So here I sit in familiar territory, assaulted again by faulty Rock Band/Guitar Hero equipment. In the last two weeks I have had my second rock band drum kit pedal snap in two. While you would imagine since this problem has been ongoing for over a year now, companies like Block Head would make a replacement product that would address the issues with the OEM hardware, this is sadly not the case. A couple of weeks ago I had to replace the original drum pedal that came packaged with the Rock band 1 drum kit, thus I purchased the 'Rock Band Hit Kit' manufactured by BlockHead from my local Best Buy. Typically, I would have done my internet research prior to a purchase like this, but this was an emergency buy, my sis was in town and she wanted to play dammit.This purchase was not too upsetting as I felt pretty fortunate to have had my OEM pedal last almost 1.5 years, while many people have reported failures in less that a month of rigorous use. The Blockhead pedal worked great, which is more than I can say for the terrible sound dampening pads that were also included in the Hit Kit...they are officially worthless, unless you like missing drum strikes that were unmistakably hit. However, after 3 sessions, the pedal broke and as I did not save my receipt I am forced into a situation where I do 1 of 3 things:
1. Fix my existing rock band pedal with a machined metal plate (which you can easily find on eBay) or for free with butter knives and Duck tape:
2. Buy a new kit, either the stand alone Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour kits look good, although not as quite as good as the hefty Ion drum kit pictured here.
or lastly the option I am going to try
3. Add the pedal from the Portable Rock Band Drum Kit from Mad Catz.
Reviews from Kotaku and IGN both describe the pedal as well built and having a smaller rise than the OEM. Additionally, some dude has used velcro to attach the pads from the kit to the original rig, effectively making it much more sensitive and far more ghetto.
So...I am off to Best Buy to pick this thing up, I will update this later with impressions and answers to the all important questions: how much fake instumentation can you fit in a living room.
Update: I purchased the portable drum kit from Mad Catz and plugged in the drum pedal to my RB1 kit. It worked like a charm, feels very sturdy under foot, and it's low rise really decreases legs strain compared to the original pedal. On the downside it has no traction padding on the bottom, resulting in slippage across the floor upon vigorous play. I put it on the rug, which solves the problem but may not always be a suitable solution for everyone. My verdict is buy it if you can find it for a decent price (20$ from on sale at Best Buy), it will solve your woes and prevent future snapped pedals.
