Bo Eder
Platinum Member
So I've had my Demon Drive pedal for some time and although I initially liked it out of the box, there were times when it didn't feel right to my foot. On this forum I've heard many complaints about the pedal as well and even some folks just getting rid of them and returning them because of the inherent weak feel. At times I wondered why for such an expensive single pedal, should I have to alter my technique to make the pedal happen when I'm fine on, obviously cheaper pedals.
I've discovered a few things when I actually set some time aside just to work on this pedal yesterday. And it started with reading the Owner's Manual that came with it. I've included pictures in case my semantics get confusing. What I wanted was more power, but I didn't want to change my technique. I am happy to report that once you set the pedal up right, you will get that power you normally associate with other favorite pedals. So, the multitude adjustments you can make are both a curse and a god-send because out of the box, Pearl thinks you'll like it the way they've set it up. We as players just need to know that we can severely alter the way the pedal is set-up. So you, like others, probably will hate the way it is out of the box. Hopefully what I talk about will give you hope that it's not the pedal!
After going through the owner's manual, the first thing I did was convert it into a longboard set-up, since out of the box it comes with the heel plate in the down position (like alot of other pedals). Granted, now that I know what I know, you probably don't need the longboard conversion once you set up the rest of the pedal right, but I like it, and it matches my other Pearl pedals (I also have the P-930 single and double pedal sets).
If you look at the linkage from the footplate , the 'power' setting is the first hole on the linkage from the axle. Not the farthest one away. Like gears on a bicycle, you want to get closer to the axle to maximize the power stroke. Another setting is changing where the beater angle is. If you look at the mechanism that hold the beater, there's actually two places that tighten it up against the axle. Out of the box, Pearl sets this as the one at the rear, which pushes the beater actually forward of the axle. You want to loosen that up, and push it back so the beater is actually closer to the axle. Now the beater travels a little farther on its way to the head, but the extra travel is where the power comes into play.
Now my Demon Drive feels great, and I play the same way on it as I do my other pedals. Ironically, I just took a $300+ pedal and made it feel like my $90 Pearl P-930 (or DW5000, or Tama Iron Cobra Jr., etc.,...). But now it's slammin'!
Forgive me if a bunch of your owners already knew this. I was just wondering why there were so many negatives spoken about this pedal upon its debut. Now that I have it feeling the way I like it, I'm sure it's now my favorite pedal
I've discovered a few things when I actually set some time aside just to work on this pedal yesterday. And it started with reading the Owner's Manual that came with it. I've included pictures in case my semantics get confusing. What I wanted was more power, but I didn't want to change my technique. I am happy to report that once you set the pedal up right, you will get that power you normally associate with other favorite pedals. So, the multitude adjustments you can make are both a curse and a god-send because out of the box, Pearl thinks you'll like it the way they've set it up. We as players just need to know that we can severely alter the way the pedal is set-up. So you, like others, probably will hate the way it is out of the box. Hopefully what I talk about will give you hope that it's not the pedal!
After going through the owner's manual, the first thing I did was convert it into a longboard set-up, since out of the box it comes with the heel plate in the down position (like alot of other pedals). Granted, now that I know what I know, you probably don't need the longboard conversion once you set up the rest of the pedal right, but I like it, and it matches my other Pearl pedals (I also have the P-930 single and double pedal sets).
If you look at the linkage from the footplate , the 'power' setting is the first hole on the linkage from the axle. Not the farthest one away. Like gears on a bicycle, you want to get closer to the axle to maximize the power stroke. Another setting is changing where the beater angle is. If you look at the mechanism that hold the beater, there's actually two places that tighten it up against the axle. Out of the box, Pearl sets this as the one at the rear, which pushes the beater actually forward of the axle. You want to loosen that up, and push it back so the beater is actually closer to the axle. Now the beater travels a little farther on its way to the head, but the extra travel is where the power comes into play.
Now my Demon Drive feels great, and I play the same way on it as I do my other pedals. Ironically, I just took a $300+ pedal and made it feel like my $90 Pearl P-930 (or DW5000, or Tama Iron Cobra Jr., etc.,...). But now it's slammin'!
Forgive me if a bunch of your owners already knew this. I was just wondering why there were so many negatives spoken about this pedal upon its debut. Now that I have it feeling the way I like it, I'm sure it's now my favorite pedal