Another Rack Thread

Jessiah331

Jessiah331

Senior Member
Yup, its another one. I've searched around and haven't found a straight answer to my question, so I thought I'd pop it off to you guys and find out!

I'm pretty much sold on the idea of a rack. I've got too many cymbals and misc percussion (not to mention four rack toms) so I've decided that its time. I just have to set up the set and break it down on the same stage every week, so size, weight, transport, etc doesn't mean much.

So I've noticed that the big two are Gibraltar and Pearl (ruling out the $600 Yamaha). I have two bass drums. I've found a really sweet deal on a Pearl ICON but all three sides are straight (not curved) Does anyone have any experience with using straight bars over your bass drums (vs curved) Does it really change anything, pros/cons, etc?

Thanks in advance!!!
-Jess
 
Long before curved bars came out, there were only straight bars..

It works for a lot of drummers including Todd Sucherman.....
 
you could do what i did and hunt the net for chrome tubing and cut costs. my rack was made from chrome plated tubes used for stair rails, they had curved and straight for $1 a foot or something like that but the tubing for a 4 sided double bass rack cost me around $50 bucks then i just bought gibraltar clamps and connectors to build it. total it cost me less then a 2 sided gibraltar rack, looks exactly the same and realy didn't take that much time to cut the tubes.
 
azrae1l said:
you could do what i did and hunt the net for chrome tubing and cut costs. my rack was made from chrome plated tubes used for stair rails, they had curved and straight for $1 a foot or something like that but the tubing for a 4 sided double bass rack cost me around $50 bucks then i just bought gibraltar clamps and connectors to build it. total it cost me less then a 2 sided gibraltar rack, looks exactly the same and realy didn't take that much time to cut the tubes.
Click to expand...

Honestly I thought about this, but I did my homework. The tubes for the rack are cheap, really cheap (even if I bought the Gibraltar ones) Where racks get expensive is for all of the clamps to hold them together.

Example, I was looking at building a three sided Gibraltar mock-up, the tubes (legs included) would have cost me about $50. For the clamps to mount the bars to the legs, and the legs to the bars would have cost me almost $200. That's more than I'd be getting this ICON for, so that's why I thought I'd take the steal.

And latz thanks for the good point. I guess with the success of all of those early racks they couldn't have been THAT wrong! I'm just gonna go out on a limb and guess that there really isn't a big difference between straight and curved bars.
 
Get the straight bars to go over the bass drums. I've got a double decker ICON rack with 2 straight sides and 2 curved sides and with the curved sides over the bass drums in front, the whole rack is too damn wide, even though i have 5 rack toms across the front. I moved the rack around and now i have the straight bars in front and the curved ones on the sides and i love it that way (i actually added a 6" mini spacer bar in the middle to get more of a symmetrical arrangement).

Here's the same discussion with pics of what i'm talking about:
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58715&highlight=curved+ICON
 
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It's funny, I have a curved icon rack that I'm selling. I play double bass and have found that the rack is more of a pain in the ass than it's worth. I play gigs on small stages and have less flexibility in my setup with a rack than if I used stands and hung toms off of them, or used the kick drums to hold the tom arms, etc.

I play 3 rack toms, 3 crashes 2 chinas and a splash, 2 bass drums, 2 floor toms, ride, hh.
 
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stabmasterarson said:
It's funny, I have a curved icon rack that I'm selling. I play double bass and have found that the rack is more of a pain in the ass than it's worth. I play gigs on small stages and have less flexibility in my setup with a rack than if I used stands and hung toms off of them, or used the kick drums to hold the tom arms, etc.

I play 3 rack toms, 3 crashes 2 chinas and a splash, 2 bass drums, 2 floor toms, ride, hh.
Click to expand...

You should look into a levelrack where you can keep your setup the same and have a very small footprint. My Voelker rack has a footprint of 4' x 5'. On this rack are 2 kicks, 3 rack toms, 4 floors, 21 cymbals (8 crashes, 4 chinas, 2 hihats, 2 rides, 4 splashes, and a bell), 10 electronic pads, and a snare. I could add more if I wanted. I never have to worry about changing my setup. My kit is always the same and takes up less room on stage than most 5 pc kits.
 
Jessiah331 said:
So I've noticed that the big two are Gibraltar and Pearl (ruling out the $600 Yamaha).
Click to expand...

Don't rule the Yamaha out 'cause they just dropped the price to $249, at GC.
 
I have three toms and three cymbals on a Pearl Straight rack. You can use the clamps and arms to move the toms into a curved looking set up. I'll post a picture when I get home if you wish.
 
harryconway said:
Don't rule the Yamaha out 'cause they just dropped the price to $249, at GC.
Click to expand...

I couldn't find it for that price... Have a link?

latzanimal said:
You should look into a levelrack where you can keep your setup the same and have a very small footprint. My Voelker rack has a footprint of 4' x 5'. On this rack are 2 kicks, 3 rack toms, 4 floors, 21 cymbals (8 crashes, 4 chinas, 2 hihats, 2 rides, 4 splashes, and a bell), 10 electronic pads, and a snare. I could add more if I wanted. I never have to worry about changing my setup. My kit is always the same and takes up less room on stage than most 5 pc kits.
Click to expand...

A little bit more drums/accessories than I have. Footprint isn't the problem either, as I'm always in larger venues, and have a smaller, separate kit for when I'm not playing larger places. Problem is setup time with the stands/clamps that I'm using now.

GRUNTERSDAD said:
I have three toms and three cymbals on a Pearl Straight rack. You can use the clamps and arms to move the toms into a curved looking set up. I'll post a picture when I get home if you wish.
Click to expand...

That sound a LOT like what I'm doing now. While it is nice to have minimal stands touching the floor, it takes way too long to set up. The main advantages of that (small footprint, easy to transport) aren't really problems for me any more. Though I would like to see how you get three toms off a stand... The most I have is two toms, a crash, and two splashes off of any one stand.



Thanks for everyone's input, I still haven't bought anything yet, so keep the good ideas coming. And as a side note, I am listening to thoughts and inputs, I'm not a "I'll only be happy with situation B" type of person.
 
latzanimal said:
Long before curved bars came out, there were only straight bars..

It works for a lot of drummers including Todd Sucherman.....
Click to expand...

Said it all,
I have a straight pearl icon (3 sided) and its great i dont think the extra money is worth getting a curved one apart from if you paramount on the asthetics of your kit.
 
SharkyBait911 said:
Said it all,
I have a straight pearl icon (3 sided) and its great i dont think the extra money is worth getting a curved one apart from if you paramount on the asthetics of your kit.
Click to expand...

Got the three sided straight ICON. It's broken down in the corner, when I get the clamps middle of next week I'll have some pics up in the appropriate thread.

Thanks for all the input!
 
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