Ah the bass drum pedal. How you divide us. Should it be a Single? Double? Chain or Belt? Direct Drive? Wacky? (Sleishman anyone?!) No matter your feelings on any of these topics, we’d be lost without it. Resigned to a pit of despair without being able to use our bass drum. A pipe band player…! Any one who has ever experienced their chain or spring snap on a gig knows such feeling. Cry! This is a small but perfectly formed list of what we consider to be some worthy inclusions as the Cobra Kai of pedals – The Best Around!

Tama Dyna Sync

You were expecting the Iron Cobra, weren’t you? PSYCH! The Dyna Sync is one of the newest pedals in the Tama line up and it’s magic! A dual linked Direct Drive pedal for all the smooth action goodness.

Direct drive pedals provide a direct relationship between the beater and the foot board, rather than having the extra weight of a full cam. This means the pedal is, for all intents and purposes, way smoother and performs easier under the foot and this one is no exception.

It features a host of awesome features that are advancements of Tama’s existing pedal catalogue such as:

Slideable Cam

This is attached to the dual linkage at the very top of the pedal. It lets you adjust the turning radius in order to get a much more nuanced feel under your feet. It lets you tailor the performance of the pedal to suit your needs.

Footboard Angle Adjustment

This has become a huge feature in pedal manufacture in the last 10 years and the Dyna-Sync footboard angle design integrates into the clam-shaped connection point between linkage and footboard and is fully adjustable to deliver a totally personalized pedal angle adjustment.

Sync – Coil

The Cobra Coil was a game changer in the way that Tama designed pedals. A spring to help push the board back up in order to increase speed and comfort. The Sync-Coil is 1.5 x stronger than the Cobra Coil – the Cobra Coil on steroids!!!!

Dyna Beater

With a slightly tapered shape, the beater strikes the head much more evenly than a traditional beater – therefore providing a clear, defined articulation.

These aren’t the entire collection of features but some of the most important. The pedal is available in both Single and Double.

Speed Flyer

Ludwig HAVE to be on Pedals and Snares lists. The Speed King is LEGENDARY in the drum world having been under the foot of some of the most famous drummers.

The Speed Flyer is their newest member of the family. It’s a whole new upgrade from the ATLAS series of pedals. The improvements include:

• Improved Beater with traditional Speed sizing and increased weight
• Improved heel with smooth action bearings
• Improved toe clamp to reduce hoop stress and a securer grip
• New ergonomic wing nuts and attached drum key
• Improved baseboard for extra strength
• Orientation marks for easier cam adjustments
• Anti-Slip cam for maximum stability.

A beautifully designed pedal and upping the SPEED factor. Currently only available as a Single Chain Drive.

Speed King

 

A classic. Like Bangers ‘n’ Mash. Cookies ‘n’ Cream. Penn and Teller. The Speed King is one of the OG direct drive pedals. Used by drummers such as Ringo Starr and John Bonham the pedal has made a comeback due to popular demand. As close as ever to the original design – including the compression springs built into the posts – but with some home improvements to stand up to today’s demands. Improvements include:

• Improved cam bearings
• More reliable and smoother direct-drive linkage
• Smoother heel plate bearings.

Yamaha FP9

If you like your game to be changed then THIS is the pedal. Available in either chain or direct-drive, single or double, the FP9 blew open the drum pedal game upon its release.

