What Is a Double Bass Pedal?

Double bass pedals have allowed drummers to create rhythms of unprecedented complexity and flair. Here are the basics about the mechanics, history, techniques and usage of double bass pedals, also known as "double kick pedals," "twin pedals," and "twin kicks."

History of the Bass Pedal

Bass drums have been around since at least the 1700s. However, for musical performances they stood facing upwards, clustered next to snares and other drums, and were played by hand. This was fine for venues without space concerns (such as symphony halls or military parade grounds) but, by the 1890s, orchestra pits and small dance hall stages were forcing percussionists to consider more space-efficient possibilities. It wasn't until 1909 that William F. Ludwig invented the first drum pedal, which struck a side-leaning bass drum with a timpani mallet.
By the 1920s, drums were commonly sold as kits: a sideways bass drum was topped with snare drums (also a specialty of Ludwig's), rack toms and floor toms, with removable hi tops and cymbals that were popular as well.

History of the Double Bass Pedal

Then, in the 1940s, legendary jazz drummer Louie Bellson started playing sets using a two-bass-drum kit. However, each bass drum has its own, independent pedal. This two-bass-drum kit opened up a new frontier for percussion, allowing for the faster rhythms that rock musicians would ultimately embrace.
Unfortunately, the two-bass-drum kit caused the same problem Ludwig originally solved (that is, not enough room) and added another: the expense of buying two drums. Finally, in 1968, the solution came to Australian drummer Don Sleishman: play one bass drum using two pedals. By 1971, the modern double bass pedal was on the shelf in music stores across the world.

Type 1: Two-Pedals, One Drum

The two-pedal model consists of two pedals set about 60-degrees apart (centered around the drummer). One end of each pedal is attached to a horizontal platform by hinges while the other end is held up by a roller chain (as called a "bicycle chain") that it bonded permanently to a metal sprocket. When the foot pushes a pedal down, the pedal pulls on the roller chain, causing the sprocket to rotate along its axis. The torque from the turning sprocket is transferred along its axle to a gear attached to a mallet, causing the mallet to strike the drum. There are two mallets total, each controlled independently by a specific pedal.

Type 2: One Pedal, One Drum

"The Duallist" (TheDuallist.com) is the brand name of a single bass pedal capable of both single and double mallet drumming. The single mallet striking mode works the same as a regular bass pedal---a strip of heavy-duty polymer (substituted for the roller chain) pulls on a sprocket and rotates a disk that causes the mallet to strike. The double mallet mode pairs the basic single mallet strike with a spring-counterbalanced second strike, triggered when your foot releases the pedal to its original position.

Problems/Challenges

Striking a drum head doesn't produce the instrument's actual sound. Rather, the observed sound is the result of vibrations resonating within the air of the entire drum shell. Given the large volume of bass drums and the speed of sound in air, the final, amplified sounds of high-speed double kick drum strikes can start to overlap and interfere with each other. So, even though a drummer may have perfect technique, his double kicks (if played rapidly enough) could sound sloppy on the final recorded track.