I actually went back to a speed king myself not so long ago....its what I learned on....great pedal. Recently though, I have started using a ghost pedal.....it has a similar feel to a speed king, but built like a tank and no squeeks! :D

Oh.....and as far as your comment on todays hardware is supposed to be better/stronger....I'm not so sure. Ludwig's classic, atlas and hercules hardware was built very well and you can find great examples on ebay still, rogers swivomatic hardware was very good as well and is also common on ebay. Sometimes vintage hardware is better....

I'm starting to come around to that point of view. There's an elegance about vintage hardware that seems to be missing from so much of today's gear. And I love how light, simple, and fuss-free some of the old stuff is. I have some double-braced boom stands, but I find that they're about 10 pounds heavier than they need to be, they take a long time to adjust, and once you get them set up, you can't see the kit!

For my Ludwigs, I'm just going to use a bass-mounted cymbal arm and two flat-based straight cymbal stands. This will be my gigging kit if I ever get back to playing live, and I can't tell you how happy I'll be to have a single bag of lightweight gear to carry, and a simple 10-minute setup.

I remember reading an interview with the pit drummer in the Tommy musical when it first came to Broadway in the 90s. He felt that the material called for a vintage Keith Moon-style kit, so he had two bass drums and about a million toms. He could barely fit the drums into his tiny corner of the orchestra pit, so he used vintage cymbal stands rather than the double-braced ones he'd been using for so long. He was happy to report that, not only did the stands take up much less room, but they were rock-solid night after night!

I love the vintage hardware. Strong yet soft...wait! That's my toilet paper. Strong yet light. Yeah. That was what I meant to say. Anyway, I love the stuff. I am especially fond of the flat base Slingerland stuff. Great gear. I do have a beef with the Speedking, though. It's the same one I've had since I was a little kid. The beater doesn't strike the head straight on. In other words, the pedal, when connected to the hoop, places the pedal a tad bit too far away from the head which causes the beater to have to travel further than 90 degrees of the floor. That just feels off to me.

Played speed kings for over 45years no turning back now.. :)

Yes!

I've said it recently here on a thread that I was surprised at how great the Speed King feels/responds.

It came to me in an old box with bit-n-pieces (goodies!) of gear when I picked up my Craigslist-ed 58 Gretsch kit six months ago now. I discounted the SK in the late 60's as a pedal not suited for my size 15 feet. I just never gave it a good try back then. The pedal was totally seized and I was almost going to not even try to fix it - I thought it was beyond repair. I took it apart - greased it up and put everything back together. Not only did this "creature" work, but I have never played a finer pedal! I'm using it over my Gibraltar 9611 which I thought was the pedal for me a few years ago.

It doesn't end there. A Walberg & Auge/Ludwig hihat also came with the 58 Gretsch kit. W&A made some hihat stands for Ludwig and used the Speed King footplate. I cleaned that up and I'm using it with the 14 Zildjian hats that were in that box of goodies. The hat stand is simple & functional - it's working beautifully and I don't have to try and figure out how the cymbals attach to the clutch - haha - it's easy....great stuff.

Everytime I play my drums it's just a nice warm feeling to be able to use this great and very functional USA made 50+ year old Vintage Drum hardware and have it work so well.

section 2,

just a couple of questions -

what beater were you using on the dw 5000?

and what beater is on the speedking?

The Speed King is a great classic pedal that just feels right as already mentioned. Not only does it feel right, it's a sexy looking unit as well which disasembles in heart beat for easy transport.

If you look closely at the chrome plated arm where the long bracket attaches to the pedal you will notice that the design is a cam (elliptical) design which serves to increase the the force that the beater is capable of delivering with minimal effort required. Tama/Camco copied the cam design from Ludwig's SK pedal and got credit for innovation...kinda sad when Bill Sr. understood this mechanical concept all along.

I've got three of them and just aquired a new one. A new SK at about $175 is a sight to behold and a joy to use. A product that is still manufactured, I believe it's 73 years now without a design change is a phenomenon! Check out a new one if you can. I do have a spare now, so if anyone wants one for a fair price pm me.

-kellyj

The arched beater shaft allows more toe room. Clever design........it works beautifully.

Something to take into consideration is the depth of the bd hoop clamp. The attached photo shows two depths. The shallower one may bring the beater hardware too close to your bd head. I think that's why Ludwig went to the deeper clamp area you see here. The second & 3rd photos are my pedal showing the shallow hoop clamp area - it works fine but I don't have much room to spare.