Taking lead from their Motorbike engineering, Yamaha put together a pedal that not only looks amazing, it functions better than just about any pedal on the market! Some of the awesome features include:

• Axle Stabilising Bearings which provide speed, fluidity and SILENCE to the performance of the Axle (which turns the cam – important!)
• Weight Adjustable Beaters – 3g and 9g weights are included in the box which means if you like it heavier, you can add these weights to the beater shaft to add some extra oomph.
• 3 step cam system, (chain drive only) and 3 step drive linkage on the direct drive which adjust the speed of the pedal.
• Spring tension adjuster – clicks in place in order for you to count how many turns you’ve changed the tension of the spring. Really handy if you want to ‘factory reset’ your spring tension.
• Heel spikes! This is ridiculously simple. Rather than spike the front of the pedal where it clamps on to the bass drum, Yamaha added heel spikes so that the BACK of the pedal won’t slide around. The double slave pedal has spikes at the front and back as it obviously doesn’t have a Bass drum to clamp too.
• Independent adjustment of beater and footboard.
• Low profile stabilising hinges at the heel plate which eliminates any twisting on the board.
• Case included!

Pearl Demon Drive

Pearl are perhaps the biggest drum company in the world. For YEARS their hardware has been regarded as some of the strongest around – build a house on it type strong. The Eliminator pedal is still ranked as one of the best pedals on the market.

HOWEVER. In 2009 the Demon Drive hit the market and put Pearl into the Direct Drive market. What makes their design so sophisticated is the ability to change the pedal from short board to longboard.

This still remains a game changing feature and appeals to a much broader market. It put Pearl onto the radar of a bunch of the speed metal players that had played things like Axis for years.

Other super awesome feature on the Demon Drive are:

• Dual Position Link Adjustment
• Control Core Beater
• Ninja Bearings (For skateboards!)
• Click Lock tension adjustment that won’t slip
• Infinitely adjustable footboard height
• Infinitely adjustable beater angle
• Case Included

You Can also change the side on which the post sits so if you’re a practitioner of the Heel/Toe technique, you don’t have the pesky post in the road. Say WHAT!

The pedal is available as a Single, Double, Double Lefty in both Direct Drive and Chain Drive

Sonor Perfect Balance

For this entry I’ve chosen the only Signature product here. The reason I’ve chosen it, is because it’s really unique. The philosophy behind the Perfect Balance and Jojo Mayer’s search, was to find or design a pedal the returns to positions as fast as it goes forward. Jojo was finding that modern pedals all throw forward very quickly but don’t return as fast which was frustrating him. He had learned to play on vintage pedals and developed his technique in such a way the he was ‘cannibalising’ (?!) pedals in order to find something that suited him. After some work with Sonor, the Perfect Balance pedal was born.

The Perfect Balance pedal is available as a Single pedal only but in two formats – the Perfect Balance Signature and the Perfect Balance Standard. Both pedals feature the rounded cam, with a belt drive that produces a balanced stroke.

The Signature pedal also folds with the touch of a button, allowing you to set it up and clamp onto the hoop by simply lifting it on to the hoop (see video). The spring holds itself onto the side of the pedal via a magnet once it’s folded. It come with a padded leather bag.
The Standard version has the cam and the belt drive, however it doesn’t fold and therefore has a thumb screw to attach it to the bass drum hoop.

DW 9000

The DW 9000 has become one of the industry standard pedals in the last however many years and it would be a crime to miss it out. DW started life as a pedal company so it’s no surprise that they manufacture pedals to the highest standard and degree.

The 9000 featured some amazing innovations when it was launched. Some of the first DW pedals were the 5000 range which features both Turbo and Accelerator versions. Well the 9000 lets you change between both using its Infinite Adjustable Cam system. This was revolutionary when it was launched as it provided drummers with the ability to adjust feels very easily and tailor their pedal to suit their needs. Other amazing features include:

• Floating Rotor
• Floating Swivel Spring
• Ball Bearing Hinge Design
• Tri-Pivot Toe clamp
• Non-Slip Rubber Grip Base Plate
• Case

A true classic in the pedal line up. Available as Single, Double, Lefty Double and XF which features an extended footboard ebabling you to play at the back of the pedal like longboard should you feel the need.

So pedals. They’re important. You can’t stop your car without one. Or make it go for that matter. Wether you play 1 or 2, doesn’t really matter. As long as pick the one that FEELS the best under your foot. So hit us up and chat pedals. Let us find the one for you!