I recently had to send my original USB hub back since the power connector never make a power connection, forcing me to jimmy it to stay on. Shortly after sending the bad hub back, my kick pedal snapped. Since EA didn’t clear my hub return, I was unable to initialize a new warranty claim on-line (I’m so glad they extended the warranty till Oct. ’08!!!). I called EA support to ensure the hub arrived and said I need to request a new pedal stating this is my second request for a new one. I asked what are they doing regarding this issue? The response? “We’ve been suggesting people buy a metal reinforcement plate to strengthen the pedal”. Are you kidding me?! I knew this from other gaming sites, but I chucked at that statement and asked if this will be addressed for Rock Band 2 and if warranty replacements will be getting the newer pedal. “We haven’t been authorized to do that yet.” I was again encouraged to purchase a 3rd party add-on. Silly.

So doing some digging I found a number of plate options, the best being on eBay. I stumbled across pedalmetals.com (sells on eBay), but didn’t like the non-flush screws (the flush plates were a few bucks more), plus $6 shipping is a bit much. So found some real nice plates from eBay ID: 68rrman with flush screws and some cool designs for $14 + $4s/h. So I ordered one to reinforce my fresh pedal. I don’t want to be stuck replacing my drums or ordering a new pedal any time soon. October is just around the corner.