Oh yeh. The old Super Bells. I had a pair of those or two or three.

They definitely got caught on the beater.:D

I need 4 SK pistons and 6 caps if someone has some. I have beaters, heel plates, arched shafts, steel clamps, floor plates, etc.

" Who actually plays drums " ??..... You quoted me twice now with such positive tributes. First it`s bad advice, now it`s my bad drumming,...

...."if you`re gonna shoot,...shoot....don`t talk" !i

Hey Oddball. I understand what your trying to say. It's good advice. Happy New Year. Have a good gig Stay cool.

Sorry man...not meaning to come off like a __________. My sincere apologies.

It's just that I can't see how you would advise setting a pedal to "float" or "bounce". For example, I have a pedal that I use for practice that has the spring mounted on top that allows for easy adjustment, so I can adjust tension "on the fly" so to speak. It gives me a real good feel for what kind of tension works best - at least for me and my style of playing. My experience has been that you need enough tension so that the pedal comes back quickly as you play. For example; ostinato samba beats. The pedal has to move quickly in time with your foot and not bounce around. Does that make sense?

Maybe if you are playing extremely soft or at slow tempos, it would be ok - but I just don't see how that setting would contribute to increased control over your bass drum technique; particularly when playing hard or at fast tempi.

But hey, whatever works for you, I guess.

Have a Happy New Year

Rob

It`s hard to tell tone when reading.

Those springs in the poles are a lot like the rocker arm springs in your car engine head. Sure, you could assemble it with basic installation and they will still move the push rods but they wont perform at the best setting until the spring is under the correct spring tension. Just like the Speed King, it will work as long as it`s assembled correctly. But, under tension, like a cars strut, the spring is more sensitive and reacts faster when it`s under close or correct spring tension.

Also the knuckle on the front linkage doesn`t return up enough to make that dreaded scuff mark on the head if you adjust it. I call it toping off or bottom out because that football shaped cam on the top of the posts has a glide surface and too far back puts the push rod at the top of the cam, off the glide face, just like a rocker arm. You wanna keep the push rods on the glide surface of the cams and not up to the top and bottom ends. Believe it or not, that`s extra energy you don`t need to use when you arc over the ends of the cam.

I Still get the same range out of my Speed King because it returns almost as far back as the two shown here. The springs are under tension even when I am not using it.

Unfortunately like you point out, you cannot adjust this tension after the pedal is on the drum. I adjust my throne, then the pedal and wont let anyone touch it after that.

Two things I don`t do anymore, play my Speed king without spring tension, and I don`t step the pedal anymore.

I like my SK (wfl footboard) pedal - I can adjust it and feather it (not as good as Mr. John Bonham did I regret) for some good action and to suit the comfort of my size 15 kippers. I'm an average player and I think the SK design is timeless = a great pedal even among all the hardware advances of today - and I do own a few late model pedals to compare.

I bought a Speed King for $30 Cdn dollars for the purpose of restoring it..

To my disappointment, the interior spring tension post tops were worn down to a smooth, rounded edge, making the spring function horrible..

So, i gave it a nice fresh coat of body shop spray paint with the current Atlas pedal color scheme, and keep it as a museum piece in my gear room.. Looks great and it has retired with dignity ;)