The Unbreakable RB Drum Set

[larrylips]

As i'm sure alot of you people already know, the RB drum set is a real POS. I have now warrantied the entire thing except the mic. So i went out and bought another one so I could play since EA hasnt even shipped the pedal yet and its been 2 weeks. AND I immediately modified it to make it stronger.

1. Drum pads- from the jpeg, its hard to see but the plastic underneath the drum pad is broken and caved in and the yellow no longer works. So i took the protective sound dampening pads i had for my REAL drums and cut them to fit the RB set. They work fantastic and you dont have to hit the drums any harder either. A $30-40 fix and no more worries about cracked heads.

2. Pedal- Most pedals have broken right below the spring on your heelside. When i got my new one, i immediately put my reinforcing plate on. the plate is a 16 gauge pice of sheet metal ( got it at home depot in a 12x18 sheet and made 4 of em for my friends too!). The metal was cut with a band saw but a jigsaw with a metal blade would do too. Then I put skateboard grip tape on it for the top side. I scuffed the bottom for better adhesion and used a 2-part epoxy (home depot) that mixes in the tube and clamped the two pieces together for about and hour.

What a difference! No worries about broken pieces now. The pedal is Actually Better since it now had some additional weight to it and the pads are way quieter and i dont fear ruining them again.

Now i just gotta wait for another 6 weeks for EA to get their heads removed from their rear and send me my warranty stuff.

[HypodermicMD]

Awesome job on the pedal. I am pondering doing this also.

It bothers me more than anything though that after buying $170 worth of game, that to get lasting quality we have to a) take the time to mod and b) dump even MORE money into the game.

[Makomachine]

Like the pedal mod but am afraid to do it due to warranty issues. Knowing my luck, I'd do the mod, something else would go wrong with the pedal and they wouldn't honor the warranty due to the modification. Have to agree with HypodermicMD - I'd just like to get solid quality with my original purchase and not have to tape, pad, reinforce, etc. anything...

[SoulScreme]

Wow, you must have really been harsh on those drums to break the pedal and the pads.

[Balsac]

Wow, you must have really been harsh on those drums to break the pedal and the pads.

That's just what I was thinking. You've got to be pounding the crap out those things to break them like that. They aren't real drums, so hitting them harder doesn't actually give you any change in output!

Take it easy!

[SoulScreme]

That's just what I was thinking. You've got to be pounding the crap out those things to break them like that. They aren't real drums, so hitting them harder doesn't actually give you any change in output!

Take it easy!

Yeah, some songs I get carried away with a bit :::cough cough::: enter sandman :::cough cough::: but not enough to do that.

[larrylips]

i have REAL drums as well so I am kinda heavy handed. I've broken many sticks, heads and put my foot thru the bass drum often.. It all comes with a hards days rockin. The EA waranty division sucks. My stuff is 2 weeks out and i used that express one.. BS

[Ex7r3m3r]

Like the pedal mod but am afraid to do it due to warranty issues. Knowing my luck, I'd do the mod, something else would go wrong with the pedal and they wouldn't honor the warranty due to the modification. Have to agree with HypodermicMD - I'd just like to get solid quality with my original purchase and not have to tape, pad, reinforce, etc. anything...

I'm making my plate use the factory screws that hold the orange part together, that way it won't hurt anything and void warranty

[AdamBomb629]

i have REAL drums as well so I am kinda heavy handed. I've broken many sticks, heads and put my foot thru the bass drum often.. It all comes with a hards days rockin. The EA waranty division sucks. My stuff is 2 weeks out and i used that express one.. BS

Yeah, I drive in real life so I'm equally as tough on my video game steering wheels (you know, they are just as sturdy as a real car). :confused: Dude, it's a video game, you can't play it as hard as real drums.

[davidshek]

i have REAL drums as well so I am kinda heavy handed. I've broken many sticks, heads and put my foot thru the bass drum often.. It all comes with a hards days rockin. The EA waranty division sucks. My stuff is 2 weeks out and i used that express one.. BS

I've been playing drums for over 16 years and I have never once put my foot through the bass drum.

You realized it's just CALLED a 'kick' drum, right? You actually use the pedal to hit it, not your foot ;)

[larrylips]

Funny david.. i meant the beater went thru the drum, not my foot. Ans if thats never happened to you then you must play jazz and have no business in a ROCK BAND! :-) Just kidding.. But to my defense, we do have my killer surround sound CRANKED and it really gets you going and maybe encourages a little harder play. Unlike the dude playing on his mono 19 in. tv.
Well, my new pedal came yesterday under warranty. I immediately modified it, attached it to a headphone splitter, and made a DOUBLE BASS!!!. I have also drilled a couple of holes in the legs to screw it to a plank of 1/2' plywood with carpet on it. This had really stabilized everything. Man do I Love this game!

[batsu336]

i have REAL drums as well so I am kinda heavy handed. I've broken many sticks, heads and put my foot thru the bass drum often.. It all comes with a hards days rockin.

I think the broken pedals and heads are more of an issue for real life drummers. If you learned to play with guitarists and 100 watt amps beside you, or play in small clubs where you don't mic your drums, you have to play hard...but putting your foot through the bass often? You need to tweak your bass pedal, man... My drummer buys the aluminum sticks with the replacable ends (what are those, Tommy Lee signature sticks? I can't remember) because he shatters so many wooden ones on his kit. I won't let him near my RB kit, because I know he will play it like his real kit. Remember this is NOT a real $3,000 Tama kit. It is a game controller that will probably be about $80 when they sell it alone. You have to play it like a game, not a gig, you freakin' Animals! Most non-drummers will be a lot less aggressive because they don't know what they are doing whe they start out, so they will learn to play softer.

