YAMAHABASSDRUMPEDALS

92 RHYTHM SEPTEMBER2009
EXCLUSIVE
Y
amaha has always offered a full
range of drums and percussion,
and its range of stands often
receives plaudits alongside the
attention-grabbing drums – Yamaha like to
emphasise they’re made in their motorbike
factory! The company's pedals, on the other
hand, are often overshadowed. Yamaha’s last
attempt to increase interest in its pedal range
resulted in afusingofmythologyand
marketing, and coined the ‘Flying Dragon’
moniker.For this latest iteration, the airborne
serpenthas been dropped, and the whole
range has had a spruce-up.
Build
We’ve been sentone double pedal and three
single pedals forreview. The singles arethe
top-line FP9500C,mid-range FP8500C and
the quirky FP8500B – the ‘C’ and ‘B’ referring
to ‘chain’ and ‘belt’ respectively. The double is
the top-of-the-line DFP9500D – the ‘D’
meaning ‘direct drive’.
All of the pedals share the same cast and
machined footboards, with ahandsome
smooth steel playingsurfaceand recessed
Yamaha logo. The pedals also share the same
side-operating clamp mechanism and, with
the exception of the FP8500B, have afixed
baseplate. The pedal uprights appear
hard-anodised and have reinforcement bars
below the rocker shaft which are designed to
eliminate flex and have full bearings either
side. The FP9500 series pedals have
independent adjustments for primary beater
angle and spring angle, and the double has a
‘hex’ linkage that resists power-sapping twist
between the main and slave pedals. The
FP9500 pedals come with a new, double-sided
beater – felt/plastic – while the FP8500 pedals
ship with Yamaha’s classic felt beater.
All pedals have rubber inserts in the hoop
clamps, so they shouldn’t damage the finish of
your bass drum hoops. Unlike the others, the
FP8500B doesn’t have abaseplate,instead
relying on the old system of sprung steel
shafts seatinginholes in the uprightcasting,
the ends of which are coated in rubber to
prevent rattling. The belt is made from nylon
webbingwhich sits on afelt-coveredcam.
Since there’s no baseplate, the 8500B folds up
smaller – useful for those looking for
minimalist hardware. The FP9500s also come
with their own smart, hard-sided soft bags.
Hands On
Onceall were unboxedand the different
variations carefully catalogued, Ifirst
gravitated to the FP8500B, as Ilearntonakit
with an old Yamaha belt driven pedal. Belt
driveprovides an immediacythat chain drive
pedals sometimes lack, and so it proved with
the F8500B. The lack of baseplate means it’s
moreathome on the unevensurfaces the
jobbing drummer is likely to encounter, and
because it shares the features of its bigger
brothers it wasn’t found wanting – definitely a
pedal to consider as a back up in the gig bag
or a main for the lighter-of-foot.
Next up wasthe daddy –the DFP9500D.
Along with the belt-drive, I’ve also been a
sucker for Yamaha’s direct-drive pedals – a
YAMAHA BASS DRUM PEDALS
From £114 Pedlarsofall things percussive,Yamaha, peddle theirlatestpedals.
Jake Stacey puts them to the test – will they be flying dragons or grounded turkeys?
PRICES:
FP9500C – £177
DFP9500D – £354
FP8500C – £145
FP8500B – £114
DRIVE TYPE
Belt/double chain/
direct drive
FOOTBOARD
MATERIAL
Cast steel
BASEPLATE
MATERIAL
Pressed steel
BEATER TYPE
Hardfelt/double-sided
plastic/felt
CONTACT:
Yamaha Music UK Ltd
Sherbourne Drive
Tilbrook
Milton Keynes
MK7 8BL
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
ESSENTIALSPEC
LACK OF BASEPLATE
suits the uneven surfaces
a drummer will encounter
RECOMMENDS
RHY168.gear_yama 92 12/8/09 4:07:27pm