Good topic - I ended up with an older Slingerland kick pedal, which came with some Kent drums I bought about 2 years ago. Can't tell you the exact model right now, but it's not a yellow Jacket. It's the blue/green colored pedal w/leather strap.

Anyhow, I had been using a new Tama Iron Cobra for about 8 months and was digging it big time, once I'd gotten used to it. I figured what the heck... try out the Slingy. I hated it. I couldn't get my foot to behave the way it did w/the Tama pedal, so I tossed it aside.

Then a few months later I came across it in my "pile-o-hardware" and thought I'd give it another try. It looked way cooler with my vintage kit than the Tama did so I forced myself to use it for a week.

Holy cow! I love this pedal now. It's got a much lighter feel than the newer pedals, but again, once I got used to it, my foot was flying. I now use it all the time on my vintage Kent sets. It looks great AND I can now control it really well and may even be playing faster than with the Tama.

I'll post a pic later and I'm sure someone can identify it.

So there you go - Free pedal which I was ready to toss out and now it's my go to pedal.

My favorite pedal is a SpeedKing. Maybe because that's the one that I was introduced to first. Familiarity.

Then, years later, I got a Rogers Swivo pedal with the one piece footboard. I lloved it. Next, was a Rogers Supreme. I loved it. Then I got a DW5000 Turbo when they were still relatively new on the scene. I think it was about 1985 or so -single chain model. It took me the most getting used to, but the build quality was excellent and I still have and use that pedal on my current gigs. I also got the Tama Iron Cobra PowerGlide pedal and I love it. The IC hi-hat is EXTREMELY smooth. I also have a DW9000 pedal and hi-hat -incredibly smooth pedals.

And, at the end of the day, I sit down at my 1967 Downbeat kit and when my foot connects with that SpeedKing, it's like coming home. Plus, most of those other pedals I mentioned are hard to pack up and there are many potential things to go wrong with them -little allen screws and all sorts of adjustments. The SpeedKing is like McHale's Navy PT-73 boat! In other words, you can keep them up and running if something goes wrong. So, I will always vote for the SpeedKing regardless of the criticisms of it's quirks.

The vintage Atlas or "Big Beat" hi-hat is also a very nice, single-braced, adjustable spring hi-hat. They are lightweight and they pack up easily.

To make a long story short, I have had more trouble from the more modern designs than I have ever had with vintage hardware. That's the simple truth. If you treat your gear well, it will work as intended.

Combining new hardware with vintage gear looks wrong to my eye. New stands look fine with new drums, but the vintage stuff was so well suited with the drums and cymbals and techniques of the day, it just seems a better look to me.

If I was the type of drummer that needed to stand on top of the cymbal stands and jump up and down on the pedals, then I would appreciate the beefiness of the overbuilt gear of the last couple of decades. But, my requirements are met perfectly well by the vintage stands of the 60's.

Of course, there are examples of vintage gear that work better than

others.

I like the look of a complete vintage kit and I appreciate some of the more road-worthy components of the modern day. When I play a gig, I take the stuff that will pack up easily and work when I need it to work. If something breaks, I like designs that allow me to jury rig something to get me by.

In general, no hardware has ever let me down. It's just that not all of it is lightweight and looks good!:D

Gretsch floating action BD pedals are wonderful. Fast, light and smooth. Gretsch hi hat stands as far has been my experience, are crap.

I use pretty much 100% Walberg & Auge (except kick pedal) and prefer them over anything else.

I love the W&A hihat I use, better since modified.

The 60's Gretsch Floating Action you have was made by Camco, and was available with different footboards - Gretsch, Camco, others? This is essentially the same pedal as today's DW 5000, except it now has a chain drive instead of leather strap; sometimes you see them with flat nylon straps. But these are all the same design and most of the parts are even interchangeable. If you like a DW, you will be fine with one of the 60's Gretsch/Camco's. You can use a nylon strap if you're nervous about the leather strap. Slingerland had a similar pedal but not made by Camco - very similar adjustments.

I used to have a Rogers Swivo pedal (60's) that was great for adjustability; it has a unique design not seen in other pedals and is a great pedal if you like the feel (they're hard to find but turn up occasionally). It was my favorite pedal until I bought an 70's/80's Sonor pedal that I liked even better. Sonor started the heavy duty move in the 80's and made very good quality (but heavy) hardware that set the standard for hardware that is being made today.

Around 1980 I was at a Tom Scott rehearsal and Steve Gadd was playing drums. It was a rental set of Ludwigs, and when Steve arrived he changed the Speed King that was on the set to a Camco leather strap pedal he brought with him.

I was surprised and soon after scored a Camco from a drum teacher, and I hated it.

The Camco pedal was called something else before - did W&A make them?

It's surprising how little is known about W&A, especially since, when it comes to vintage harware, as far as I know, ALL there was was W&A.

Gretsch really never made anything. They put the parts together - shells from Jasper with W&A rims, lugs, stand etc...

The whole thing about W&A is incredibly interesting to me. It's an enigma... like Stanley Spector. When I talk about Walberg & Auge to drummers they don't know what the #$@^%! I'm talking about.

Nobody seems to even know how to say "Auge".

Ogg? Ugh? Owg?

What I've seen in print is that "Auge" is pronounced "Oh-zay"

Q. Oh-zay?

A. Nanu nanu.

Thanks for the info and for sharing your stories. I only wish I could have come across just one of you in the late 80s when I was looking for drummers for my group.....

There is a ton of great info but I'll try to summarize--if I left something you said out sorry!

1) The Gretsch Floating Action foot pedal I have (made by Camco) should be alright for my non drummer's drumming needs. Apparantly this is the DW5000 pedal without a chain? I looked at the DW5000 and maybe the apparatus logic is the same, but hardly as cool looking to me...sorry just my taste! (PS I am not nervous about the leather strap. This is for my studio/fun set that will never see a gig ever!)

2) Some cool alternatives to Fred Gretsch are the classic Ludwig Speed King -- the PT boat of pedals (I assume these have never really changed or is there a "cool era"?)

Another, but more difficult to find, is the Rogers Swivo.

Is this the Rogers pedal in question?

http://cgi.linkclub.or.jp/~a2a/eRkick.shtml

W&A, but nobody knows about it (including me I am afraid). Apparantly W&A were the guy behind the guy, to take a cue from Swingers. Can you put up some model names and pics? (BTW I would pronounce it Aw-ghee from sight...but the English language has weak vowels so you never really know until you hear it; Italian is great because I can pronouce any word correctly on sight since vowels are strong --each letter has only one pronounciation).

Finally, Tama makes Iron Cobra stuff that is good but is too modern for the look from what I am reading.

3) For Hi Hat stands, Gretsch sucks.

Ludwig "Atlas" or "Big Beat" is good. In fact for me personally this may be the way to go as there seem to be a number of them around. I even found a thread talking about this stand on this very forum:

http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=6267

Is this model 1124, "the one" so to speak?

Thanks again for all the interest and assistance with this thread.