[switchdoc]

DUDE!

Never occurred to me that a headphone splitter would let you make a double bass. Of course I don't have a second pedal but still...

[spyd4r]

Well, my new pedal came yesterday under warranty. I immediately modified it, attached it to a headphone splitter, and made a DOUBLE BASS!!!. I have also drilled a couple of holes in the legs to screw it to a plank of 1/2' plywood with carpet on it. This had really stabilized everything. Man do I Love this game!


How does the Double Bass respond? Record a video!!!!

[larrylips]

The Double Bass responds very well. It has only one drawback. If one pedal is sending a signal, then the other wont. So if you leave your foot down in between notes, the other pedals signal wont register. So you just have to make sure to lift your feet in between bass notes. Otherwise its fun and ads an interesting twist. Now I know that RB is tuned down so the dbl bass is not necessary but it is still fun.

[spyd4r]

The Double Bass responds very well. It has only one drawback. If one pedal is sending a signal, then the other wont. So if you leave your foot down in between notes, the other pedals signal wont register. So you just have to make sure to lift your feet in between bass notes. Otherwise its fun and ads an interesting twist. Now I know that RB is tuned down so the dbl bass is not necessary but it is still fun.

I imagine its fun for intro fills or during the big endings

[mxmarks]

since a lot of real drummers are in this thread, I wanted to ask a question - apoligies for threadjacking, but its semi-on topic.

I broke my bass pedal playing HAND THAT FEEDS on Hard. That constant 1-2-3-4 bass beat really got me going, and I've read that its best to use your leg, and NOT your ankle when playing the kick drum. Is that true?

When lifting my leg at the hip and letting my foot come back down, I seemed to be making contact with the ball of my foot up at the top of the pedal, and thats where it cracked (ABOVE the spring). Now that I have my replacement pedal, Ive been using my ankle, and when I do use my leg Ive been actually letting my heel slam the floor, while keeping my foot on the pedal, and it seems to work -- is that the correct way to use my leg?

Not only do I not want to break another pedal, it'd be nice to have some true technique after I master the drums (unlike my roomate, who has gotten TOO good at doing roll-type things one handed...which on a real kit I know would sound like crap).

Any input would be good - because other than keeping the pedal down between kicks, I really have no idea if Im doing thinsg right or wrong. Thanks!

[CENACHAINGANG54]

That's just what I was thinking. You've got to be pounding the crap out those things to break them like that. They aren't real drums, so hitting them harder doesn't actually give you any change in output!

Take it easy!

Well first off according to Harmonix you are suppose to be able to hit the drums hard as you would a real kit. Me being a drummer I naturally hit the drums with a certain velocity. Also on songs in the higher tier (Enter Sandman. Ride the lightning, Foreplay/Longtime, won't get fooled again) There are no way to take it totally easy when you are moving at the speed you are and the quickness of the notes. So like the other posters said it is bad quality. Roland help make these and I am very surprised being that I own Roland electric drums and never had a problem. Plus my red pad did was broke out of the box. Could not hit any rolls or fast notes, and the yellow was hit and miss.

[Transbrak]

to the op:
are these http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Pulse-Standard-Drum-Mute-Disk-Set-?sku=445362

the same basic things you have on yours, if so im going to buy a pair because my yellow pad has a slight crack and before anyone says anything ive never abused them,i usually play on medium but i would still like some insurance.

[larrylips]

Most drummers do have their heels UP. They use the ball of their foot to hit the pedal. REAL pedals have a "sweet spot" that rebounds well allowing a drummer to make 2 strokes with only one leg motion for fast notes by combining the leg AND ankle but just try to hit it with the ball of your foot and keep that heel UP. My heel has dropped over the years to maybe 3/4 of an inch but when i started it was a good 3 inches up. Of course when u play something quiet or REALLY SLOW i may have it resting down.


Trans----those pads are fine...go for it! The top of this thread shows how i modified the pedal NOT to break..Check it out!

[Transbrak]

Most drummers do have their heels UP. They use the ball of their foot to hit the pedal. REAL pedals have a "sweet spot" that rebounds well allowing a drummer to make 2 strokes with only one leg motion for fast notes by combining the leg AND ankle but just try to hit it with the ball of your foot and keep that heel UP. My heel has dropped over the years to maybe 3/4 of an inch but when i started it was a good 3 inches up. Of course when u play something quiet or REALLY SLOW i may have it resting down.


Trans----those pads are fine...go for it! The top of this thread shows how i modified the pedal NOT to break..Check it out!

yeah thanks i just put my order in.

yeah my pedal started to crack after the first party i had so i cut the shape of the pedal out of some pretty thick sheet metal and attached it to the pedal i even painted it with some textured paint so my foot wouldnt slip as much it works pretty good

[EtherDragon]

I don't play drums ... yet. And I read the forums about the pedal breaking before I got RB.

So I was pretty careful with the set. EVEN SO - my pedal started cracking.

Best solution? A 1/4" piece of ply-wood bolted directly onto the plastic foot-pedal at the toe and heel. It costs all of $4 and can be done with tools around the house.