Putting the metal to the pedal

by Daren Baldock

Arse!

Could the nightmare of repeated broken Rock Band pedals now become a distant memory for me? I’m certainly hoping so! Get the full lowdown after the jump…

Everything in my world must be perfect. If something can be improved upon then it should be. I’m told it’s not just me it’s a ‘Virgo’ thing if you believe any of that guff!

My story starts way back in May this year with Rock Band preordered and me mooching around on the Rock Band forums, getting a feel for how the fans are getting on with the product. I came across a ‘Drum Mod’ thread and started to trawl through the posts looking for things that I may need to be aware of. Two main points stood out for me. The drum pads were allegedly too noisy and the drum pedal was prone to more breakages than Heather Mills on a forgetful day in a china factory! To some this may be old news and the Rock Band 2 drum kit has gone some way to addressing both issues highlighted, but I like almost all other UK RB owners are stuck with the original kit for now.

I resolved to address the noisy pad issue on day of receipt, mounting four circular cut fabric mouse mats to dampen the sound. They remain to this day and I totally swear by that modification. I worried less for the pedal problems as I guessed that there would be no real issue as long as I didn’t abuse the pedal too much. I did however notice though that the pedal bowed in the middle when I played, and this made me very conscious of breaking it, to the extent that looking back I think I probably didn’t play it right just to preserve the pedal. Everything was fine for a few months until September, when without any warning the pedal snapped, dang!

I followed the RMA process through EA’s website and got my replacement within a few days, nice one EA Support! But something wasn’t right with the new pedal. Closer inspection revealed a hairline crack across the middle of the foot plate. It wasn’t snapped but I knew a single heavy kick would probably finish it off. Back to EA and another pedal ordered which duly arrived a few days later. This time though I wanted to play it as intended and not worry about breaking the bloody thing again.

So this morning my latest mod arrived in the post. The ‘Pedal Metal’.

Woot!

I’m really surprised at the difference it makes. The pedal now feels really solid and looks awesome too! I would go as far as to say that now that I’m kicking down properly and with confidence, it’s improved my drumming to an extent, although I don’t think Stewart Copeland has anything to worry about just yet!

I can heartily recommend this mod, it’s totally worth the £13.57 I paid for it.

Visit the ebay shop here (I’m not on commission LOL!)

I won’t go into detail about how it all fits on, there’s a video here that does that job just nicely.