I have a relatively small kit, but even before I bought it, I knew I was going for a rack setup. There were a few reasons for this:
1: Consistency. Every time I set up my kit, it will look exactly the same
2: Small footprint on stage. No stand legs poking out everywhere, so the floor space used is very small.
3: I think racks look awesome
I do like the idea of square tubing, so the Icon was tempting in that regard, but Pearl doesn't offer the front rack with side wings setup that I wanted, and the full three-sided setup would be way overkill for me. This meant the decision really made itself, and the multitude of options available for a Gibraltar setup didn't hurt either.
On the issue of slippage: I don't understand what people are doing wrong. I have no memory locks on my clamps, and I haven't had a single slippage incident, ever! That being said, I'm ordering memory clamps for my tom and ride clamps, just to be on the safe side, but so far, the setup has been 100% rock solid!
Pros and cons list! These don't really apply to the Gibraltar rack in particular, it's more of a rack vs stands thing. My previous kit was an almost identical configuration (the only difference was that it had a hanging floor tom, not one on legs), and was stand-based, so I feel I've got a basis for comparison:
Pros:
- Small floor footprint
- Consistent setup every time I assemble the kit
- Clean (and, in my opinion, awesome) look
- Nothing on the kit moves independently of other pieces. Everything is rock solid. This was a particular problem when using a stand-based setup on soft stage floors. Everything would sway back and forth, and usually not in unison. The rack's got such a broad base and much weight, it's not moving at all
- Adding a cymbal (or whatever else) doesn't require a new stand or trying to clamp a boom arm onto an existing stand (which almost always means a compromise on positioning). Add a multiclamp and a small boom arm, and you've got every positioning possibility you could want
Cons:
- Not as easy to move pieces (especially toms) closer or further away. You're bound to the rack bars, and although you can angle clamps and tom arms, the possibilities are not endless
- Experimenting with new setups is much more of a hassle than with stands. It's not just a matter of moving a stand to a completely different position anymore, you might have to move the whole rack into a new position, which in turn means that you have to move everything else on the rack to compensate.
- The whole setup is probably a little bit heavier than my old stand setup, but not so much that it's a problem.
So in closing: Once I've found a setup I'm happy with, I'm extremely happy with my rack. It took me about a week of experimenting before I settled on my setup, but as it stands, I don't see myself wanting to change it anytime soon. I've had variations of the same setup for years now, but after really taking the time and perfecting it, I'm utterly sold on the rack.
The kit and setup (more in my sig):
My old kit (for reference):
