[Drums] Review : Axis X Pedals

[Darwin]

This is quite a good read, I'm convincing my manager to get them in, so if anyone actually thinks of buying one, you know where to get it . I made all the good points in bold.

From Mikedolbear.com

Axis X Bass Drum Pedals
Ferrari make cars. Ferrari make two kinds of cars – they make their road going cars like the Testarossa and the 328’s where no expense is spared to make them as fast and comfortable as possible. Then they make their Formula One cars where everything is stripped to the bone and no expense spared to produce the absolute fastest cars they can. Every possible thing is made of the lightest material and all excess metal is drilled to reduce its weight. Nothing is there to look nice or provide excess comfort. In the pedal world, Axis pedals are the bass drum equivalent of a Formula One car. Think I’m joking?

Axis pedals have been around since 1990 when they released the Axis A. This was the pedal ‘that started it all’ as before this kick pedal technology was fairly basic. People were still happy with their Premier 252’s and Ludwig Speedking’s. The DW’s of the world were young and untested by most people and the only pedal which seemed to get people excited was the Tama Camco. Chain drives were vaguely new and funky things (and only available on the top pedals, unlike today) and no one had dared change the design of pedals since Mr Ludwigs first experiments in the ‘30’s.

Enter the Axis single and double pedals from America. Looking like the love child of a Dalek and an Auto Supply store, people initially viewed them with more than a little scepticism. Then people started to review them in magazines, and all the reviews said the same thing – essentially WOW! Remember that this was the first time someone had sat down and purposefully designed the best pedal they could from the ground up and at the time it seemed SO ahead of its time, and to give it credit, it was. Nowadays we take direct drive linkages, solid base plates and ball bearings everywhere for granted, but this was essentially the first. It was rare and it was expensive.

The Axis X we are looking at here is a slightly simpler version of the original Axis A, in that it has a non adjustable direct drive. The Unique Selling Point (USP) of the original A was a sliding joint that allowed the footplate to pull the cam from different angles. Sorry that sounds like a fog of words but what it meant was that you could tailor the A to feel like a chain drive or a belt drive or whatever you wanted in between, just by adjusting one wing bolt. Simple but effective. And it worked.

Now, if you look at the picture, you need to know how these are made. Everything on this pedal is machined from solid blocks of aircraft grade aluminium or steel. There are NO castings here. There is no zinc (the metal pedal frames and footplates are usually made of), and the only other things on this pedal are a small block of brass to hold each beater, brass blocks on the double pedals drive shaft at the adjustment points and two small round rubber feet to support your bass drum hoop. Everything is connected using Allen key headed bolts and nothing is bought off the shelf except for the spring. Everything is made and machined just for this pedal. There are ball bearing races at every point you can imagine and the actual design is simplicity itself. Like the Formula One cars, there is nothing unnecessary, over or under designed or over made. Apart from the spring, everything has been made on CNC (computer numerically controlled) lathes and milling machines. Even the Delrin (weird hard rubbery plastic) beater has been turned from a solid block of the stuff (and you can see the tool marks to prove it). The universal joints on the cross bar of the double pedal are machined specially for this too, and if there is one area where it would have been so much easier (and cheaper) to buy a stock one of the shelf, it’s there. There isn’t actually much to say about this pedal that you can’t get from the picture apart from the fact it’s light and almost totally silent (apart from the swish as the beater cuts through the air as you play it). The beater angle and foot board angle are connected but are still adjustable with one of the many Allen keys that come supplied with the pedals. The pedal is so efficient that a small change in the spring tension can make a massive difference to the feel and as the pedal is essentially modular (you can take the whole thing apart with the Allen keys), you can change the single into a double should you want to just by bolting on the extra sections. There is also a rather cool electronic trigger option but for more details on that look at www.axispercussion.com .

