Gary The Old Squeak King Is The Stuff, And No They Never Made A Double Speed King Pedal, Now You Know Why John Henry Bonham Is The King, He Was Doing Triplets And Guad Beats And Rolls With His Foot On A Speed King He Had Big Feet Also, Mark

Ya - I bought that book "A Thunder of Drums" when it hit the streets - great book! I was talking to the Drum Manager in a local retail store here recently. He ordered a custom Ludwig shellpack last year in the popular John Bonham sizes - and yes - in Green Sparkle! It's one nice kit! He said the newer Speed King pedals are made a little different - not much I guess. He was saying the threads in the columns - where you adjust the tension - are not as deep as in the older pedals. He noticed that when he got looking and comparing his pedal to an older version. I wonder if there are other subtle differences? Maybe it's a simple as Ludwig wanting to cut back on little things here and there. If that's the case - I would recommend "don't fool with perfection in the basic design"!!DOH

The only real difference between the new ones and the older ones, other than the color, is the new ones have nylon bushings in the pivot points to reduce the squeaks. Otherwise its the same design. Others may tell you that the cams have different "profiles" or the springs are different or some other such non-sense. They are pretty much the same as they've always been. I have a WFL speed king that I've had for years that is still like new and a new speed king and they feel identical to me, and I've never had to mess with the spring tension settings from factory on either of them. They feel great out of the box!

There was never a double Speed King. They did use the same pedalboard on hihat stands in the WFL era. Speed Kings are beautiful.

Kona, Size 15 are snowshoes!

If you have a chance you might like to try a Ghost pedal if you haven't. It has coiled springs like a wind up clock, and they face in opposite directions so one pushes the beater off of the head. You might like that pedal too and it has a large footboard. I bought mine in '72 and it's never screwed up once.

I always had a problem with the Speed King heel plate rattling, so I put a piece of cardboard under the washer (see attached pic). I'm sure a more elegant solution could be had... maybe a rubber washer with an offset hole like the metal one Ludwig used.

I've owned a couple of these over the years (still own one) and yes they are built like tanks, but the feel is all its own. Me personally, I prefer the feel of the speed king over the ghost. With that said, I've been using the ghost again most recently, but am leaning towards an old Floating Action as my new favorite.......inevitably though I always end up back with my trusty speed king......I guess its all in what you learned to play on in the end, and I learned in the tradition heel-down method, so thats probably why I like the feel of the speed king the best, with the Ghost and Floating Action a tie for close second.......

I'm a heel up guy.

Back in 1980 I went to a Tom Scott sound check to see if I could get to meet Steve Gadd (and I did). They had a beat up set of rented Ludwigs for him with a Speed King on it. The only things Steve changed when he arrived were the snare (to a deep Supra), his cymbals of course, and he swapped the Speed King for a Camco floating action pedal.

After that I had to have one and bought one from my teacher but I never could get attached to it for some reason although it is a nice pedal for sure.

I tried a ghost pedal in the early 70's I seem to remember and didn't take to it. I think that's because I really liked my ASBA pedal - it fit my foot better.

DOUBLE SPEED KING PEDAL:

Looking at the pedal design I can see why they didn't make a double pedal. It would be too wide - because of the wide arch of direct drive bar. Take a look at the pedal and you'll see what I mean. The only way they could do that would be to re-designed that direct drive metal arch to be shorter in width to accommodate two beater bars. I'll email their R&D department to get right on it - haha. I'd be in line for one if they did come up with a SK double pedal.......it would have to be with the same function as the original SK though.....right?

Anyone try one of those Demon Pearl double pedals?

There's no real way to do it because of the double compression spring design. You gotta remember the speed king came out in 1937. The double pedal as we know it didn't come out until 1983 when DW "invented" it. Before then, 1937 I mean not 1983, no one even thought about it because double bass wasn't even out yet. Louie Bellson developed that in the late 1940's....and everyone laughed at it at first....then again, everyone laughed about the double pedal too, and the ghost, and the original pedal that Ludwig & Ludwig came out with in 1909 come to think of it. Kind of like when everyone laughed at the guy who came up with the Duallist pedal.....interesting idea, but difficult to use in practice....takes a lot of practice to get the hang of one of those....I had one and sold it not long after.....interesting concept though......ooops, I'm straying again...sorry...LOL!

Quite alright - straying is good - it's all about the drums right?

Thanks for all the info. Ya - that double cylinder thing would be interesting to design around. I think it could be done though - maybe just use the two cylinders but with two beater bars in the mix - I don't know......I'll let someone like "Ray Ayotte" come up with a good idea on that one. He's pretty good at coming up with new ideas.

I saw Louie Bellson live and up close at a drum clinic in the mid 70's. He not only demonstrated his great technique at that time but he gave us a history lesson on the double bass concept. He actually thought about it and started the ball rolling on the idea in the 30's. Anyway - it was a long time before Gretsch agreed to make that kit we all see in the old photos.