Drum racks or drum stands/mounted

Nick G.

Senior Member
so, im looking into getting a new kit and was wondering on a few things

ive never actually played with a rack so i dono what there like maybe u guys could help??


what i thought was:

rack: easier to use, better placement but more expensive and takes more space??

can u guys fill me in?? + all the stuff i would need to purchase with a rack and any decent racks to look into, for a single bass drum kit with about 3-4 high toms and 2 floor toms and numerous cymbals


also the pros and cons of each would be great :)

Thanks
 
Well it also depends how many cymbals/drums are you going to put in your rack; if they're quite a lot believe me is easier to use the rack and it doesn't take as much space as stands, but i repeat it depends on how many things are you going to use, also with the rack you get more free space in the ground letting you move your drums easier, if you get a rack i suggest you to get a round one because of the flexibility you get.
 
Well it also depends how many cymbals/drums are you going to put in your rack; if they're quite a lot believe me is easier to use the rack and it doesn't take as much space as stands, but i repeat it depends on how many things are you going to use, also with the rack you get more free space in the ground letting you move your drums easier, if you get a rack i suggest you to get a round one because of the flexibility you get.

could you suggest any?

ive looked at a couple on ebay but none that really stand out

my max budget is £250 but thats pushing it
second hand is fine ofc


im planning on having 4 toms on the middle line, 2 toms on the right hand side
and i dono what on the left hand^^
and maybe 10 cymbals? if not a few less

maybe a 2 sided one would be ok?
 
could you suggest any?

my max budget is £250 but thats pushing it

Don't actually know how much is that but that's quite a very good budget i think.

im planning on having 4 toms on the middle line, 2 toms on the right hand side
and i dono what on the left hand^^
and maybe 10 cymbals? if not a few less

Well you definitely need a rack, maybe you can try with some of the PDP series? there's a package that may work for you, it's a 2 sided rack and you can mount up to 5 toms and
2 cymabals you'd need to get another tom mount and more cymbal arms though i think it would be like 500US$ dont know if that fits your budget.
 
I have just sold my drum rack, and I'm moving back to stands. The rack was great and rock solid, but cumbersome to set up and heavy to transport. I only have a 5-piece kit with 5 cymbals, so in the end it seemed like a bit of an overkill for me.

There were definite advantages to a rack setup though: Small footpring, consistent placement, rock solid setup were things I really enjoyed. However, I found it more limiting than I thought when it came to placements and heights, so it wasn't the ulitmate solution that I'd imagined.
 
Don't actually know how much is that but that's quite a very good budget i think.



Well you definitely need a rack, maybe you can try with some of the PDP series? there's a package that may work for you, it's a 2 sided rack and you can mount up to 5 toms and
2 cymabals you'd need to get another tom mount and more cymbal arms though i think it would be like 500US$ dont know if that fits your budget.

$500 is about £350 which is a bit too much
£250 is pushing it^^
ill look into it though

ive found some pearl racks but im not sure whether they would fit all kits? or just pearl?

I have just sold my drum rack, and I'm moving back to stands. The rack was great and rock solid, but cumbersome to set up and heavy to transport. I only have a 5-piece kit with 5 cymbals, so in the end it seemed like a bit of an overkill for me.

There were definite advantages to a rack setup though: Small footpring, consistent placement, rock solid setup were things I really enjoyed. However, I found it more limiting than I thought when it came to placements and heights, so it wasn't the ulitmate solution that I'd imagined.

thanks, im still in the early stages of drumming (only 5 years)
so im still working on finding the setup thats good for me

id really appreciate a few links/model #'s of racks to look into
 
Racks are 100% easier when it comes to getting your drums and cymbals exactly where you want them, especially with a larger kit. If you have a double bass,kit of a bunch of toms, a rack is the way to go. I love my Tama rack.

That said, when I was gigging a lot, I went back to a 5pc, and I had to go back to stands for three reasons:

1) Too many stages are not level, and an un-level stage really throws an entire rack off, while stands are more forgiving.

2) To get off a stage in a hurry, it takes at least two people to move a rack quickly, which meant always trying to get someone to help. With stands, I could make a few quick trips and get everything off stage myself.

3) few places the stage was just too dang small for a rack!
 
Racks are 100% easier when it comes to getting your drums and cymbals exactly where you want them, especially with a larger kit. If you have a double bass,kit of a bunch of toms, a rack is the way to go. I love my Tama rack.

