Sage Grey believe it or not some people do know and ask me about this stuff. Although I'm not surprised that you don't know me because I'm honestly not that famous.

no, i would not recommend lowering the footboard.

I don’t think you can buy it new anymore. My past one I bought like 7 years ago. Everyone tells me to get the Trick shaft next time.

@axisT6 NO

I’m always puzzled by drummers using felt beaters when it’s not jazz or something similar. You aren’t using felt sticks, why would you use felt beaters??

Larry Tate I haven't yet played a speed Cobra. I don't really know anybody with one and I'm not going to buy one just to mess with. Eventually I'll stumble across one in a music store but not yet.

Wu Jay this is the initial run of the second generation. They made them this way from '98 to maybe '04 or '05. They came with that metal nut and also with a more slender beater holding mechanism without the hexagonal cutout. These are stronger and slightly better than the next run from 2005-2011. They are currently on the second variant of the 3rd generation as far as I can tell so they're now made quite differently.

I see. thank you! BTW, how much did you pay for the driveshaft? I looked it up online the original one and the Trick drive shaft both cost $130. However, you said that the trick one is more expensive?

yeah I think they will all work together on some level. nothing really special between the models.

Sometimes that can be challenging because when you set it you have to have some tension on the pedal because you're touching it. When you take your hands off, suddenly its different. If you have it perfectly set and it seems to move, then you probably either aren't tightening the adjustment enough, maybe the screw is stripped, perhaps there is play in the slave arm that connects the pedals, or maybe some other piece of the pedal is slipping and causing the problem and you're not seeing it. I have no way of knowing which if any of this things is true from here. Hopefully thats helpful.

I think you would need to remove the beater and the piece that holds it completely. So, loosen the screw as if you were going to change the angle of the beater. But keep going until that piece will slide off of the round part that it rotates on. That round part, attached to the actual hexagonal rotating axle portion of the pedal, is what you need to move. Once you’ve gotten the beater assembly totally off of it I believe there’s a set screw somewhere on it. If you then loosen that it should allow you to reposition it. I have never actually wanted to do this, so I’m not 100% sure it will work. But I have disassembled a cobra pretty far and I think this is the case.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom YEH iM just trying to center both my pedals on the kickdrum head, righht now one is centered & the left one sits about an inch or two to the left, just trying to gt them equal,thanx

With any pedal, I never recommend sitting low. Your hips should be level with your knees at the absolute lowest. Any lower you’re hurting yourself.

Spoodermen Produktionz yeah that is the best in my opinion. If it's under the equivalent of $200 and in good shape it's worth it. I have 2 doubles an ~'00 and a '06 which are actually different construction in a few places... though technically both 2nd gen.

Nice. I basically bought a second bass drum instead… not exactly the same thing as a better connection and there are a ton of downsides. But it looks cooler. So there’s that.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom man I think I’m headed the same direction , going back to two kicks . I’m a less drums I’m my own rodie type of guy but two kicks it’s going to happen lol

I try to keep everything consistent between feet, as much as is possible. I would actually like two single pedals that were set to the precise same settings... but that’s not super convenient in many places.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom ahh thanks. Btw are u still in touch with your metal band?

Depends on which one you’re referring to.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom the one with the female lead singer.

Oh Bloodstrike, yeah we actually talked about maybe recording a new song soon, but our guitarist’s computer died (that we used to record both albums) and so he needs to get his recording setup figured out. Also he hadn’t played guitar in like 3 years... so it might take a minute to get anything going.

If I recall correctly there’s a black screw on the top of the spring that corresponds to the slave side. Probably a hex head. It’s between the drum key screw that attaches the slave drive shaft and the slave beater. It’s visible in this video. Loosen that and you should be able to set the slave pedal height without touching the beater angle or position.

I think it might be true that the spring needs to be slightly different to feel the same, not sure of a 1/4 inch is always the right amount. Go by the feel, not by a formula. I've been contemplating a better connecting rod... But the nicer ones are much more than the Tama replacement... These pedals are only 150-200 used so buying a connecting rod that costs as much or more is a hard decision to make.

