hi hat stands

Nick G.

Senior Member
i havent had the opportunity to play with expensive hi hat stands in my time of drumming

and was wondering whats the difference between a cheap £40 rotating base hi hat stand and a £150-200 hi hat stand



can anyone enlighten me :) ?
 
Some less expensive stands work just fine. You should try them before you buy. I have a stand that came with my Pearl Rhythm traveler, ( doesn't get any cheaper than that) It works well! I use it a lot.
I really like my Tama Iron Cobra lever Glide. Thats an upper mid level priced stand.
I have another Tama stand from the late 80s thats just OK.
Try before you buy. If you find a less expensive stand that works for you, go for it! Leaves you more cash for cymbals.
The same goes for bass pedals.
 
Definitely try things out.... preferably with your own hats (or same model). Heavier hats (or a "heavy" foot) probably warrant a stand with adjustable tension.

I use fairly light hats. Way back when, I used a DW 5000 stand. Awesome stand, but I always had it set at the lowest tension... nowadays I just use a new low end Ludwig stand. Works and feels just the same, but a third of the price.

-Ryan
 
Personally, the difference between a lower end hihat stand as compared to a higher end one (say, Sound Percussion to Pearl Eliminator) is not that big or groundbreaking, at least not when you do the same switch for bass pedals, thrones or cymbal stands.

So don't be fooled by the price tag, or the name brand.
 
I used a cheap Mapex stand for many years that came with my first kit with no problems. Eventually, one of the screws stripped but that was after I'd replaced it. Yeah, cheap ones work just fine for most people who just need a standard hihat stand.

The only real benifit I can think of for a more expensive one would be durability, which may or may not be an issue with you.
 
I too have used my first hi hat stand for over ten years now, standard Tama that comes with their swingstar sets. Works just fine and never had a problem. There are a lot better things to upgrade before your hihat stand.

The only thing Ive seen that would require a better stand is with heavier hats because the cheap stands may not be able to support the weight.
 
The ability to adjust the tension and the fact that a higher priced one is probably heavier. For several months I used to play on a cheap three legged SP hi hat stand, it was sturdy, but you kind of had to be sure footed for faster stuff. It did kind of make my hats sound a little crappy though. Decent stand though.

A couple of months ago I picked up a used DW9000 (two legged version) and that damn this is sturdy on a hard surface (like when I play in my friend's garage when we jam). However I usually play at home in an extra room that used be a patio and it's carpeted, not mention I've got an extra rug under the kit as well, so in that instance that damn thing tends to wobble around a little.

Try them out before you buy. The convenient thing with hardware (unlike cymbals) is you can try it out in the store and then go online and find a better (whether it new or used) and it'll be pretty much the same. With cymbals you could bet two of the exact same thing, and more likely than not you'll be able to hear a difference.
 
One thing that just hit me... that I should have mentioned... is that cheaper stands come with *really* crummy clutches. A good clutch really should have the ability to let you adjust the "felt" tension with a pair of nuts on top instead of just the bottom nut (which will "unthread" if not tight) .

For my inexpensive Ludwig stand, I spent an extra $12 and got the spiffy Ludwig clutch.

As for the rest, try before you buy.

-Ryan
 
I have questions

I have a Tama Roadpro hi-hat stand, how do you stop that "dook" or "clunk" sound when you open the hats?

...and how do those metal drummers get their hats so close to their kick drum?
 
I have questions

I have a Tama Roadpro hi-hat stand, how do you stop that "dook" or "clunk" sound when you open the hats?

...and how do those metal drummers get their hats so close to their kick drum?

It could be the top hat moving around too much on the clutch, try tightening up the nuts that are near the felts.

And the thing with the metal drummers. I'd say remote cable hi hats like so.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/DW-9000-Series-Remote-Hi-Hat-102673381-i1138527.gc

Or maybe a movable leg hi hat stand.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibraltar-Hi-Hat-Stand-with-Movable-Leg-Base-448994-i1275265.gc

A friend of mine has a Tama IC Lever Glide and apparently you can get those things to tilt towards you.
 
It could be the top hat moving around too much on the clutch, try tightening up the nuts that are near the felts.
NO, the clutch parts your talking about are in order.

The rubber stopper (on top of the chain) colliding with the tube is making the noise, this is meant to happen to stop the hats where they are once they spring back.
 
I have questions

I have a Tama Roadpro hi-hat stand, how do you stop that "dook" or "clunk" sound when you open the hats?

...and how do those metal drummers get their hats so close to their kick drum?

Most drum companies make a clamp that attaches the hi-hat to the bass drum. Here's Tama's from GC web site: Years ago, Ludwig sold their top end hi-hat without legs for use with these clamps. Now you just take the legs off. The clamp will put the hi-hat footboard right next to the bass drum pedal if that's where you want it.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Tama-MHA623-Hi-Hat-Attachment-Clamp-440817-i1135638.gc


The higher end hi-hats have bells and whistles that make the easier or more pleasureable to play, but biggest difference as someone mentioned is how well they hold up. Especially if they are set up and broken down every night and hauled in cases from job to job. The road is brutal on hardware.
 
I use the lighter weight DW 2 leg hat stand.

http://dwdrums.com/hardware/5500TL.htm

I've found it very stable and sturdy. I've had it for about a year+, and not a problem.

I need a 2 leg stand, but if I could use a 3 leg stand, I'd go for the 7000 stand.
I think it feels great , it's sturdy as heck, and it's light.

http://dwdrums.com/hardware/7500.htm

It doesn't have the plate on the bottom, but when I played it, it didn't seem to matter.

The Tama Road Pro stand is real nice, and the lighter Ludwig hat stands are real nice too--Like this one:

http://www.drumsonsale.com/ludwiglc716hhclassicseriesdoublebracedhihatstand-p-972.html

Not saying buy it here, just showing the stand....it's double braced, but it's the smaller diam tubing that makes it lighter to carry (without sacrificing stability).

I've used the heavier stuff from Ludwig, DW and Gibraltar for years, and the new lighter stuff is just fine. I gig fairly frequently, and like a lot of people, I just got sick of hauling heavy stuff around (I even use the flat base cymbal stands--with 20 and 21" crashes no problem).

The lighter stuff isn't going to fall apart or fall over on you if you go that route (and it's less money).

Just my 2 cents.
 
The only reason I ever upgraded my hi-hat stand was for gigging purposes.
I needed something that was heavy duty enough for constant transportation and that would be reliable for touring. Suffice to say I got this; http://www.rainbowguitars.com/imagesproduct/CH/CHHH905-xl-01.jpg

It was expensive.. but I doubt I'll be buying a new hi-hat stand in the foreseeable future, so it doesn't really bother me. It's also smooth.
 
Yes it is very smooth indeed, the 'strap' is really great, and it is very sturdy.
Also because of the 2 legs it is easy to setup to the inside of a slave double pedal.
 
I got that Tama one too! Absolutely love it! Well worth the money in my opinion. And like previously stated...you can tilt the whole thing toward you or even away from you.
 
if you don't need a heavy duty behemoth double braced hi-hat stand you can't go wrong with the Yamaha 700 series hi-hat (or what ever series that are now calling their medium duty single braced stands).

but if you have to go heavy duty then any Yamaha, Tama or DW top line stand will work great.
 
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