Anyone Else Uneasy About RIMS-type mounts?

PreppieNerd

PreppieNerd

Silver Member
To me they seem flimsy, and while there's not necessarily a lot of weight resting on it, the pressure on the tension rods judt doesn't make sense to me. Granted, to each his own, no one is telling me I have to have them (and I don't) and I'm sure there's plenty of folks who have them and love them with no problems, but what's the real appeal? What makes any sense at all to you about them?
 
hmmm...They seem to be pretty sturdy and well built. I don't see a huge difference in resonance though in Rims vs. internal mounts.
 
I don't care for them. I don't think that there is anything wrong with them. I don't think that they hurt the lugs or anything like that. I just like good old solid mounts. I don't like suspended floor toms either. I'll be honest, I can't tell the difference in the sound with Rims mounts. I also can't tell the diff in the sound of a virgin bass drum from a bass with toms hanging on it. I don't like rack systems either (unless you have 12 drums and 10 cymbals). To much stuff to move around if you only play a 5 piece kit with 5 cymbals. Im just old fashioned I guess!
 
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As somebody who has experience and has experimented with this very thing, I can say that it DOES make a difference in the sound, and they are plenty sturdy, as long as you don't mind your tom having some "play".

The sound difference has a lot to do with the drum itself. Actually, I think it might have to do with taking off the mounting hardware itself. I got a 1970 Ludwig downbeat, and I didn't want to mount the 12" tom on the 20" kick drum, for fear of unreliable older hardware and possibly causing the shell to go out-of-round. So, I bought a RIMS-style mount and a tom clamp that attaches to a stand. When I first tried it out, I thought, "Well, there's a little more resonance." I then decided to take off the tom mount, because it was unnecessary. When I played the tom after that, it made a HUGE difference. Since then, I've tried this with other kits that have passed through my hands (strictly for curiosity's sake), and it usually always seems to make a big difference. But, if you take a cheap luann tom and try it out, you won't hear much difference. Just like if you take the toms off of a bass drum that has an EMAD or PS3 or a pillow in it, you won't hear a difference.

The draw for me to use it is being able to be much more flexible with positioning, it stops the choking of the drum that's caused by using an on-the-shell mount, and it lightens the hardware load when moving the kit around (stand-mountable tom clamps are MUCH smaller than the mounts used to mount the tom to a bass drum). It's a win-win-win situation for me.
 
PreppieNerd said:
What makes any sense at all to you about them?
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I love Yamaha mounts/hardware. All my RIMS have Yamaha tom mounts on 'em. So, from there, I can run virtually any drum (Gretsch, Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers, Roto-Tom) using the "modular" system I've set up. The drums, they come and go. The RIMS, they're mine. It's worked well, for me, for 15+ years.
 
The bass drum's resonance doesn't really change that much (though a virgin bass drum is beautiful), but the tom's resonance changes a whole bunch. Any sort of extra hardware on the tom kills its sound. For a test, try putting your tom in a snare stand. You'll notice the resonance dies off considerably. Now, whether this matters or not depends on the drummer who owns the kit.

RIMS mounts don't put any strain on rack toms, and provided your tension rods are not really moldy wood from China, then they should hold up fine. I wouldn't mount floor toms on RIMS though, just personal preference.
 
PreppieNerd said:
To me they seem flimsy, and while there's not necessarily a lot of weight resting on it, the pressure on the tension rods judt doesn't make sense to me. Granted, to each his own, no one is telling me I have to have them (and I don't) and I'm sure there's plenty of folks who have them and love them with no problems, but what's the real appeal? What makes any sense at all to you about them?
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They have been on the market for over what, 20 years now? There is no danger to the lugs or anything else. The appeal the drum sustains longer because there is nothing mounted on the shell to dampen it.
 
No problem with sturdiness, like TheArchitect says, they've been around a long time, millions of gigs played, etc.

I'd simply add that the Pearl optimounts are also quite good. A tiny smidge less sustain than the RIMs type, but on the other hand the toms don't bounce around at all, which I like.

Also, most RIMS are fugly IMO and the optis are less obtrusive.