+Ryan Alexander Bloom I agree 100% about the connecting rod. I want to get the speed cobras so im not sure if i want to just leave these alone and sell them. The threading on the nuts and the holes for the nuts in the connecting rod are weak. I had to re-thread them twice already, and i don't like the fact that Tama used plastic fasteners for the spring tensions, the threading on mine stripped real quick. Easy fix though.

I think I said it in the video, but I'm on my third rod since 2001 or so. Never had any stripping issues with any of the parts, but the joints just get weak. These apparently last about 5 years, but the pedal itself lasts at least 15. Good connecting rods use ball bearings rather than simple hinges, hence the cost. Not sure how long they last in comparison.

+Ryan Alexander Bloom Very true!! Thanks for this video man and all your other ones, very helpful!!

Nicholson Toppo tightening the spring can help you play faster by making it easier to rebound the beater between each stroke. Moving the beater closer will NOT help. That will simply cause you to play more quietly and with poor technique.

Ryan Alexander Bloom thank you so much for the advice...😊..in future can you show some lessons of swivel techniques...??

Or is it just my pedals? Lol

KillerBoots yeah the slave side is always a little off no matter what I do. I think that’s pretty unavoidable. I worried about it for a while but you just have to resign yourself to it.

Ryan Alexander Bloom I’ll be buying a trick drive shaft for this issue. It made my speed cobras feel exactly the same when I did that. I’m about to get some chrome cobras and buy a replacement shaft and I’ll get back to you if it’s worth it. I know you’ve been told this already but it really is a night and day difference in my experience at least with other pedals.

That sounds weird. If you email me a picture or link me to a video of the problem I can probably tell you how to fix it.

It’s definitely possible but I suspect not a good idea. It looks like the hinge for the footboard is integrated into the heel piece. If you take it off the footboard would just flop around unattached. I’ve never tried, but I’m assuming you’d have to do some engineering/fabricating of a new hinge to playboy without the heel.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom yea problem is im very good at the heel toe technique and if that heel support is off i could get the full potential out of that technique

Poop Dawg I've considered that. They're prohibitively expensive. You can buy like 4 of the regular ones at the same price...so like 20 years worth.

$130 on ebay, I ordered one from/to South Africa for my DW 9000s. There is no comparison in quality (I've owned Pearl, Tama, Gibraltar), there is zero latency or play. They haven't degraded in the slightest either. So, consider that.

I have two of these pedals and they came on both when I got them. You can buy more online, just google them. I think they're like $12 or something like that. It's really weird that you don't have them.

yeah mine came with them too. Funny thing Ryan..I had them on for years, my buddy Jason from ATR (we share a practice space) was looking at my pedals the other day and he went like.."oh you got the weights on, no one on the road uses them, you want to go fast, take them off" so off they went. I know its personal preference but something to think about.

Hmm. That is funny. Maybe nobody that he knows uses them, but they're a bigger help than you'd think and they don't slow you down as much as you would assume either. The extra weight actually serves to keep the pedals in motion longer, like a pendulum. It actually reduces the amount of energy you have to put in to the system to get a lot of speed and power at a very steady and even pace. Light pedals require more control to play and the speed benefit is not amazing. Speed is mostly the player, but stamina and evenness can be enhanced with a heavier beater. Of course, there is a limit. A 5 pound beater would be useless.

Ryan Alexander Bloom interesting that makes sense.... So you have them all the way up? I used to have them kind of in the middle but I only felt a slight difference since I took them off. Maybe I will try them all the way up. I have been making a lot of adjustments to my pedals in the last few weeks after having conversations with him and looking at his set up. I was asked to sit in for one gig in a slipknot tribute next month., I'm fast on the doubles but this stuff is a little faster than I am used to playing in punk bands.....I lowered the beaters and changed the angle to make them a little closer to the head, and tightening the springs.. things like that. He uses a smaller 20 inch bass drum because he says the response is better....... I just pick his brain a lot every time we hang out. I used to have these plastic block beaters but I went back to the Iron Cobras standard ones and that improved my speed

Max Sy this is the second generation which was '98-'10. This one is '00 I think. The stupid coil wasn't introduced until '11 with the third generation. The coil is a gimmick. Doesn't do anything useful in any way because a chain can only exert force when pulled. When pushed it just creates slack, exactly what you don't want. I recommend just removing the coil.

