MrLeadFoot
Silver Member
I started on a Ludwig Speed King in the mid 70s, and it took some getting used to the action of the DW5000 when I got one 13 years later in the early 80s. It was a single pedal, and had a single chain because that's all there was.
That pedal never needed any maintenance even after gigging all over Hawaii, including salty, open-air sea cruises, all the way to New York, and back to California. I can't believe I played the same pedal for 30 years without one problem. Maybe it's because I play mostly heel-down, I don't know. But, I also played more gigs than I can count, from club to concert venues, across a variety of styles from jazz to pop to rock to country to punk (when it was the real punk), so it's not like I babied the pedal, or anything. I even remember once flying to a gig with no cases for my drums, and my hardware in a duffle bag!
Over the years, I saw new pedals with new technology hit the market, and although there was nothing wrong with my pedal, I finally thought I might be happy with a new one, and recently decided it was time for a change. I had always wanted to try my hand at a double pedal, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to get a new pedal. Due to the zero maintenance of that original DW pedal, I decided to stay with DW, and bought the newer double-chain 5002 Accelerator model.
Excited to finally play something new, without a second thought, I brought my new pedals to a rehearsal. Imagine my disappointment to barely be able to get any bouncing eighths on the primary pedal, let alone 16ths. Throughout that rehearsal I kept holding things up by tweaking all the settings, to no avail. I got through the rehearsal by using the slave to help provide pseudo doubles and triplets.
Knowing that the action of the new model might take some time getting used to, over the next month I tried to get used to it, as well as continued trying all kinds of adjustments. In the end I gave up trying to get that new pedal to feel good.
The double pedal aspect was still intriguing, so I went on eBay to see if there might be an older single-chain double around. Lo and behold, someone was selling a REALLY old unit they found on a shelf in their store that had been used as a floor demo decades earlier. It appeared to be from exactly the same line as my original, except in a double pedal version. To give you an idea how old this model is, like my original pedal, these pedals have a significantly smaller footprint than the new one I previously bought, the slave has two posts, and the heel plates are small and rounded, and have a very low-profile. No one seemed to be bidding on the dinosaur, so I ended up the high bidder at $50!
When the pedals arrived, they really were like new. I promptly put them on my kit, and they played perfectly without any adjustments on my part, at all! I immediately sold the new double-chain model on eBay for nearly what I paid for it.
I can't believe the single-chain model feels so good compared to that double-chain model. And, I never noticed until after I had tried the new model, but I love how small and low the heel plate is; I can actually slide my foot back and play it with my heel literally on the ground, which I do for some techniques. I don't have a particular large foot, either, at size 10.5. I also like how the smaller footboard seems feather-light.
I'm curious to know if anyone else prefers the single-chain over the double-chain model.
That pedal never needed any maintenance even after gigging all over Hawaii, including salty, open-air sea cruises, all the way to New York, and back to California. I can't believe I played the same pedal for 30 years without one problem. Maybe it's because I play mostly heel-down, I don't know. But, I also played more gigs than I can count, from club to concert venues, across a variety of styles from jazz to pop to rock to country to punk (when it was the real punk), so it's not like I babied the pedal, or anything. I even remember once flying to a gig with no cases for my drums, and my hardware in a duffle bag!
Over the years, I saw new pedals with new technology hit the market, and although there was nothing wrong with my pedal, I finally thought I might be happy with a new one, and recently decided it was time for a change. I had always wanted to try my hand at a double pedal, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to get a new pedal. Due to the zero maintenance of that original DW pedal, I decided to stay with DW, and bought the newer double-chain 5002 Accelerator model.
Excited to finally play something new, without a second thought, I brought my new pedals to a rehearsal. Imagine my disappointment to barely be able to get any bouncing eighths on the primary pedal, let alone 16ths. Throughout that rehearsal I kept holding things up by tweaking all the settings, to no avail. I got through the rehearsal by using the slave to help provide pseudo doubles and triplets.
Knowing that the action of the new model might take some time getting used to, over the next month I tried to get used to it, as well as continued trying all kinds of adjustments. In the end I gave up trying to get that new pedal to feel good.
The double pedal aspect was still intriguing, so I went on eBay to see if there might be an older single-chain double around. Lo and behold, someone was selling a REALLY old unit they found on a shelf in their store that had been used as a floor demo decades earlier. It appeared to be from exactly the same line as my original, except in a double pedal version. To give you an idea how old this model is, like my original pedal, these pedals have a significantly smaller footprint than the new one I previously bought, the slave has two posts, and the heel plates are small and rounded, and have a very low-profile. No one seemed to be bidding on the dinosaur, so I ended up the high bidder at $50!
When the pedals arrived, they really were like new. I promptly put them on my kit, and they played perfectly without any adjustments on my part, at all! I immediately sold the new double-chain model on eBay for nearly what I paid for it.
I can't believe the single-chain model feels so good compared to that double-chain model. And, I never noticed until after I had tried the new model, but I love how small and low the heel plate is; I can actually slide my foot back and play it with my heel literally on the ground, which I do for some techniques. I don't have a particular large foot, either, at size 10.5. I also like how the smaller footboard seems feather-light.
I'm curious to know if anyone else prefers the single-chain over the double-chain model.