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ASBA Caroline Pedals

Posts: 194 Threads: 62
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I stumbled across these in an article about Mitch Mitchell and dug deeper and everything written about these pedals has been favorable. I play 2 cheap Yamaha strap pedals but was looking for another pedal just for variety in the studio and was planning on a Premier 252 direct drive until I saw these.

They all seem to be strap, but to anyone who's played one (or a Premier 252 or both), comments on the action, feel and idiosyncrasies of these pedals - feedback is appreciated. I do a lot of heel toe and heel down work and a smooth, light, fast pedal with a decent length board is more important than power. Thanks!

Posted on 4 years ago
#1
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I have a pair of ASBA Caroline pedal mated up to a pair of 26" bass drums. I moved from a Speed King to a Ghost, to one Caroline and then a second one for the double bass. I purchased them in the early 80's, several months apart, and they have different finishes on them. Back then these pedals were 'king of the hill' to me due in part to the many features the pedals had over others that were available at the time.

* First of which was the adjustability. I liked that you could do a quick adjustment of the beater angle, although this is kind of a set it - forget it thing. Unfortunately, you cannot adjust the footboard independently of the beater angle, which is a pretty common option for pedals these days.

* I liked that the attachment clamp adjustment thumbscrews were placed above the pedal not at the base/hoop area - that seemed to be a big deal in those days to me.

* It has a couple of impressive carpet spikes to help prevent bass drum creep, which was innovative and useful for larger drum IMO.

* The spring tension could be adjusted very easily, especially compared to the SK & Ghost that I owned.

* The spring could be replaced or removed easily (especially compared to the pedals I mentioned).

* The base rods were stable and easy to insert/remove. With the easy to removal spring and base attachment, the pedal could be folded flat for transportation.

* The wider strap material is robust. Although I've heard of people breaking them I haven’t, and they are quite old now.

* The beater accommodated 26" bass drum diameters nicely without being off-center. I especially liked that the beater rod was a bit thicker than others, which adds a bit of mass and little extra 'boom' IMO.

* I love that it is a long board too.

The Caroline had a couple of features that other manufactures picked up on and made improvements on and are now quite common.

* One was the spring attachment; many modern pedals have something similar but with improvements. A Caroline's weakness was the attachment ring which flattens out/wears out/thins out due to friction. Some manufactures got around this issue by placing a seal ball bearing in this area. The spring tensioner is a bit janky as well IMO, and just look at the Tama & Pearl variants to see a much better design.

* Another innovation was in the area of the strap attachment saddle (as I like to call it), it is essentially a cam that other manufacturers have adopted on their upper-end lines. Now, the Caroline ‘saddle’ is a bit more concentric in comparison to todays eccentric cams, but it is there, nonetheless. It to me is the real ‘secret weapon’ and why the Caroline pedal was so popular.

The real downside to these pedals is that they are no longer made – parts are hard to come by. When they discontinued this pedal, I bought out some spare parts from a couple local retailers just to ensure plenty of back-up. Another more important downside is there are better pedals out there today that have overcome the issues of the Caroline. On the upside, ASBA has been revived, but I didn’t get any answer back from them when I asked if they were going to reproduce the pedal (Don’t know if it’s true but I heard Ludwig had long ago bought the rights to the pedal but it looks like they didn’t really do anything with it – so I don’t know how true that is).

I get the idea of vintage, but I would look seriously at a modern pedal versus a vintage Caroline. Heck the new Ludwig Speed Flyer, for example, is a great choice. In a Ludwig NAMM 2020 video they demo’ed the pedal and I was impressed with how one push allowed the pedal to rock back-and-forth so many times (required very little energy), and certainly far, far greater than the Caroline is capable of. Lastly and so many of the upper end pedals from essentially all manufacturers have much better adjustability/playability compared to the Caroline, with parts availability to boot.

Posted on 4 years ago
#2
Posts: 194 Threads: 62
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Thanks for the feedback, that helps a lot! I think the reason I like the vintage pedals is because the designs were so simple (thus I use the cheap Yamahas and entry level pedals now). Too much adjustability - after awhile I feel like I'm paying for things I'll never use. The Speed Cobra was the worst offender and it was expensive to bring on a plane. The flaws with the Jojo Pedal (and cost of bootlegging the parts that were lost because Sonor won't sell them) - too many of the newer pedals, albeit better condition and easier to find, just feel over-engineered. Pedals without heel plates, a bit longer board and a smooth strap or direct drive mechanism seem to be what I'm looking for without all the bells and whistles. I may buy an ASBA or the Premier out of curiosity if I find the right price (won't be gigging with it, just recording), but I'll keep digging. Thanks again.

Posted on 4 years ago
#3
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I'd also reach out to the folks at ASBA and see if they are going to move forward with reproducing the pedal. I'm sure if they get enough interest it may push them to production. They have a website ( https://www.asbadrums.com/gb/ ) and a Facebook presence as well.

Also, looking at the ASBA website, it looks like Ludwig was the licensed distributor in the U.S. and not so much the "intellectual rights" owner as I may have implied earlier.

Posted on 4 years ago
#4
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Since you and I seem to have similar taste in pedals, may I highly recommend a Jacques Capelle. Excellent action and adjustability and the one with the frame that attached to the hoops of the bass drum (top and bottom) can stay on the bass drum when the bass drum is transported.

Posted on 4 years ago
#5
Posts: 194 Threads: 62
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Jacques Capelle - will check it out, thanks!

Posted on 4 years ago
#6
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Capelle had several versions of their wonderful pedals. Here are some photos. There were two versions of the "pole" model, round tube and square tube. They also made wonderful high hat stands. I took one of the pole models and welded it to a base plate. Turned out okay, especially the Smiley Face. I hated to leave a blank circle.

Posted on 4 years ago
#7
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I have both a Capelle bd pedal and a Caroline. The Caroline is on my practice set in the basement. I love it, it feels like I've slipped on some moccasins when I play it. I really like its responsiveness, which makes my dumb foot feel a shade better. I wouldn't gig it, just because it works, it's old and I don't want to break it. The Capelle is sitting on my kitchen table awaiting a little tidy up. Beautifully made, great functionality, cool pedal. I mostly play Tama Camco pedals or a Yamaha Direct Drive Flying Tigger (err...Tiger)

Posted on 4 years ago
#8
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Carolinas can be colorful pedals. Sounds like you are having a good time with both the Caroline and Jacque Capelle. What's not to love?

Posted on 4 years ago
#9
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