That said, when I was gigging a lot, I went back to a 5pc, and I had to go back to stands for three reasons:

1) Too many stages are not level, and an un-level stage really throws an entire rack off, while stands are more forgiving.

2) To get off a stage in a hurry, it takes at least two people to move a rack quickly, which meant always trying to get someone to help. With stands, I could make a few quick trips and get everything off stage myself.

3) few places the stage was just too dang small for a rack!

well as im only 16, and no proper band (just yet, its being worked on :D)
im not gigging that often, so the main venues im playing at is theatres with school/city big bands

do all racks fit all drums??


this is one ive found:

http://www.drum-stop.co.uk/pearl_dr80_3_sided_rack-pa-112.html
 
The DR-80 is nice enough, but it has a few drawbacks. The main one is that the crossbars are fixed, which means you can't adjust them up or down. I'd recommend you spend a bit more and get a Gibraltar Road Series or a Pearl ICON rack.

would the icon be something that later in my drumming would need to get updated?

ive found it for £269, just about in my price range
but i dont really wana find that a few years down the line once i havea job etc, im gonna have to buy a new one


thats the main reason i looked at a cheaper one


also, could someone tell me about compatibility?

will any rack fit any kit?
 
I have a Pearl Icon and am glad I bought it. the footprint is smaller than the stands I use to use, The drums stay where I put them and don't move much when I play. To rack or not would depend on the size of kit you are buying. I have three rack toms and four cymbals on mine. If you plan on buying less you may want to spend the money on other things.
 
I have a Pearl Icon and am glad I bought it. the footprint is smaller than the stands I use to use, The drums stay where I put them and don't move much when I play. To rack or not would depend on the size of kit you are buying. I have three rack toms and four cymbals on mine. If you plan on buying less you may want to spend the money on other things.

well the kit ive been looking at comes with
8", 10", 12", 13" normal toms - im thinking biggest 3 on the middle bar 8" on the left of hi hats
14", 16" floor tom - on the right hand side
22" bass drum - in the middle^^

at the moment, i have hihats, 2 crashes, 2 rides, 1 splash, 1 china
but i am thinking of upgrading my cymbal collection which will reduce me to 1 ride but perhaps 3 crashes


would this fit the icon?
 
Well, I think that if you currently have stands, you should not upgrade to a rack untill you have the kit sounding as you want it to. That's the most important. Don't buy a rack if you have 302 hihats, buy hats first for example. If you have the perfect sound for everything, it's time to invest in hardware I think. Unless your current stuff isn't sturdy enough to hold it anymore offcourse.
 
Well, I think that if you currently have stands, you should not upgrade to a rack untill you have the kit sounding as you want it to. That's the most important. Don't buy a rack if you have 302 hihats, buy hats first for example. If you have the perfect sound for everything, it's time to invest in hardware I think. Unless your current stuff isn't sturdy enough to hold it anymore offcourse.

thats very clever thinking :p

its irritating because im split between paiste signatures, a/k zildjians, or hh/hhx/aa/aax sabians


i know people will say go for the sound you like but i have slight ocd over what im looking at when i play
 
If you bought the iCon with the sides it would fit well. I have only the front bar on my set.
 

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Thought I would toss this into the mix...

Many of us started out lugging our entire 7-8-9 + piece kits around to every gig (add the requisite 10 + cymbals and you have a real monster on your hands). Sometimes the music we played needed it, sometimes it was just 'cool'. Many of us no longer lug that many pieces around to *every* or even most gigs. The simplicity of a small and light 'gigging' kit is a wonderful thing to behold and I highly recommend everyone at least consider it and whether it would work for them.

Now, regarding racks...

Frank0072 made one of the best posts on this subject I've seen. Don't invest in a rack if you already have stands and still need core components like cymbals, pedal\s, heads, sticks or what not. The rack should be part of an evolution of your kit. In my opinion, as bad as things might be 'out there' I've never not been able to play a gig because I didn't have a rack. It may have been easier, but it certainly wasn't life-threatening.

At this point in my life I have a rack and a system that works for me. The rack sits in my practice area 24/7. It has all the clamps and attachments to hold all my shells and cymbals and does a fine job doing so. Now, when I play out, I take my shells and cymbals off, put them in cases, grab my trap case and stand case and go. This leaves the empty rack standing exactly where I left it for when I get home.

