Mounting rack tom on snare stand

MadJazz

Silver Member
Since I'm not using more than one rack tom, I thought of mounting it in front of me (left to the kick) on a snare stand.

Pros & cons?
 
Pros:
  • very sturdy
  • easy to move around
  • no need to clutter the looks of the tom with RIMS (or equivalent thereof)

Cons:
  • limited setup options
  • difficult to make fine adjustments from the throne
  • a snare stand is bigger and weighs more than a regular tom mount
 
You'd def. have more set up options with a multiclamp and arm flown from a cymbal stand.
 
I found that you get deader sound out of the tom when it's on a stand.
Must have something to do with the snare basket grip on the bottem hoop of the drum. That's why I took mine off the stand and back to a rim mount. I just think it sounded better. It wasn't a huge problem, but enough to make me want to have one less stand in my road case.
 
That is exactly the problem.

The snare basket actually chokes the bottom head and causes it to be outta tune and lose resonance. It looks cool, but I will always opt for flying my rack tom off a cymbal stand for that reason and because you are limited to having the tom set farther to the side of the kick. I play a 24" kick drum and I think it'd be a pretty big stretch for me between the rack and floor with my rack tom on a snare stand.
 
That is exactly the problem.

The snare basket actually chokes the bottom head and causes it to be outta tune and lose resonance...

Is your snare out of tune because you put it on a snare stand ? no.
having it on a stand will not affect tuning unless you slam the stand into to bottom head.

Also, a snare stand will not choke the tom more than suspension mount, if you don't over tighten it and only let the bottom rim touch it, don't tighten it onto the shell.

pros
-You can keep you bass drum virgin
-You can place your tom independently from yout left sire ride (or crash..) (when you attach your tom to your cymbal stand, it makes it harder to position both correctly)

Cons
- It can be a bit far away if you have a big bass drum
- positionning over the bass drum is also limited, but not a problem if you have a 16"-20" bass drum
- the stand adds weight to your hardware bag
 
Is your snare out of tune because you put it on a snare stand ? no.
having it on a stand will not affect tuning unless you slam the stand into to bottom head.

Also, a snare stand will not choke the tom more than suspension mount, if you don't over tighten it and only let the bottom rim touch it, don't tighten it onto the shell.

pros
-You can keep you bass drum virgin
-You can place your tom independently from yout left sire ride (or crash..) (when you attach your tom to your cymbal stand, it makes it harder to position both correctly)

Cons
- It can be a bit far away if you have a big bass drum
- positionning over the bass drum is also limited, but not a problem if you have a 16"-20" bass drum
- the stand adds weight to your hardware bag



Resonance is indeed choked IMO from mounting a tom on a snare stand..

A virgin bass drum has NO holes drilled into it to facilitate a mounting bracket. If you have a tom mounting bracket on your kick drum, your kick is not virgin..sorry.

Positioning a tom flown from a cymbal stand is easy to coordinate with said stands cymbal placement provided it's a boom stand.

Point taken about not overtightening the basket to minimize choking the resonant head.

Agreed to disagree.
 
Resonance is indeed choked IMO from mounting a tom on a snare stand..

A virgin bass drum has NO holes drilled into it to facilitate a mounting bracket. If you have a tom mounting bracket on your kick drum, your kick is not virgin..sorry.

well I don't know about his kit, I was talking more in general, my bass drums are virgin..

HPIM0860.jpg

HPIM0524.jpg

when I mount the tom on the basket, I put the basket right under the flange of the rim.
The basket has 3 contact points at the rim and holds it uniformly as opposed to the rims mount that has 4 contact points and does not support the tom all around.. or other mounts like the pearl ISS who has only 2 contact points but puts a lot of stress on that side of the tom.

Anyways, just to say that I don't think ether one has a greater resonance (basket vs rims mount (the pearl ISS mounts definitely cut resonance)) but the basket allows the tom to be positioned freely from the left side cymbal, and is good with smaller bass drums.
 
Okay gotcha there...
Most of the reason (s) for me flying the rack tom from a cymbals stand is that I have a virgin kick and it is a 24"
 
Anyways, just to say that I don't think ether one has a greater resonance (basket vs rims mount (the pearl ISS mounts definitely cut resonance)) but the basket allows the tom to be positioned freely from the left side cymbal, and is good with smaller bass drums.

But a snare-stand-mounted tom is being supported by the reso hoop. That could introduce flex unless you have cast hoops, and it would certainly put pressure on the hoop as you strike the drum, which in turn, could contribute to gradual detuning. Suspension mounts put strain at the affected lugs, but they are intended to take a fair amount of pressure anyway.

The only real reason I can think of to use a snare stand is to emulate the icons that used to do it, and they only did it because the old hardware was woefully inadequate. Bonham would probably sheared off a rail mounted tom inside of a complete set list.
 
I had a 14" tom mounted in a snare stand as a temp and could never get it tuned right, when I finally bought a cymbal stand tom mount and mounted the tom, it opened right up.
 
well I don't know about his kit, I was talking more in general, my bass drums are virgin..

HPIM0860.jpg

HPIM0524.jpg

when I mount the tom on the basket, I put the basket right under the flange of the rim.
The basket has 3 contact points at the rim and holds it uniformly as opposed to the rims mount that has 4 contact points and does not support the tom all around.. or other mounts like the pearl ISS who has only 2 contact points but puts a lot of stress on that side of the tom.

Anyways, just to say that I don't think ether one has a greater resonance (basket vs rims mount (the pearl ISS mounts definitely cut resonance)) but the basket allows the tom to be positioned freely from the left side cymbal, and is good with smaller bass drums.

I like how you have the tom mounted by the rim instead, good idea. Do you have it quite tight around the rim though? Because I'd imagine that otherwise it would fall out after a good whacking?
 
I've played with the tom mounted on the snare stand, it made life easier when it came to setting up. Especially sine the kit was more like a 'SIAMESE MONSTER' type set-up and space was limited. It was convenient...
 
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