Now that the manufacturers are giving drummers all this sustain, there's a huge industry in pre-muffled heads, various gadgets, and muffling goo pads to take it away again. Amazing.
 
No uneasiness about them here, and frankly it stumps me that anyone is concerned. I thought it was a great product when it first hit the market and I think it still is. It definitely makes drums sing better, and it's reliability is beyond reproach. Some are designed better than others, for sure, but I think they all improve the drums sound by an equal amount. I like Tama's design the best, they dont rely on tension rods.
 
I have genuine gauger RIMS mounts and love them. I don't notice much difference in sound. I like the appearance and I like to minimize the amount of hardware bolted to my drums, the number of holes drilled through the shells and the stress on the shells. Suspension mounts work well for that. I personally think drums look better with suspension mounts and when the're mounted on stands, so the bass drum can remain virgin. I even have my floor tom suspended.
 
PreppieNerd said:
To me they seem flimsy, and while there's not necessarily a lot of weight resting on it, the pressure on the tension rods judt doesn't make sense to me. Granted, to each his own, no one is telling me I have to have them (and I don't) and I'm sure there's plenty of folks who have them and love them with no problems, but what's the real appeal? What makes any sense at all to you about them?
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I began using them about 20 years ago. I still have a few. I never once had a problem.
 
harryconway said:
I love Yamaha mounts/hardware. All my RIMS have Yamaha tom mounts on 'em. So, from there, I can run virtually any drum (Gretsch, Ludwig, Slingerland, Rogers, Roto-Tom) using the "modular" system I've set up. The drums, they come and go. The RIMS, they're mine. It's worked well, for me, for 15+ years.
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Harry, would it be possible to get a close-up photo of your set up with the Yamaha/Rims ?
It sounds promising...
 
drumtechdad said:
No problem with sturdiness, like TheArchitect says, they've been around a long time, millions of gigs played, etc.

I'd simply add that the Pearl optimounts are also quite good. A tiny smidge less sustain than the RIMs type, but on the other hand the toms don't bounce around at all, which I like.

Also, most RIMS are fugly IMO and the optis are less obtrusive.

Now that the manufacturers are giving drummers all this sustain, there's a huge industry in pre-muffled heads, various gadgets, and muffling goo pads to take it away again. Amazing.
Click to expand...

I've used both extensively and much prefer Pearl Optimounts. Most people don't use them *correctly* which is why they can choke the drum in some cases.

Most guys make the mistake of squeezing the Optimount down onto the lugs and locking it there. This chokes the drum noticeably, IMO.

If you open it up and lock it in at the point where the rubber gaskets rest against the hoop on top, and the lug inserts on the bottom, it's golden. At this point they sound every bit as good as if you were using a RIMS device but the tom is much more stable due to the bottom AND the top being held.

See here:

http://www.pearldrummersforum.com/showthread.php?t=150059
 
zambizzi said:
I've used both extensively and much prefer Pearl Optimounts. Most people don't use them *correctly* which is why they can choke the drum in some cases.

Most guys make the mistake of squeezing the Optimount down onto the lugs and locking it there. This chokes the drum noticeably, IMO.

If you open it up and lock it in at the point where the rubber gaskets rest against the hoop on top, and the lug inserts on the bottom, it's golden. At this point they sound every bit as good as if you were using a RIMS device but the tom is much more stable due to the bottom AND the top being held.

See here:

http://www.pearldrummersforum.com/showthread.php?t=150059
Click to expand...

You are correct, sir! Optimounts do not come with instructions, just pictograms on the box. Unfortunately the pictograms imply that the two parts of the opti should be pressed together before locking. As you say, it's much better to leave a little slack, and in fact this is how the Pearl guys set them up at shows.
 
I had the RIMS system on my rack tom, I loved it, it really did let the tom sing alot more. . I have recently switched to puttin it on a snare tho only because i love the sturdiness of the snare stand and as mentioned before its alot easier to change the heads without the RIMS . . .but other than that they are a great product. . be careful tho if you have hard cases and than you add RIMS cause it may be a tight fit. . in which case it can throw you drums out of round if left in there to long. . .
 
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