The advantage to me in time savings and ease of transport using stands outweighs any advantage (to me) of lugging that full rack all over the place. I have found racks to be heavy, cumbersome, and more aggravating\slow to setup than traditional stands, even when I'm taking my 8-10-12-14-16 Tamas or my Roland V Drums. (Here's a tip: USE that bass drum mounted tom holder-that's what it's there for and it saves having to use a two clamps). Now, I know everyone will not feel the same way, but that's *my* story and I'm sticking to it-lol. I have found that the rack is great for leaving setup (I have two Gibralter V Racks with wings, one for acoustic and one for electric) for my practice space. It saves me a lot of time and makes getting in and out of the house fast and pretty efficient.

Now for just starting out my recommendation would be stands, invest your cash in other things for the time being (like a good set of hard cases).
 
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Racks have pros and cons all their own, just as stands do. Stands are a way more flexible way to set up and adapt your kit to different stages, but as has been pointed out they are tricky if you want to duplicate your setup perfectly from gig to gig. Racks are awesome for continuity of placement but are time consuming to set up if you break them all the way down for transport, and also are less flexible for fitting onto small stages.

A great compromise is to use a spanner bar (a rack tube that clamps between two stands). This gives you many of the advantages of a rack with fewer of the hassles. You can also clamp a smaller rack tube onto a cymbal stand, then clamp additional gear such as toms and cymbals to it. Gibraltar actally now sells a mini-kit like this (it's maybe a 24" tube with three clamps). Another option that Gibraltar is pushing hard now is their low-profile rack system, which runs along the floor and even includes a snare drum mount.

I have a pretty large kit, and to me the importance of having everything in the same place outweighed the cons for having a rack. I decided to make it more portable by doing away with the center span, and using two mini-racks on the sides. The ride cymbal and a crash mount into the bass drum's tom mount, and everything else (six to seven toms, another 12-13 cymbals) mount on two 36" racks to either side of the bass drum. The mini-racks are small enough I can squeeze them into the car without disassembling them, often with a lot of the tom arms, etc. on them still. I arrive a little early, mount the drums and cymbals on the racks, and when it comes time to mount the stage, the bass player and I simply haul the two sides onto the stage.
 
well as im only 16, and no proper band (just yet, its being worked on :D)
im not gigging that often, so the main venues im playing at is theatres with school/city big bands

I think that the above statement is the most important point to consider in terms of the urgency in buying a rack. That statement leads me to believe that a rack isn't really an immediate necessity, and since you didn't mention anything about your current hardware being non-functional, I would think what you're using now is sufficient to get you by in the meantime. Assuming this is true, it also gives you the incredible advantage of being able to be patient about when you buy, and, gives you the time to figure out which rack would be best and wait for a good deal to come along.

If other components of your kit require upgrading (you mentioned cymbals), then I think that takes priority over hardware - again, this is assuming that the stands you use now are still usable.

Now, getting back to the topic of which rack...
The first bit of advice I'd give you is BUY USED!!!!! As long as it's strong, stable, sturdy, and cosmetically meets your standards, then you're golden. Take a good look at it before you buy and you can quickly and easily determine if it meets that criteria. You can also get a better rack for a lower price by buying used so it helps the financial part of your decision as well as eliminating the need for upgrading again in the near future (which is another good point you mentioned earlier).

I won't pretend to be an expert on racks, but I have one that came with my 7-piece Tama kit (all bought used). It's a Gibraltar - not sure what model or how old it is, but it's a curved rack with two side-wings and it's very adjustable so I'm guessing it's higher-end and not too old. Gibraltar is essentially a hardware company so I'm sure they make the parts that you need to rack your kit. They also seem to have lower prices than other manufacturers (pearl, tama, etc.) that also offer good-quality hardware, so you can save money whether you buy new or used. If you happen to buy new, I believe Gibraltar also gives a 5 year warranty where most other companies only offer a 1 year warranty. To me, that means they stand behind their product because they know it's good. This is by no means intended to be a Gibraltar endorsement, but since no one else mentioned them, I thought I would. They definitely have some advantages and it seems as though they would be a good fit for what you are looking for.

All the best,

Mike
 
also, could someone tell me about compatibility?

will any rack fit any kit?

Generally speaking, all manufacturers' racks are meant to mount all drum hardware, because the clamps are adjustable. The mounting hardware for your toms must match the brackets on the toms, but you just take them off the bass drum mounts or stands they're currently on and mount them to the rack using multi-clamps that are adjustable for various diameters of holder piping. Same with cymbals.
 
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