(Why yes, this is a random pointless question…)
Lately I’ve been listening lately to a lot of '70s rock and '80s punk. It seems like some of the drummers hold hold the bass drum a little more loosely to the beat. You really don’t want to hear me try to play, but when I noodled around on friend’s drums it seemed that the Speed Kings kind of “wanted” to swing the beat. The chain or strap drives were more accurate but didn’t have the personality.
I guess the question is, is it easier to swing the beat with a Speed King than it is with, say, an Iron Cobra? Yeah, the Speed Kings were sloppy, but were they better for certain styles?
I’m not a drummer, but I do own and occasionally play a drum set. I am a guitar/bass player, who has played with the same drummer for a long time. We’re like an old married couple. While I’ll usually happily play any backline or supplied bass if that’s how the show is being run, he wants to play his kit.
Now, he has an unusual kit, and it does have a particular sound, but most of it doesn’t really affect how one plays. He uses a Speed King pedal. Once it was left behind at a show, and was never found again, so I loaned him my chain drive pedal. He didn’t become a worse drummer, but the feel was different. Saying that he swung the beat differently (and complained about that pedal the whole time) would probably be an accurate description.
I bought him a replacement SpeedKing, and used it for a week before I handed it over to him. I’m not good enough to say it actually improved my drumming, but it did have it’s own bounce to it that was different from any chain or strap pedal I’d used. After it was under my drummer’s foot again, he was back to his old self.
So, there’s probably something to your theory.