As a gigging musician, sans drum tech, I do my best to use lightweight gear. Drum sets are big and bulky enough without the added inconvenience of bulky, heavy stands and accessories. That’s my humble opinion anyway. I’ve gone as far as to special order some of my gear to get the lightweight stuff.
My gig kit is a birch shell Gretsch Catalina, most of my stands are single brace, and my bass drum pedal is a single chain drive made by Yamaha (model FP-7210A). Prior to acquiring my Yamaha pedal, I’d been using a now vintage Premier pedal, which was also lightweight and still my favorite pedal. Unfortunately, I felt it was time to retire the vintage Premier pedal (aka my dirty workhorse), as it was showing some signs of wear. The design of both pedals allow collapsing and folding, which provides versatility when it comes to gig bags and cases. I don’t actually collapse mine, but I can imagine that this works really well for some gig bags and cases. As a side note, this Yamaha pedal was also priced right. From a performance perspective, the action is quite good. My Premier pedal still reigns as my favorite with best action of any pedal I’ve ever owned, but the Yamaha is a decent piece of gear for sure.
Many if not most pedals made these days have a base plate, for added stability. My sentiment on the base plate is that it mostly adds bulkiness. In fact, I take a bit of issue with the way much of today’s drum gear is designed, particularly hardware. There often seems to be little consideration for weight and bulk. Bigger and heavier looks cooler, I suppose. Those of you who use a double bass drum pedal, kudos. If you gig a lot, I hope that you’ve found lightweight alternatives.
Again, I’m into lightweight gear and avoid bulky gear at all costs. When the day comes that I have a drum tech and/or roadie, I may worry a little less about this. On second thought, I’d rather share the love of lightweight gear.
[Full Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase products using these link, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!]