Fix (or prevent) a broken Rock Band drum pedal

by Christopher Grant { Dec 26th 2007 at 9:15PM }

After shredding open that giant box in the corner, unearthing an entire rock band of peripherals, and gathering a motley ~~crüe~~ crew to rock alongside, you had your first experience with Harmonix's Rock Band. Somewhere, in the middle of "Wanted Dead or Alive" no doubt, that flunky you call a drummer put his heel straight through your totally authentic bass pedal with all the force of a thousand Tico Torreses.

Not to fear, as the evidently limitless eBay marketplace has the perfect solution! You can order the $15 Pedal Metal, designed to fix your broken pedal with an intoxicating blend of diamond-plated aluminum and self-tapping screws. Bass pedal still fully operable but you're not the sort to leave that to chance? Consider the carbon fiber variant (pictured), double the price at $30 but guaranteed* to handle the rhythmic stylings of your good pal, Lenny Leadfoot.

*not guaranteed

[Thanks, Moshe]

Tags: Drums, Harmonix, Rock-Band, RockBand

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

hotttsauce84 @ Feb 11th 2008 8:49PM

OK guys heres the deal. I also ran into the snapped kick pedal problem and heres how to fix it:

I have been playing the drums for about 15 years so I know how the kick pedal should be played on rock band. I also have large groups of drunken idiots playing on my set (I live above an Irish pub in a college town) on average, 5 nights a week. Most of us play on hard or expert drums and I hadn't had a problem with any of my drum equipment until last night when I was trying to rock 'the joker and the thief' on expert and my pedal snapped in half about 2/3 down. I have a friend who is also a drummer who had the same problem a few weeks ago. I solved my problem this morning by breaking a hefty plastic ruler in half and taping it to both the top and bottom of the pedal with electrical tape. i then taped over it again with packing tape and then with electrical tape again. The pedal now feels ten times sturdier that it did before it broke and there is also a nice buldge from the layers of tape that contours nicely to the arch of your foot. thats my fix.. cost me about five bucks and ten minutes of my time. just my two cents..

JontheNinja @ Dec 26th 2007 9:53PM

Or you could, you know, not do the stomp on your friggin controller.

Norm @ Dec 26th 2007 9:56PM

See, my problem is that I have to tell 12 different people not to stomp on the pedal. A lot of people have that problem, you have a party, everyone wants to play rock band and drink alcohol, next thing you know, its 2 pm the next day, your cat is glued to the ceiling fan and your rock band footpedal is broken from some goofball who didn't want to tap lightly on it.

BIGGEN @ Dec 26th 2007 10:38PM

it baffles me how these peripherals continually have these kinds of issues. yes they are made cheap, but shouldn't be for the price we pay.

jsn @ Dec 27th 2007 12:00AM

Norm: We've had large, very crunk groups playing it every weekend since it came out and haven't had a problem. You just tell people how they're supposed to play it. I mean you pretty much have to because everyone starts out trying to play the bass drum flat footed or with their heel. You just tell them how to keep their foot on it and where to keep it and it kinda takes care of itself. Unless your friends are just oafs by nature it should work itself out.

The pedal does have a flex point about 2/3 down, but if you keep your foot on the pedal properly you're pretty much never going to break it. It's not really even a matter of force because you can pound the crap out of the thing if you place your foot properly and it doesn't budge.

LordMinogue @ Dec 27th 2007 1:03AM

Hey, did you teach 99-102?

Norm @ Dec 26th 2007 9:53PM

I could have used one of those 2 weeks ago! Maybe I'll buy one just in case, seems like I'm about to break my second one.

quickshade @ Dec 26th 2007 10:09PM

LOL, so many problems, so many fixes.

Adam Schecter @ Dec 26th 2007 10:10PM

A million folks have been trying to sell these types of unnecesary mods on the Rockband Community Forums, why did you take the bait and post this spam?

Leto @ Dec 26th 2007 10:14PM

They are not unnecessary. The design of the pedal is flawed. I've already sent one back to EA, and the second one already has a crack in it. We're not stomping on it either, this is through regular, proper use of the pedal. Once the pedal is pressed fully down, you can feel with your foot the point of weakness in the center, whey they are prone to snap. Playing expert drums for any non-trivial amount of time will eventually result in the pedal snapping.

Norm @ Dec 26th 2007 10:23PM

Yeah, you either have to go with things like this, build your own, or keep getting replacements till your warranty period is up.

dcrtv @ Dec 27th 2007 1:37AM

I would have to agree with Adam, if you are playing the pedal correctly with your heel down and the front of your foot tapping the device will not break.

Probot @ Dec 26th 2007 10:27PM

Anyone have a fix for the Red drum. If you hit them too fast, the hits don't register. It makes certain songs (like Train Kept a Rollin' and Cherub Rock) impossible.

Although I'm a bit far from playing Expert on drums, it's bound to be a problem later down the line.

NoHitHair @ Dec 27th 2007 2:00AM

Actually, I do have a solution. I've been playing Rock Band exclusively as the drummer and I've found that with the red drum you have to hit it far more accurately than the other ones.

If you make sure to tap the red drum closer to the center you shouldn't ever miss. I don't know why the radius is so poor compared to the other drums but try it - it worked for me.

jpq21 @ Jan 16th 2008 4:51AM

Put cloth or foam on all your pads to change the sensitivity. I just put some shirts over mine and it totally fixed them.

Mike Jenkins @ Dec 26th 2007 10:28PM

I don't get it, I tried and I can't feel the pedal flexing, I've had Rock Band since day 1, and on day 1 we played nonstop for 15 hours, and even though the defective guitar broke, the pedal held up and it's still working fine today.

