Favorite drum/hardware innovation

drumdevil9

Platinum Member
What is your favorite innovation, invention, or improvement in the area of drums, hardware, etc.? Get as specific as you want.

1. The disappearing boom. I think it was pioneered by Yamaha but am not sure. Very handy feature.

2. Self muffled bass drum heads (with the inner ring). First introduced by Evans with their EQ series of heads. Revolutionized the bass drum head in my opinion. I never went back to the old heads.

3. multi-clamp. Add more stuff without all the stands. What's not to love?
 
In addition to those already posted, I think the "non-telescoping" bass drum spur was a wonderful idea that Pearl came up with. I think up until then, everybody's bass drum spurs passed through the shell and held in place by a wing nut that would eventually strip out of the bracket designed to hold it in place. Here comes Pearl with a design that has certainly eliminated the stripping part, and going quite a ways to eliminating bass drum creep.
 
My current favorite would have to be the quick release cymbal nut. Now that's a time saver and slick to have especially when you have alot of pies up there.
 
1. Remote Hi-Hats and bass pedals. I have not used a straight hi-hat in 13 years, nor have I crossed hands.

2. Cymbal Stackers.

3. Crimped Collar Heads

4. Bass Drum Cradles: This one gets windy.
I prefer the DW version, but Danmar makes one as well. I like the idea of getting everything off of the drum and letting it be itself. We have racks for the toms and cymbals, so I don't miss mounting toms on the bass. Contrarily, cradles allow ANYTHING to be a bass drum, something I would have greatly appreciated when I was a kid trying to make a compact bass drum out of my 16" floor tom.

Also, I avoid using my bass drums as laundry baskets, so yes...tone does matter to me in some situations:)

Edit: This was post #400 for me. Perfect excuse to have a party!
 
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On top of what is mentioned in other posts, to which I agree totally, I believe that the R.I.M.S. system introduced in early 80's has set the standard for drums manufacturing, all brands are using a similar system to allow free resonnance of the drum shells.
 
1. Ball joints for toms

2. Ball joints for cymbals. Mapex are the only ones I know of but I'm sure there are others doing it.

3. Mapex Saturn/Orion tom and kick mounts - can be moved to any section of the drum as they mount under the lugs.

4. Memory locks :)
 
1. Ball joints for toms

2. Ball joints for cymbals. Mapex are the only ones I know of but I'm sure there are others doing it.

3. Mapex Saturn/Orion tom and kick mounts - can be moved to any section of the drum as they mount under the lugs.

4. Memory locks :)

We can all thank the unknown engineers at Rogers Drums for the memory lock idea. Unfortunately, I think the story is that Rogers didn't patent the idea and some overseas company (perhaps Pearl) copied it, and then it started, well, you know....
 
Im gonna say the advances in drum mics and recording technology. Drums sound so much more amazing nowadays compared to the past. The days of Bonham weren't exactly the prominent time for drum recording technology lol. I love beefy beautiful drums that sound so much more than meets the eye and ear. I LOVED the sound of my drums that our producer pushed out while in the studio!
 
All felt bass drum beaters. Strap drive pedals. Pre-yess Yamaha tom arms. DW cymbal stand tilters. Yamaha tom holder/cymbal arm ..."thingys" ..and whoever decided to stop laquer coating drumsticks, or what ever they were coated with . And clear heads,and Emad.
 
Im gonna say the advances in drum mics and recording technology. Drums sound so much more amazing nowadays compared to the past. The days of Bonham weren't exactly the prominent time for drum recording technology lol. I love beefy beautiful drums that sound so much more than meets the eye and ear. I LOVED the sound of my drums that our producer pushed out while in the studio!

I agree with this. But it wasn't just the drummers who benefited from the newer and better technology.

Although, as much as I like how easy it is to get decent sounds these days because of the new technology, to be able to get as good a sound as Bonham got back in the day still eludes many of us (and you'd think you'd be able to at least replicate it given how much better everything is these days). We get great sounds today - whether or not anyone will remember them or associate the sound with the guy who played it is something entirely different.
 
All the stuff mentioned above is great except for nude drumsticks. They just fly out of my hands.

I don't know exactly what it's called, but, the mechanism of tightening a stand by squeezing a sleeve of some sort instead of just screwing a bolt against the tubing.

I don't understand why the tilter mechanism off of modern snare or cymbal stands has not migrated over to mic boom stands. The tilters on those are always slipping.
 
In addition to those already posted, I think the "non-telescoping" bass drum spur was a wonderful idea that Pearl came up with. I think up until then, everybody's bass drum spurs passed through the shell and held in place by a wing nut that would eventually strip out of the bracket designed to hold it in place. Here comes Pearl with a design that has certainly eliminated the stripping part, and going quite a ways to eliminating bass drum creep.

Agreed! Good one.

Ball joints for cymbals. Mapex are the only ones I know of but I'm sure there are others doing it.

I have a Gibraltar with a ball tilter. I don't think they make it any more though. It's a bit too bulky. I like the Mapex design better.
 
"toothless" cymbal tilters, the iron cobra, block and stave construction drum shells, steambent shells, the emad, and this:

Kimmel-Kit-790547.jpg
 
"toothless" cymbal tilters, the iron cobra, block and stave construction drum shells, steambent shells, the emad, and this:

Kimmel-Kit-790547.jpg

Agreed with the toothless tilters. Especially on a snare stand. I can never seem to get the right angle with a toothed snare stand.

Beautiful kit!
 
Mylar drum heads.The calf skin sounded very nice but were sometimes a real pain because they were prone greatly to temperature and humidity fluctuations. I remember that after my dad or me played the kit, we would totally take the tension off the skins so they would not prematurely stretch. It was almost like re heading the drums every time you wanted to play them. It actually taught me how to effectively tune drums at a young age.

Most of you on this forum probably never really experienced playing real skins, lol. It was an eye opener.

Dennis
 
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