« Tama Iron Cobra Power Glide Double Pedal »

When I was searching the market for a double pedal I looked at a few different ones. I did some research on 3 different ones in particular. I looked at products from Pearl, Yamaha and DW. After pulling some great information on each from the net it was time to hit the stores and check 'em out in person. I was in the market for a high end pedal so cash wasnt a huge concern, although I had my limit. Drums are my profession so when it comes to top quality and durability you can't be too stiff with the cash. With gear you really do get what you pay for. While visiting a drum shop in Toronto i was checking out what DW had to offer. The 7000 series looked and felt great, plus it was built like a tank! It was also about $750. Umm. thanks, man, but my lotto numbers didn't come through this week. One of the staff members started telling me about Tama's Iron Cobras. This dude swore that they were well worth the money, and at about three bills less than the DW's I decided to give them a look. So I went home and checked out the site. "Cool lookin' pedals", I thought to myself. After visiting my boys at Long and McQuade I decided to place my order. I ended up paying $450 for them which was right in my price range!. Perfect.

I've been playing for about 16 years and i can say this without hesitation. This is the smoothest freekin' pedal on the market for the money, man! Everything about the construction is brilliant. PLUS it comes with the hard case! Bring that!

I can't honestly say that there's anything I don't like about this pedal. The only problem that I ran into was the small lugs. There are two on either end of the connecting shaft and, probably just due to over tightening, two of the lugs stripped. I can say, however, that one lug on each side still held up to my blazing singles. Soon enough the stripped lugs were replaced with longer, stronger ones. This was a small problem that, number one - didn't affect the operation of the pedal and number two - was fixed with about 50 cents worth of spare parts. So who's complaining? Not this dude.

This pedal is built like a tank. Straight up. I dont think i'll ever use another one. The quality and detail that was put into this unit to create it's whisper quiet action and 'finger touch' smooth operation deserves some kind of award from somebody. Make one up if you have to, even. I was particularly impressed by the continuous 'bounce back' you get from just tapping the left pedal (on the right hand model) with your finger. Tama uses ball bearings inside the joints, DEEP inside the joints. you can't see 'em, but they're in there. And you can tell. It passed the 'tap test' with flying colors. I tapped the right foot pedal firmly and just let it fly. That thing bounced 56 times before coming to a full stop, and you couldn't hear a thing. Get one, try it and see for yourself! Keep a small can of WD-40 in your harware bag just for regular maintenance and this pedal will last generations.

So if you havent guessed by now, I like this pedal and strongly recommend it to anyone in the market for a new double pedal, or a single for that matter. A single is available and just as smooth. You won't beat it for the money. I can gaurantee you that it will be one of the smoothest, quietest and most responsive pedals you've ever played on. (And they aint even paying me to say that!)

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com