Any drummers here use Axis Longboards

[digitaldeath]

Hey guys, just wondering if you use Axis? If so, did you find these pedals just as much of a bitch to setup as I did?
Anyone got any pointers to get the pedals feeling somewhat comfortable? I know this is different for everyone, I just want to hear your experiences with them! Cheers!

 

[madbutcher]

my drummer tried and hated them. Went to Trick pedals.

 

[poisoned dreams]

i dont like them at all get your self the mighty iron cobra you cant go wrong with them.

 

[digitaldeath]

i dont like them at all get your self the mighty iron cobra you cant go wrong with them.

Sorry if I didn't make it clear, I already have the Axis Longboards.

 

[Radd]

I had them but had a hard time with them so I switched to iron cobras also.

 

[greyskull]

pussies.
get a DW

 

[digitaldeath]

pussies.
get a DW

Thanks for the useful post.
I already have DW double-pedals...I'm asking about Axis pedals.

 

[R-Stuur]

Have them, I believe they are among the true-est (if not THE) pedals out there so expect to clean up your technique quite a bit. Try out different beaters, the sonic hammers that come with the A's aren't very good and very heavy.

I use medium spring tension on mine and about 5-6 inches of beater distance. VDL in the middle or something close to that.

I've had mine modded with toe risers which I've now moved to the back of the pedal under the hinge because I wanna work on my constant release technique with a flat board

 

[Metaltastic]

I know you already have Axis, but since I'm the farthest thing from a drummer, I can't give any tips on tweaking them - but I did wanna draw your attention to the fact that Pearl just debuted a direct-drive pedal at NAMM that you might wanna investigate!

 

[C_F_H_13]

Had a set of axis pedals a while back (like 8 years ago) and loved them at the time. However after a few years, I started getting mild knee pains. I switch to some some DW 5000 pedals and the knee pain has pretty much dissapeared. Now this is nothing against Axis at all...there pedals are awesome, but they have no give (which is a good thing for most people!), I needed something a little easier on the joints.

I will say this though, they are still the most "precise" feeling pedals I'd ever known.

 

[JonWormwood]

I know you already have Axis, but since I'm the farthest thing from a drummer, I can't give any tips on tweaking them - but I did wanna draw your attention to the fact that Pearl just debuted a direct-drive pedal at NAMM that you might wanna investigate!

It looks sick too

 

[Uladyne]

Just switch the beaters, because they suck, and practice. They take some getting used to. They can be hard to control at first because its almost like they want to go faster than you do sometimes. The whole action is way different than normal pedals because of the longer footboard, so you're basically wasting your time if you're trying to get them to feel like regular pedals. But then I assume you wouldn't have bought them if you wanted them to feel like regular pedals, right? Oh, and also, the "sweet spot" seems to be further back towards the heel plate than on other pedals. Thats where the speed comes from.

A drummer friend of mine hates them because he says they feel like they move forward when you kick, but thats because he had his feet way up towards the beaters as if they were regular pedals. The purpose of the longboards isn't so much for drummers for bigger feet, they're for gaining extra leverage so you can play stoopid fast. When you get back towards the heel plate with the ball of your foot you can get the full range of beater motion while barely moving your feet. Thats why longboards kick ass. Ergonomics also helps them to be awesome. I can't remember ever getting tired playing axis pedals.

Don't give up on them till you've had a good chance to get used to them. It could take weeks. Patience, grasshopper.

 

[digitaldeath]

Hey guys! Thanks to everyone for their replies. Don't get me wrong guys, I've had these pedals for a while now and am well able to play them:
[ame]http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=xUr6a0icySs[/ame]
Regarding the Pearl Demon Drive pedals, yes I've seen them, they're not out until April/May.
From the suggestions so far, it seems that I'd be best to simply change the hammers and so I think I'll get the Iron Cobra hammers. I tried my DW hammers on the Axis pedals before, but man, the Axis pedals couldn't keep the hammers tight enough - no matter how hard I seemed to tighten them!

 

[brianhood]

I bought the Axis AL-2 over the summer and hated it. I used it for a few shows on tour, and it was such a pain. the alen bolts came loose, and i just played terribly on them overall. Then they just sat in our trailer for the rest of the tour and i almost sold them when we got home in august.

then we had all of september off, and i started trying to learn the Heel Toe technique. I spent every day in september for 3 hours per day practicing this technique and getting the pedals set up for this. After weeks of adjusting and practicing on the pedals, i love them ,and i can honestly say i will never go back to iron cobras(for metal at least).

In one month i went from using iron cobras and hardly being able to do about 200bpm cleanly live, to using axing and being able to cleanly do 230+bpm live thanks to the heel toe technique (and triggers of course).


Axis have a looonnngg and annoying learning curve, and the bolts tent to come loose at first, but once you hand tighten them all, you'll have no problems with that. it's definitely worth trying out if you're doing heel toe.



just my two cents.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I thought the heel toe technique was the entire idea of these pedals?

 

[brianhood]

not necessarily. I know of alot of drummers that use these pedals and dont do heel toe.

axis and trick are by far the best pedals for heel toe though

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Ah I see. I just remember seeing a video that explained the technique and thinking to myself "you can't do that with anything but this type of pedal."

 

[Keessi]

You can do heel toe with pretty much any pedal as a matter of fact. Even short ones.

on topic: I had them for a few years and it was a BITCH. But I got trick pro-1v 2 years ago for less than 200e so I took them and never looked back. They're way more solid than axis and have a slightly heavier feel which is better for me. I like to not use triggers (but still on albums I tend to mix some sample in) live so the extra power is nice. Try some danmar red wood beaters for example with the axis. They work really well.

I hope you don't go on tour with your Axis, you're almost guaranteed to bust some allen screws and lose about 50% of your hair trying to fix that shit with 6 different keys all doing different stuff.

 

[Uladyne]

Oh yea, you can buy drum key bolts for the linkage assembly from axis. For like 6 bucks or less I think. Definitely worth it.

 

[digitaldeath]

I hope you don't go on tour with your Axis, you're almost guaranteed to bust some allen screws and lose about 50% of your hair trying to fix that shit with 6 different keys all doing different stuff.

I already have been on tour with them. The only thing I adjust live are the beaters, tighten two drum screws and I'm good to go. The rest of the pedal pretty much stays the same, I don't adjust anything as it would drastically change the feel of them. Live, when you're pumped and full of energy I find that I play with a much harder foot than I would practice with and if I have shitty monitoring I find that they can be difficult to control. Defo gotta try out different beaters, also looking at in-ear monitoring the kick too.