Rack vs Stands

J

just_hit_it

Guest
I'm wanting more cymbals and things at the moment, but I have a dilemma. Should I invest in decent stands that won't fall over if I hit them too hard, or get fairly cheap ones and save up for a rack?
What are the benifits of a rack over stands? apart from the obvious not so many things to trip over. And how much would a decent rack be? (I'm in pound sterling by the way :))
 
Stands, all the way. You don't even need to get heavy-duty ones. I use Yamaha 600 series stands, and mount several large cymbals/tom off of them using splash cymbal clamps, and haven't had any problems with slippage or tipping. Check out the thread on my kit:

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=508115

The nice thing about lighter-duty stands is that they are lighter, collapse smaller, and are sturdy enough to hold just about everything you'll need for a normal drumset. If you're going to mount, say, 5 toms and 7 cymbals off of one stand, then go with the DW or Gibraltar double-braced stands, because THEN you'd need something that strong and heavy...
 
I'm with Caddy on this one, so much lighter and easier to transport stands than a rack, especially if you are gigging regularly...

However I found that when the rack is memory locked and all your cymbal booms are numbered, it's a lot quicker to set up than stands but thats just my experience.
 
I'm wanting more cymbals and things at the moment, but I have a dilemma. Should I invest in decent stands that won't fall over if I hit them too hard, or get fairly cheap ones and save up for a rack?

The question would be, how many more "cymbals and things" do you want to fly?. With a standard Yamaha triple head, off 4 stands, you could fly 12 "cymbals or things", however, inter-weaving 12 cymbal arms off 4 stands might/will limit your choice of placement. If you're thinking "big", I'd play safer than sorry and go for a rack. I've run both. A rack can be a great investment. I had a Pearl DR-100, and got 15 years use out of it. Flip side of the coin, I use all Yamaha single braced 600 and 700 series stands now. Perfect for everything I need now. I'll probably take these to my grave.
 
Firstly, good to see another hullite on the forums mate ;-)

It really depends on how big your kit is going to be, having a 4 piece kit with say 3 cymbals and the hihat then a rack is going to be pretty silly, but if you say have 3 rack toms and 6 or 7 cymbals then a rack might be a better option, although many people do set up kits this size without.
 
i have 3 rack toms and a floor, currently 4 cymbals on 3 stands plus hats, and various bits of percussion hung off brackets. Other 'cymbals and things' I want to get eventually include another ride, another crash and a china, and a sopranino snare, so cymbal wise i'd have *going fom left to right* hats, tamb, ride, crash, crash, crash, splash, cowbell, ride. man i need to diagram this.
so, rack or stands? i'd need a fair few stands... but i think i prefer them. easier to rearrange in a given space :) i'm used to working in small spaces...
 
I use 3 rack toms + 1 as a floating floor and 12 cymbals including crashes. I'm just at the tipping point for a rack in my opinion. I've used racks before and they're great for fast setup & break down as long as everything is memory locked. Racks also reduce the kit's stage footprint. Transporting big rack sections can be a challenge so if you get one, make sure it breaks down into manageable sections. Racks are very bad news if you need to set up on an uneven surface. If you've got a kit bigger than mine, I'd go for a rack. Anything less, I'd stay with stands. One last point, buy the best rack you can. A cheap rack is more hassle than cheap stands.
 
i have 3 rack toms and a floor, currently 4 cymbals on 3 stands plus hats, and various bits of percussion hung off brackets. Other 'cymbals and things' I want to get eventually include another ride, another crash and a china, and a sopranino snare, so cymbal wise i'd have *going fom left to right* hats, tamb, ride, crash, crash, crash, splash, cowbell, ride. man i need to diagram this.
so, rack or stands? i'd need a fair few stands... but i think i prefer them. easier to rearrange in a given space :) i'm used to working in small spaces...

so in this case 3 crashes, 2 rides and a splash, as well as a tamb and a cowbell. Cool well personally i reckon you could very easily mount the splash and percussion off other cymbal stands so really you'd only need 5 stands for the cymbals. I also find you can mount toms off cymbal stands as well, a rack would make things easier to adjust but really there's not a huge need for it in this case.

Also if you want to make a drum diagram like the one on my facebook dp then this is what i used:

http://mitglied.lycos.de/Gerulat/DD/Test.html

The site is in german but yeah it's pretty obvious where the download link should be :) speaking of which i think that setup i made on there is about the same size as the one you speak of but i won't be using a rack for it.
 
and a china eddie :) i missed that out. but yeah, i don't think i've got quite enough stuff to justifty a rack, i just wondered what other people used them for/thought of them. and i will download that when im on the computer later :) thanks
 
Who put those towels in that beautiful kick drum? I'd find out if I were you and gag them. See how they like it! LOL

haha I know. But it works better for the recordings this way. I didn't need boomy kick for the songs I recorded. And by the way the drums aren't mine :(. Only the snares, the cymbals and the hardware belong to me. Very very nice drums tho...
 
and a china eddie :) i missed that out. but yeah, i don't think i've got quite enough stuff to justifty a rack, i just wondered what other people used them for/thought of them. and i will download that when im on the computer later :) thanks

sorry i must have misread, well that's good then. Chinas are always good, that's why i want 2 XD yeah you'll have to havago on that program and show us a pic of it set up.

Who put those towels in that beautiful kick drum? I'd find out if I were you and gag them. See how they like it! LOL

I agree about the recording thing. Some people can't stand the whole stepping on a shallow puddle type kick drum sound but if that's what you're going for in a recording then it's the best way to do it.
 
I had stands but got rid of them for a rack. Too many little feet in the way. I have three rack toms and 4 cymbals. I had then on stand for a while but at times to adjust on unit meant adjusting all of the items on the stand. The rack looks better than all of the little arms flying all over the place. And even though the center bar may weigh more than a stand, when using memory locks set up is much faster. If you have room for the rack I say go for it.
 
I'm wanting more cymbals and things at the moment, but I have a dilemma. Should I invest in decent stands that won't fall over if I hit them too hard, or get fairly cheap ones and save up for a rack?
What are the benifits of a rack over stands? apart from the obvious not so many things to trip over. And how much would a decent rack be? (I'm in pound sterling by the way :))

I recently converted to a rack and I love it. I play on a Ludwig Accent CS kit and added 8" & 10" toms to the kit last year. I find that getting the toms up off the kick gives both a cleaner, and beefier sound. My break down on the rack is from left to right:

14" Zildjian ZXT thin crash (all my cymbals are ZXT series) 16" med thin crash, 8" tom, LP jam block, 10" tom, 12" fast splash, 12" tom (all 3 mounted on a yamaha 3 hole adapter and held by a gibraltar road series clamp) 18" med thin crash, 18" china. The rack is a DIY using 1 1/4" EMT conduit and is holding everything just fine. See my thread in DIY repairs thread for pics. I know it looks ghetto right now, but I am going to add custom paint job and extra bolts for stability.

I just got tired of breaking everything down and re-adjusting at a gig. Consider a Pearl or Yamaha hex rack so as not to have issues with clamps slipping. If mine start to slip I'll cut fine shallow grooves into them with a dremel tool to add a "grip" feature. If cost is an issue, I built my own for approximately $150.00 US so far. by the time I finish the rack, I anticipate that I will have spent a total of around 250-300 dollars for a rack that would easily cost around 700 or more. Consider doing DIY if cost is an issue. I also kept my stands, just in case! :) Hope this helps!!

Here's the thread for my project on page 4.

http://drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23501
 
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