Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Guitar Amps
  • Plugin Week 25
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Artist news
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • Drums
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • You Oughta Know
  • Fake AI band
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Wrecking Crew
Recommended reading
A collection of single and double Tama Iron Cobra pedals on a silver corrugated metal sheet
Drum Pedals Best bass drum pedals 2025: single and double bass pedals for every budget
DW SonicPly
Drum Gear Neil Peart called him 'the Wood Whisperer' and now he's blended metal and timber in DW's new SonicPly shells
Darkglass Electronics Anagram Bass Workstation: The new multi-effects unit for bass guitar has a sleek design with a touchscreen and 6 high-resolution endless rotary knobs for fine-tuning each parameter.
Bass Guitars Darkglass unveils multi-effects for bass with neural amp model support and 7” touchscreen
Roland DrumLink
Drum Gear Roland's V-Drums go wireless for new simple and seamless WT-10 sensor and DH-10 hub DrumLink system
Alesis Strata Club
Drum Gear With the same mesh-head playability and powerful new Strata module as its bigger brothers, Alesis Strata Club brings a new compact form to its best-selling range
Sleep Token
Drums “We tried it as a laugh and now it’s our standard setup”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
DrumCraft Urban Beats
Drum Kits “A good-looking kit which won’t break the bank”: DrumCraft Urban Beats review
  1. Drums

In Pictures: Tama unveils new Speed Cobra

News
By Rich Chamberlain published 30 June 2010

Drum giant reveals all about its latest bass pedal

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Tama's Speed Cobra

Tama's Speed Cobra

Picking up where the popular Iron Cobra left off, the new pedal has taken up the challenge of improving (as its name suggests) pedal speed without loosing that all important power. Tama has attempted to tackle this thanks to all manner of new innovations and clever tweaks. We haven't played one yet, but it certainly looks like a clever piece of kit. Click through our gallery to see the new pedal in all its glory.

Page 1 of 7
Page 1 of 7
Speed Cobra Fast Foot

Speed Cobra Fast Foot

Tama has tinkered with the length of the foot board, making it slightly longer than you'll find on the Iron Cobra. In doing so, Tama claims they have increased precision by reducing friction between your foot and the pedal.

Page 2 of 7
Page 2 of 7
Speed Cobra Fastball

Speed Cobra Fastball

Another key tweak is the addition of the Fastball bearing (designed to ensure your pedal stays up to the task, no matter how hard you play) and LiteSprocket. The latter is 40 percent lighter than its Iron Cobra counterpart, allowing a smoother action, which gets the thumbs up from us.

Page 3 of 7
Page 3 of 7
Speed Cobra Paraclamp II

Speed Cobra Paraclamp II

In a case of evolution rather than revolution, the Paraclamp II helps keep your Cobra absolutely rock steady no matter what angle you set it at. Its side-tightening lock also means that you don't need to prod your fingers underneath the clamp, which is a nice touch.

Page 4 of 7
Page 4 of 7
Speed Cobra Oiles

Speed Cobra Oiles

According to Tama, the Cobra's Oiles offer greater durability than your average bearing hinges, thus reducing side-to-side movement. This shouldn't come as a great surprise as we're informed that similar technology is used by the aerospace industry.

Page 5 of 7
Page 5 of 7
Speed Cobra Beater

Speed Cobra Beater

As if that wasn’t reason enough to get your feet twitching, Tama has also worked on boosting projection and resonance with its Projector Beater, which has a convexed beater head, while all kinds of tweaks have been made to further improve the pedal’s playability.

Page 6 of 7
Page 6 of 7
Speed Cobra Double pedal

Speed Cobra Double pedal

And of course, Tama couldn't follow up the Iron Cobra (which has been adopted by metallers around the globe) without conjuring a double pedal version too. And here it is in all its glory. We can't wait to get our hands (well, feet) on one.

The pedals should be available around September. Keep your eyes peeled to Rhythm for a full review of both pedals later in the year. Is this the most versatile pedal on the market? As soon as we've had a go we'll let you know. For more info visit www.tamadrum.com

Page 7 of 7
Page 7 of 7
Rich Chamberlain
Rich Chamberlain

Rich is a teacher, one time Rhythm staff writer and experienced freelance journalist who has interviewed countless revered musicians, engineers, producers and stars for the our world-leading music making portfolio, including such titles as Rhythm, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, and MusicRadar. His victims include such luminaries as Ice T, Mark Guilani and Jamie Oliver (the drumming one).

Read more
A collection of single and double Tama Iron Cobra pedals on a silver corrugated metal sheet
Best bass drum pedals 2025: single and double bass pedals for every budget
DW SonicPly
Neil Peart called him 'the Wood Whisperer' and now he's blended metal and timber in DW's new SonicPly shells
Darkglass Electronics Anagram Bass Workstation: The new multi-effects unit for bass guitar has a sleek design with a touchscreen and 6 high-resolution endless rotary knobs for fine-tuning each parameter.
Darkglass unveils multi-effects for bass with neural amp model support and 7” touchscreen
Roland DrumLink
Roland's V-Drums go wireless for new simple and seamless WT-10 sensor and DH-10 hub DrumLink system
Alesis Strata Club
With the same mesh-head playability and powerful new Strata module as its bigger brothers, Alesis Strata Club brings a new compact form to its best-selling range
Sleep Token
“We tried it as a laugh and now it’s our standard setup”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
Latest in Drums
Millenium Drums Legendary Drumbook
“An extremely well-thought-out and all-encompassing piece of drum education”: Millenium Legendary Drumbook review
Man jams with a guitar player and bass player on an electronic drum kit
These huge drum deals at Sweetwater are about to disappear – here’s your last chance to bag up to 60% off electronic drums, cymbals, sticks and more
Alesis Strata Club
“There is no question that there’s enough quality audio here to cater for every musical taste and presents a massive amount of editing options”: Alesis Strata Club review
Sleep Token drummer II Drumeo
“I’ve taken inspiration from the UK dance music scene": Mixwave put Sleep Token’s drummer in a plugin
DW SonicPly
Neil Peart called him 'the Wood Whisperer' and now he's blended metal and timber in DW's new SonicPly shells
Sleep Token
“We tried it as a laugh and now it’s our standard setup”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
Latest in News
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
Ozzy Osbourne
“The greatest day in the history of metal”: Black Sabbath’s final mega-gig raised £140m for charity
David Guetta
David Guetta says he’s never played a pre-recorded DJ set, and can’t understand why anyone would think he has
Blackstar ID:X 50: The new combo from the British amp titan is described as "this is the most natural-sounding" modelling amp on the market.
Blackstar unveils ID-X combos – complete with 6 amp voices, over 35 effects, CabRig and OLED display
The Gibson Les Paul Music City Special – 50th Anniversary is a limited edition hybrid that combines the old Marauder and Music City Junior, and offers them in wine, tobacco sunburst and ebony finishes.
Gibson celebrates 50 years in Nashville with limited run twist on a cult electric played by KISS
PRS SE NF 53: the super-versatile bolt-on electric gets a long-awaited SE release, and here all three finish options – White Dog Hair, Black Dog Hair and Pearl White – are photographed in front of a pair of PRS half-stacks.
PRS remixes its NF 53 for the SE line – and it's a serious workhorse electric for under a grand

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...