.

If you had asked Steve Gadd in 1979, what pedal he used, he would probably have looked at you strangely and said something about the standard pedal that came with his Yamaha kit. Back then, pedals were things that just did a job and had no individual identity of its own. It was also probably very similar to every other pedal on the market and was very simple in design. The only pedals that had an identity were the Ludwig Speedking (which most people knew simply as ‘the Ludwig pedal’ or Squeak King), the Rogers Swiv’o’matic and the Slingerland Yellowjacket.

Later, in the ‘80’s, pedals began to carve in identity which had only really been afforded to snare drums with the Tama Camco and Premier 252, but it wasn’t until the ‘90’s that pedals really came into their own. Now of course, everyone knows the names Powershifter, Janus, Flying Dragon, Axis, 9000, 5000 and the like, and some believe that your pedal says a lot about you as a player (or is that just the effect of the advertising?).

In this current high pressure pedal market is their room for more? Well, Bigdog would like to think so. Bigdog have been around for a short while now and are getting a name for good but reasonably priced hardware and accessories. They seem to know what they are talking about and are getting well represented in many drum and general music shops. They started when some employees of a well-known drum company left to ‘go it alone’. They had the manufacturing and music business contacts, so I guess it was a natural progression for them and they do seem to be doing rather well.

Bigdog E001 Pro single

In front of me I have one E001 Pro single pedal and one E002 Pro double pedal. Now they aren’t the sexiest of names but to be honest I am pleased they haven’t decided to go for the ‘Leaping Lizard’ or ‘Speed Mechanics’ type name, as I am sure we have all had enough of those for the moment. However, E001 doesn’t really stick in the mind and I have to keep turning round to look at the boxes to remind myself of the name.

Both pedals are similarly constructed so I will lump them together for the most part. The frames are nice and sturdy with bracing in all the right places and are bolted onto a very solid 2mm thick base plate with lots of bent edges to provide maximum stiffness. The footplate is powder coated blue which is a nice individual Bigdog touch and makes their pedals easily identifiable in the same way as DWs 5000 pedals have a red plate and Mapex have yellow plates. One observation is that there aren’t any spurs on the pedal. All that stops the pedal from moving is some ribbed rubber, but I tried the pedal on some wooden flooring and it gripped it amazingly well, but obviously on carpet you will have to rely on your bass drums spurs. The hoop clamp will cover ALL thicknesses of hoop from DW to older Yamaha and Sonor, and is easily set up and is tightened from the side of the base plate.

One thing I immediately noticed was the size of the footplate – I could get the whole of my rather large foot onto it – which makes a nice change. The footplate also seemed very thick at 1cm. It’s not of course, that’s about standard, but in these days of titanium this and that, it looks quite chunky, though it could be the blue colour which adds to the overall impression. There are a couple of strengthening fins along the bottom so I don’t think that breakages will be a problem.

At the top of the footplate is attached the double chain. This is attached with a nylon locking nut and bolt and I have got to say that the chain itself looks VERY similar to a certain chain on an American pedal…so much so I would say they are from the same factory. Having taken apart many of the US pedals before to replace the chains when they first came out, I would put money on it.

The chain goes up and over the cam, which has a slight eccentricity to it (it loses 5mm of distance from the cam over 90 degrees if that makes sense) and is attached at the top with two cross head bolts in exactly the same way as the pedal I mentioned earlier. The only difference is that the Bigdog has a chromed cover. When the cover is removed you can adjust the footplate angle with five different options.

The beater holder is nicely thought out too as rather than having the thread for the drum key bolt tapped straight into the metal, the thread is actually a captured nylon-locking nut. This means that if you over tighten the bolt and strip the thread, you only need an Allen key and a new nut (obtainable from Bigdog or a hardware store near you) to sort it out. Also steel nuts hold their thread much better than tapped zinc, so this really shouldn’t be an issue but its nice to know it can be easily sorted out if it were to happen. Also, because it is a nylon-locking nut, the chances of loosening are greatly reduced.

The rest of the pedal is exactly what you would expect. There are bearings at all the important places, the wheel that the spring hooks over is made from strong plastic to prevent noise and also has a bearing and the whole axle is totally silent, smooth and still rigid with no wobbly areas. The only area I found which didn’t exceed my expectations was the hinge between the heel plate and the footplate. The hinge itself is big and chunky but to me, there is a little bit too much sideways movement and this is the only area of the pedal that isn’t completely silent. Now, for most people this wont be an issue, and I am being picky, but the only reason why I mention it is that it is the only area that is less than top notch. This isn’t meant to be a criticism, just an observation.

Bigdog E002 Pro Double

The beater that is supplied is two faced (‘yeah, he might be nice to your face, but he was really nasty about you behind your back!’), with a square felt face and a more pointed plastic face. At least I am assuming that it is meant to be two faced, as the plastic side does look a little too pointed to me, but it did no damage to the head and it sounded suitably punchy. I also noticed that the beater had a significantly lower pitch to it in comparison to the DW beater I normally use, which was a nice side effect. I think I might get one of these beaters just to have in the stick back for when I need a different bass drum sound.

On the double pedal, the auxiliary pedal is identical to the single pedal just without the spring tensioner or the hoop clamp. However, it does have two spurs tapped into the bottom of the frame to help anchor it. The cross bar is length adjustable and goes up to over 51cm which should cover most people. The main pedal on the double is the same as the single but with the extra arm, which is cast onto the frame (rather than bolted like most and so stronger, another plus point) and supports the middle of the two axles so they can act independently.

So, what do they feel like? Well, to be honest, they feel exactly as I expected – very smooth, very quiet and very solid. I normally prefer single chain pedals, but these were great, a little heavy for me, but they had a nice quality feel to them and everything I can do on my normal selection of pedals I could do on these.

It really has come to something when the only thing I can find ‘wrong’ or less than perfect is the amount of play in a heel plate. They look and feel quality products, the build quality is great and if I were building a pedal from scratch to appeal to the masses; it would probably end up something like these.

I like the whole ethos behind Bigdog. They don’t pretend to be the best, they just aim to make quality products for a reasonable price, and I’ve got to say that they have achieved it. I haven’t mentioned the prices yet, but the single pedal is in shops for around £60 and the double is around £160 having just looked at some ‘street prices’ on the net. Now these aren’t stupidly cheap, but then these are really good pedals and as such are a really good price.

If you are in the market for a new pedal, regardless of your budget or your badge preference, it would be worth checking out these pedals. I have only heard good (if not great) things about Bigdog customer support and I know that they follow various forum sites and reply to any queries very quickly. If you want proof, check out the forum pages and see what people have to say. Well done Bigdog.

John Williams
Nov 05