people would probably would say that that is crazy but hey they obviously clicked more with him than the tricks! So yeah find what feels comfortable!
 
I started playing again this year after almost 15 years of no drums at all. It's been slow go but I've found that upgrading is helping me to be efficient. I always used a single Ludwig Speed King pedal and my right foot is pretty strong but I just bought an Axis XL single for 179 and it's been like going from a Olds to a Cadillac...

Hardware is a vehicle, it's a tool that should work for YOU. Otherwise, YOU are the tool. Just like a computer, it is only as accurate as it's operator - garbage in, garbage out. This new pedal will take getting used to but I think it's a great investment. Most places have good return policies so don't be afraid to get something and try it out.

Good luck,

Jiva
 
I have axis double pedals. I was at the local drum store today and tried out the DW 9000
double pedal. I put a hold on one I will be picking up next week. I also have DW5000 double pedal from the late 80s. I think that pedal smokes the Axis pedal. Somthing about the direct drive that i don;t like. I have been using them for years trying to convince myself
that its me not the pedals. Back to DW.
 
I bought my then-top-of-the-line Yamaha double bass pedal in 1992 when i commited myself to learning how to play double bass. To this day, it's solid as a rock and silky smooth and comfortable. I practiced double bass blast beats 2-6 hours/ day, 3-6 days per week for almost 2 years straight. My limit for sustained speed was 192 bpm sixteenth notes over a 32 bar phrase. I stayed at that plateau from 1994 to Dec 2007 when i "upgraded" to a Trick detonator pro1v-2 bigfoot. I've increased my speed to 216 bpm. About a 12% gain in speed. $740 USD for +24bpm. WORTH EVERY HARD EARNED PENNY TO ME. If I could spend another $740 to get a pedal to take me up another 10bpm, I'd charge it to my credit card right this second. I haven't seen anything else on the market that comes close to my Trick though. The cool thing is though (and some people may get bent out of shape over this) I can now play about 204-206 bpm on my old yamahas. So yes. The Trick made me a faster drummer. (before anybody tries to shoot that statement down, read the part where i stayed on that plateau for 13 years playing the same pedal).
 
hey guys,
thanks alot for all of the feedback. next time i get the opportunity, im gonna go to a shop and try out all of their pedals from A to Z, and i wont care for the price or the brand, and ill try to find the pedal that feels right for me. ive allways had a hard time choosing gear.... the only problem is that over here, the only gear we get is the gear that is imported from the states, and most of the time its sold at prices that reach the double of what you would normally be paying in the USA i think.
What i do think is that i have to get rid of that taped pedal. i went to a shop the other day to get it repaired but the guys couldnt do anything, they just said "oh well, you should check out these Iron Cobras" ...
the only good thing about this pedal is that its gonna be easier for me to play fast as soon as i get a new pedal, since ive been practicing with a taped pedal =P
 
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