So, as you can tell, I really like the design and build quality of this pedal, but what’s it like to play? Well, when I got the pedals, there was a note in from the distributors saying words to the effect of ‘don’t treat this as a ‘normal’ pedal, and give yourself some time to get used to it’ and they are absolutely right. It isn’t a normal pedal and it does take some getting used to, but once you have, the chances are that you will be playing stuff that your haven’t before. Now, I know that is a tall statement, but because of the design, you get out exactly what you put in. This pedal sticks to your foot unlike any other pedal I have ever played (and there have been a few) and speaking of which, the Velcro on the bottom will quite happily stick to any carpet and hold onto your bass drum, even if your retract its spurs, and remove the carpet off your drum riser when you try and remove it. It’s rather good. Talking of carpets and stuff, strangely, the Axis doesn’t have any form of spurs of its own, but as the days of venues having nice wooden floors is mostly over, that’s not a big problem unless your practice in your nice polished wood floor conservatory, in which case, get a drum rug.



I remember reading in the original revue in Modern Drummer that the reviewer was teaching and used the slave on the double pedal to demonstrate something to his pupil (who was sitting behind the kit) and noticed that the slave feels exactly the same as the main pedal. Well, I am pleased to announce that this is still the case. There is so little energy lost through the universal joints, it really does feel like that.

Plus points are that it does exactly what it should – it’s exceptionally fast, light and capable of taking a massive pounding. Should anything break (and I really doubt that anything ever would), its modular design means that it would be easy to replace a part. I found the beater to be a little light in the sound department – it produced too much click and not enough bottom – but when replaced with my usual beaters (double sided felt and plastic from another pedal manufacturer), it sounded great and still felt stupidly fast. The Axis A pedals come with Sonic Hammer beaters which are all adjustable ‘boom’ beaters, in that the beater surface is held out in front of the main shaft on a little stalk. I didn’t have the Sonic Hammers to look at on this review, but I have seen them on friends pedals, I don’t know what material they are made of but it seems to be exceptionally dense metal, as they have a serious amount of weight behind them and they also sound more solid too.

Totally personally, this isn’t the pedal for me, but I know quite a few players who swear by them and won’t touch anything else. I should point out that these are the players who take their foot technique (and foot speed) rather seriously, so perhaps that says it all – if you are serious about your feet, you have to check these out. If you need the Ferrari of pedals, try these – they may be from Carson, California rather than Marranello, Italy, but the speeds possible are similar. And, unlike a Ferrari, the X pedals are still reasonably priced enough for your average player to afford, in fact, with the amount of work that has gone into each pedal, they are positively cheap.

Axis X Single pedal £119
Axis X Double pedal £299

Claire Palmer

[jo-bah]

'sake that looks like one sweet as pedal...looks as if it would give the dw9000 a run for its money (half the price)...i reckon if ive got the cash im going to purchase that...but theres to much drum stuff i want and dont have the cash for...new job would sort that out though.

peaCe!

[Darwin]

Yeah True, the new drummer in my band is buying the top of the range Axis Double and is selling me his DW5000 Delta. Also got an 8x8 inch tom to pay for and I need a new crash and a left hand china...I wish it was a cheaper instrument.

[jo-bah]

wantin a pair of dyno beat hats 13" for £120....go on do it.

i need a second crash was gonna buy a 18" k dark crash

also want a china/new hi hats....gimme money

peaCe!

[Darwin]

Haha, nah sorry my 14" A Custom Mastersounds do me fine

go here, first hand cymbals at daft prices www.uk-cymbals.co.uk

I have a 17" K dark Crash, excellent cymbal, very controlled.

[jo-bah]

Originally Posted by ?Da®wiN?

I have a 17" K dark Crash, excellent cymbal, very controlled.

i ve used the 16" k dark crash before about one year or so ago and wanted one ever since...but havent got round to getting it...im wantin a pair of 14" a custom mastersounds...damn you*shakes fist*

peaCe!

[Darwin]

Believe it or not the Hi-hats were hard to come buy I had to get them straight from the manufacturer and took about 3 months to come.

Bed Calls, Later.

[jo-bah]

hard to come by 4real, thats mega anus...anyways see ya dude!

peaCe!