The first pedal ever to truly bridge the gap between control and versatility. This pedal was engineered to create the most seamless link between the player’s musical ideas and their execution on a bass drum. Whether seeking to deliver lightning-fast blast beats or deep, rock-solid grooves, this pedal offers the adjustability to maximize your playing in any style.
A high-precision tool - the cardan shaft
Direct Link
Ninja bearing
Before buying the Pearl Demon Drive, I had tried and owned almost every popular drum pedal on the market, including the "Sonor 400", "Tama iron Cobra", "DW 5000", "DW 9000", "Pearl Eliminator", "Trick Dominator" and "Axis A Longboard". All of these pedals seemed to lack one or another of the features or properties that I wanted in a pedal, and I never could settle for any of them, so I kept changing them and searching for the right one. Until I bought the Pearl Demon Drive almost 3 years ago in 2009, and I have never looked at other pedals since then.
It is a direct-drive pedal, and I have found that I prefer this system much more than chain-drives, because it works much more precise and is much more controllable. If you like chain-drive pedals then maybe this pedal is not for you, but "Pearl" have recently released a chain-drive version of this pedal also, so thats maybe worth looking in to.
And now, the details...
This pedal has everything and even more what is needed in a drum pedal. First and foremost, it is made from very light aluminum and the ball bearings are very smooth and precise, resulting in a butter smooth and lightning fast response and feel, which is quite similar to that of the Trick and Axis pedals. But then there is the adjustability factor, which the other pedals always lack to a certain degree. And this makes the Demon Drive far superior.
First of all, if you are not quite sure if you want a shortboard or a longboard pedal, you can change the length of the footboard with a few screws. I like the longboard setting more, because I mostly play in the heel-up position, and it gives me more playing surface for greater dynamics, as well as the ability to utilize the heal-toe and swivel techniques with much more ease and comfort. Then there is the beater adjustment and the direct drive link adjustment. The beater adjustment lets you change the angle of the beater, but it also allows you to change the position of the beater - closer or farther away from the drumhead. If you put it closer, you get more control and precision, but if you put it farther back, you gain more power. The direct-drive link also has two adjustments (closer or farther from the drumhead). These act the same way as the the ones on the betaer adjustment - the closer to the drumhead, the more control, and vice versa. I have come to like the beater to be closer to the drumhead, and the direct link farther back. This way I gain power and precision at the same time - the footboard has to be moved less to move the beater a greater distance - resulting in an effortless, precise, very fast and powerful playing, which is controllable at any dynamics. The spring adjustment is also very well thought out. On the top you can adjust the footboard angle and on the bottom - the spring tension, just like on most other pedals, but the springs are held on ball bearings for a smooth action, and you can also lock the tension settings so that the springs dont come loose. Given all these adjustments, the possibilities are limitless! I have found that by tweaking all these settings, I can imitate the response of almost any other drum pedal, while remaining a much more lighter and smoother feel.
The drive shaft which connects the two pedals together is almost the same design as the one found on "Trick" pedals. It is very high quality and has zero play in the joints, just like on "Axis" and "Trick" pedals. The slave pedal feels just like the main pedal. I didnt like the beaters that came with the pedal, they felt a little too light and quiet, so I changed them to the "Iron Cobra" wood beaters, which are much better for my taste - a little heavier and punchier sounding.
To sum it up...
The Pearl Demon Drive is a fantastic pedal, which can be tailored to any desire, it is truly a universal pedal, and I highly recommend it. I gave it only a 4 star rating on the workmanship category, because there were some disappointments in this area. The pedal is made out of cast a
I bought these pedals to replace a set of Pearl p-2000C eliminators, and couldn't be happier. I have never had a set of pedals where the left feels exactly like the right. Would recommend to all.