Norm @ Dec 26th 2007 10:41PM

According to HMX, there were more than one runs of product made before launch day, so that is why some people have good stuff and some people don't.

soccerdude21490 @ Dec 26th 2007 10:47PM

My problem is just the fact that my leg hurts after a period of time, I Guess I need to figure out how to get a higher chair or something

NoHitHair @ Dec 27th 2007 2:02AM

My leg was hurting like hell after drumming for only an hour or two. I figured out that it's simply positioning - try to ensure that your entire foot is rested on the pedal in such a way that you're not actually pressing it down fully. Then basically tap your foot like you would when running a beat through your head.

I'm never in any pain now.

Nate @ Dec 27th 2007 10:40AM

Here's a key thing I figured out - you don't have to hover your foot over the pedal the whole time, you can just have it pressed down and go up-down when you need to do a bass note. Makes everything much easier on the leg muscles.

Ender @ Dec 26th 2007 11:50PM

Funny thing about this article is that, this was the exact same scenario that happened to me 2 days before Christmas. "Wanted Dead or Alive" was the final song in a 3 song set list and half way thru, the pedal board snapped in half. I was not playing hard at all, the pedal is just cheap. I tried plugging in a real electronic bass drum trigger with no success and I am now waiting for a replacement. I think this this pedal board brace is a good idea.

vidGuy @ Dec 27th 2007 12:04AM

My guitar's strum bar broke but I got a replacement in four days. No problems with the drum kit, but I play the kick pedal with the heel down technique so that all of the pressure comes from my ankle. That's a lot less force than a thigh+heel can muster, and for me it's quicker too.

plyx @ Dec 27th 2007 2:07AM

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Farseer (GDI) @ Dec 27th 2007 2:33AM

Dude... that was funny!!

When it was on South Park....

Deck @ Dec 27th 2007 2:30AM

The issue is having to spend MORE money on an already VERY EXPENSIVE game!

Anyone think about that? Can't EA just get it right the first time? Oh... Righ... it is Electronic Arts.

ill trooper @ Dec 27th 2007 6:22AM

oh yes... I bought three of the 'pedal metal' things, one for me as a preventative/pumped-out measure, and two others for Christmas gifts. They arrived about two weeks ago and I'm glad to support a couple of dudes just hand-making something to sell out of their enthusiasm for the game and the potential to make some money answering a need.

I don't care if you think others are dumb because they broke theirs, or how you'd never break it because you're so blah blah blah or whatever, the facts are people less cool than you have already broken them, and this sort of thing is for them, not for you, perfect guy.

ill trooper @ Dec 27th 2007 6:31AM

umm, that was supposed to say "pimped-out," not some weird schwartzeneggarian "pumped out." iPhone corrective text "for the loss" when it comes to modern colloquialisms, it seems...

baby sea tuna @ Dec 27th 2007 8:44AM

That's okay, the iPhone loses at a lot of things.

Well, except as a symbol of conspicuous consumption...

ill trooper @ Dec 27th 2007 11:24AM

Heh heh... that's so pedestrian, hater. You better not buy one then. Better you sit at your computer and wait for something good enough to beat the iPhone at it's cost and size, which I'm sure you won't buy either.

baby sea tuna @ Dec 27th 2007 3:47PM

As a first generation iPod owner and long time Apple customer, you'd better believe I'll be waiting around for something better. As good as Apple products are, I've learned at this point to wait until the second or third hardware revision for them to get it straight.

cjshrader @ Dec 27th 2007 9:20AM

Mine broke just yesterday, so I know what it's like. Along those same lines I've also researched another pedal:

http://www.woodrockpedals.com/

It's made completely from wood and entirely replaces your pedal, so you don't have to worry about the plastic breaking at the hinge.

However, truthfully, when our warranty replacement comes in I think we're going to go with pedal metal to hopefully help take some of the damage. We're not comfortable screwing it in quite yet, so we'll tape it in some means and see how that works for us.

Moe @ Dec 27th 2007 10:56AM

Hey! I bought the carbon fibre one. that one is stuck on like a sticker, not with screws like the metal one. That might be more up your alley (and is in fact, the reason I got that version rather than the other one).

cjshrader @ Dec 27th 2007 10:59AM

Ah yes but that $15 more expensive price tag really doesn't do it for me :)

If I really wanted I could ask the guy who makes the Metal Pedal ones to not drill holes in them. I'm pretty sure he'll do most custom things you need him to do. And I could add my own adhesive, no problem.

Player1 @ Dec 27th 2007 11:36AM

If you are trying not to break plastic, I don't know if driving a bunch of self-tapping screws into it is the best option.

White Rabbit @ Dec 27th 2007 3:54PM

My friend just braced it with a wrench and taped the shit out of it. Worked fine

Chris @ Dec 31st 2007 4:01PM

Our son broke our RockBand pedal in 3 days. We designed a replacement pedal called the "Woodrock Pedal." It won't void your warranty, because you are just replacing the existing pedal. It is easy to install an VERY sturdy. So far, my son hasn't been able to "beat" it! :
www.woodrockpedals.com

Flit @ Jan 1st 2008 1:44AM

Well, if EA would have hired a Damned Engineer to build the pedal, maybe the rubber stoppers at the front of the pedal wouldn't create the force point at the weakest section of the pedal when you actually USED IT. Jesus EA, a little Design Basics if you are going to be building hardware. Build your hardware to the 300 pound gorilla who could be using your bass pedal, and not the 100 pound weakling who flat foots his bass pedal, even on expert. Give me the damned drawings for the bass pedal, and i'll fix the design flaws, and you can build the pedal for the same price. Funny how i read this story today, and went and played my bass pedal and it snapped. Sigh.. I love the software Harmonix, just get the hardware working please.