Bo Eder
Platinum Member
It's nice to have such a great relationship with the guys at Pro Drum. Last week I picked up three of those Ludwig Atlas Classic straight flat-based cymbal stands and immediately used them on a gig that night.
In the last five days or so, I've discovered things that make me scratch my head, and now Stan at Pro Drum is nice enough to let me bring 'em back and get the DW ones. So my short list of things about the Atlas stands:
1) Because of those reversible rubber feet, when you go to fold the legs up, they don't go all the way in, unless you've reversed the rubber feet and are using the "other" hole which raises the stand about an inch and a half.
2) When the stand is compacted, because of the big wing nuts, you have to stagger where the wing nuts fall (by turning the tubes a bit), or else you can't loosen or tighten them.
3) On the copies that I have, the wing nut that keeps the legs out, loosens up, and the stand will actually sink until the center hits the ground. This was a bit aggravating and I can see where somewhere down the line, I'll end up stripping out the wing nut and having to replace it because I've had to make it so tight.
I still have the stands and will get with Stan later in the week after the NAMM show so we can do a side-by-side comparison. But I hate to say it, I think DW has the better engineering in this department after looking at the DW stands today. I may make the switch. But I was really digging the Ludwig vibe - but they're a little frustrating to work with. Anybody experience the same thing?
In the last five days or so, I've discovered things that make me scratch my head, and now Stan at Pro Drum is nice enough to let me bring 'em back and get the DW ones. So my short list of things about the Atlas stands:
1) Because of those reversible rubber feet, when you go to fold the legs up, they don't go all the way in, unless you've reversed the rubber feet and are using the "other" hole which raises the stand about an inch and a half.
2) When the stand is compacted, because of the big wing nuts, you have to stagger where the wing nuts fall (by turning the tubes a bit), or else you can't loosen or tighten them.
3) On the copies that I have, the wing nut that keeps the legs out, loosens up, and the stand will actually sink until the center hits the ground. This was a bit aggravating and I can see where somewhere down the line, I'll end up stripping out the wing nut and having to replace it because I've had to make it so tight.
I still have the stands and will get with Stan later in the week after the NAMM show so we can do a side-by-side comparison. But I hate to say it, I think DW has the better engineering in this department after looking at the DW stands today. I may make the switch. But I was really digging the Ludwig vibe - but they're a little frustrating to work with. Anybody experience the same thing?