speed your double bass slave pedal - part II

[Satori]

Ok, so anyway, I've had my double pedal for a few months now and it never occured to me to oil the damn thing. I assumed that they oil them in the factory and that it must last a long time. I was wrong.

Over the weekend I picked up a can of WD-40 oil and I oiled the crap out of all the moving parts on my pedal. What a difference! I noticed most of the improvement was in my slave pedal, but I even noticed a difference in the master pedal as well (which was already as slick as I thought it could be). Both pedals feel so much better now that I'm probably going to tighten the springs some more (again) to make up for the newfound smoothness.

Anyway, here's how I'm sure it made a difference. Before oiling I played with my slave pedal with my right foot to see how well I could do a double stroke, which is a great test of the pedal's responsiveness. I could hardly do it cuz the pedal just wasn't snapping back fast enough to kick down a second time. Then after oiling I could *easily* do it with the slave pedal.

Anyway, the improvment was much greater than I ever thought possible. I guess they don't put too much oil on the pedals in the factory, if any. So if your slave pedal is pissing you off cuz it's so stiff and unresponsive, oiling the crap out of it will probably help more than you think. You can even oil the pivot joints, the foot board hinges, and the part where the spring "eye" hooks on to the pin.

Other ways to speed that slave pedal that I've discovered are:
- removing all redundant fastener bolts to lower the weight
- putting the pedals as parallell to each other as possible to reduce the bend/friction on the pivot joints (if you play heel up, it doesn't matter if your foot isn't perfectly in line with the pedal)
- regularly checking to make sure the slave or the connecting rod isn't touching your hat stand or whatever (don't assume it's not, a common mistake)
- tighten that fucking spring!

Happy double-bassing...

Satori

 

[Russell]

*goes to find his WD-40*

 

[Austin7]

Satori, what kind of pedal do you use? I use a Tama Iron Cobra, and I love it. I've been playing with a double pedal for about 2 years now, and I've only had to grease it up once or twice. Also, how tight are your pedals to the board? I used to play mine really tight so I could move faster, but then I considered that cheating, since almost no drummer out there does it. I've loosened them considerably and I can still play along to Dyer's Eve by Metallica and any Dream Theater song with ease.

 

[Satori]

Originally posted by Austin7
Satori, what kind of pedal do you use? I use a Tama Iron Cobra, and I love it. I've been playing with a double pedal for about 2 years now, and I've only had to grease it up once or twice. Also, how tight are your pedals to the board? I used to play mine really tight so I could move faster, but then I considered that cheating, since almost no drummer out there does it. I've loosened them considerably and I can still play along to Dyer's Eve by Metallica and any Dream Theater song with ease.

I also have an iron cobra (strap driven) and I also love it. I've only been playing double bass for a few months now. This weekend was the first time I oiled it so I figured they need to be oiled when you first get them.

What do you mean by "how tight are your pedals to the board"? Do you mean the spring tension? Or do you mean how close is my foot board to being parrallell with the floor? Or how close the mallot is to the head?

I have my spings extremely tight, so tight that I had to remove the top nut on the spring screw so that I could sink the spring screw down further. As tight as they are, they don't feel tight to me, I find them perfect, effortless to push down and they spring back really fast. I'm really big on doing the heel-toe double stroke so I've always been used to having loads of tension. I think I'm at a bit of a disadvantage cuz I'm not using a drum head, I have my kit in my apartment so I have them damped with sound-offs, and there's not head on my bass, I just have a drum case stuffed with heavy blaket and some sound-off padding taped to it. It nice and quiet but there's not much bounce. It's like hitting a piece of furniture instead of a bouncy drum head. The sound-off damper for the bass doesn't do much for making it quieter, and I need it to be quiet so I can't use a head.

I think that if you have lots of bounce from the head, you don't need as much tension to get the pedal to come back quickly. Since I don't use a head I have to relie on the spring to pull the pedal back. I figue that once I use a head again, since I'm used to having lots of tension, then my pedal will bounce back extremely fast (which is what I want).

Satori

 

[Kushantaiidan]

I want drumset.

 

[Risedfromthedead]

I have my kit in my apartment so I have them damped with sound-offs, and there's not head on my bass, I just have a drum case stuffed with heavy blaket and some sound-off padding taped to it. It nice and quiet but there's not much bounce. It's like hitting a piece of furniture instead of a bouncy drum head. The sound-off damper for the bass doesn't do much for making it quieter, and I need it to be quiet so I can't use a head.

Uhmm...you have the same problem as I have.
I just got my bass drum sound off and it doesnt make it quiet.
So I must remove the drumhead...any tips how to make a nice "furniture"?