Ryan Alexander Bloom really? how sure are you? have you used the coil spring?

Max Sy pretty sure. The logic is sound. The coil pushes the footboard in the opposite direction of the way the chain works. Slack in the chain is detrimental. The only thing that can happen by pushing up is creating slack. You cannot actually reverse the beater direction from the bottom of a chain. The reason you might want a coil like that, which would actually work on direct drive, is to help the rebound, but you physically can't from that location. So even if it feels different with the coil, it isn't providing any mechanical advantage and you may actually have to fight against it to keep the chain taught and free of slack.

@@RyanAlexanderBloom ive been searching around trying to see if the third gen has anything different besides the coil. is there anything different from the one u have and 3rd gen?

@@itz_vortex7341 they’ve updated the beater design, though you can always put on whatever style you want after the fact, and the cam shape looks to have been changed to be slightly more angular on the power glide version. I don’t own one so I haven’t been able to really check out every possible part in detail. I’ve just seen them and played them at the drum shop a few times.

It’s a pretty good deal for what you get. I have used direct drive. They’re “finicky” for lack of a better word. I’ve never tried the same pedal side by side with chain or direct drive so I cannot tell you for sure, but I don’t really like the ones I’ve tried.

@RyanAlexanderBloo Thanks Ryan.. ...finicky ? I see a lot of drummers in Ireland where I'm from are using iron cobra...have you tried the speed cobra?....what's with all the snake vibes ?? 🐍 🙄

You can’t really do that easily. I’m sure with a little bit of Frankensteining or machining of custom parts anything is possible but that’s not a normal feature.

Glen Wolfe the clamp placement isn’t ideal. At least it works though. Some pedals only accommodate hoops of certain thicknesses. There are several pearl pedals which absolutely won’t attach firmly to metal hoops because they’re too thin. They won’t clamp right enough. So, yeah offset makes no sense, but there’s worse designs out there too.

Ryan Alexander Bloom I see that. I also realize that they couldn't come out with a centered clamp anyway because the plate on the bottom isn't centered either. Oh well. Thanks for the video and the reply

The stupid cobra coil wasn't added to the Iron Cobra line until probably 8 or 10 years after these pedals were produced. There is no coil. The way I see it, the coil is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. They made the Iron Cobra very durable and when nobody was buying a second one, they had to think of a feature to add to get existing customers to buy again. They made it too good for their own good. Since the Cobra is a chain drive pedal, the coil serves no identifiable purpose. Pushing up on the footboard from below will just put slack into the chain which is the worst possible thing you can do if you are trying to have a smooth stroke.

Ok, maybe not the worst thing you can do... but not helpful in any way.

+pichoff the beaters are easily adjustable. At 2:10 I'm sort of pointing with my right hand to the silver piece that attaches the beaters to the rotating axle-like part of the pedal. right there you can see a screw at the very bottom, closer to the camera. You adjust it from the back, and its just poking through the front here. This adjustment will allow you to change the angle of each beater independently of the footboards or the other beater.You can pretty easily even them out.

the never ending journey I’m going to say a very conditional yes, sort of. If you have one built between like 2005 and 2010 (generation 2.1) and you buy a lefty slave pedal on eBay or something, I think you could make it work. But not right out of the box and not with anything older. I’m not sure about the current 3rd generation ones. Maybe?

A, they hadn’t been invented yet. B, they’re a gimmick so I would have taken them off if they had been invented.

It's not a secret that I dislike pearl pedals. Pretty much all of them.

On the new version of the iron cobra I'm yet to see any thing but a great review yet.. they made some improvements for speed supposedly that buyers are agreeing so far on. The new silicone beaters appear to be well liked too. If that helps. when you decide let me know what you went for and how you liked them as I'm considering the new ic's too

I think the new Dw 9000 xf with the extended footboard might be amazing. The regular model I wish was a tad longer as it'd help both in feel and in weight imo. I feel like the 9000 becomes better with a touch more weight added to footboard and I'm thinking the inch longer xf boards may do just that. But they're a pretty penny.

i thought this comment was dumb, but ur kinda right he does.

+Sean Sethi velcro saves he day.