Rant against modern hi-hat stands

steverok

Silver Member
Oh, those horrid two-legged stands that flop all over the place, and then this ...
last night I participated in a battle of the bands, for a spot at a fairly prestigious music festival. I had to use back-line gear, and we only had 15 minutes to show what we could do. The hi-hat stand had this ridiculous and incomprehensible rotating foot pedal, meaning, it didn't stay where it was. The band I play in is pretty heavy, and I really dig in with both feet when I play with them. For each of the four songs we played, 30 seconds into the song, the hi-hat pedal went off into left field, about three feet away from me, to the point where I had to reach my foot as far as I could just to operate it. Oh, what a wonderful innovation these new hi-hat stands are. They rotate, they slide and flop all over the stage ... just wonderful !!!
 
that sucks. i wonder if the wingnut was loose that tightens the legs? mine rotates, but not once its tightened down.
 
Well that sucks, did it slide across or just rotate away, if it was me and the hi hat didn't add too much to the groove to take it away I would of just locked it in one place and played it like that rather than suffered.
 
I tried to tighten the wing nut. It was tight. The pedal rotated, and I think the whole thing slid away as well. It was just a god-awful nightmare. Back-line gear can be great if it works, but it is the worst when it doesn't.
 
Weak sauce, bro. Those two-legged HH stands seem great for double pedal players and there are enough out there that I gotta assume it's possible to set them up so they're not all over the place, but I've yet to play one that doesn't swing like a palm tree in a typhoon.

I'll stick with my 3-leg stand. Sorry to hear about your hassles.
 
Thanks man. In the band I play in, we rehearse at a studio that has drum sets in each room already, and for nearly half of the shows we've played, I have been forced to use someone else's drum kit as part of a back-line arrangement. Sometimes it works out great, but when it doesn't, it's the worst. My bandmates are probably sick of listening to me complain, mostly about hardware, but hey, they get to play their own guitars all the time !
 
I look forward to future rants about electricity and the wheel.

Kids these days gotta be rolling stuff around, what the heck. Back in my day we just carried everything on our back! Didn't have no bi-cycles or motor-cars or even wheel-barrows.
 
I don't think it's modern hi hat stands that are the problem, but broken ones. Hope the rest of your gig was good though.
 
The worst hi-hat stands and bd pedals on the market these days, are far better than the ones I and so many others started with. As a money-less kid in the 80s, it was an old, wobbly and fractured ghost bd pedal....60s? 70s? pearl hi-hat stand that did exactly what the OP is describing, moved away plus turned in a circle (at least I think that's what is described)..and a vintage ludwig snare stand that also wobbled and wouldn't lock into place.

I bought a used Pearl BD pedal a few months ago (sells new for $60, paid $20!), and it's actually in some ways superior to my twenty-year old DW 5000 AD.

Interestingly, I was recently watching a video of Elvin Jones performing, and you can see his bd/toms moving away from him on-stage. It was amusing to see band mates shifting it back towards him while he solo'd.
 
Thanks man. In the band I play in, we rehearse at a studio that has drum sets in each room already, and for nearly half of the shows we've played, I have been forced to use someone else's drum kit as part of a back-line arrangement. Sometimes it works out great, but when it doesn't, it's the worst. My bandmates are probably sick of listening to me complain, mostly about hardware, but hey, they get to play their own guitars all the time !

I hate using other people's gear, but when I do there's always certain things I bring in addition to the basics (sticks/snare/cymbals).
I always bring a throne, my pedal, my high hat stand and one cymbal stand.
Sometimes it sits in my car, sometimes I need part of it, and sometimes I need all of it. It seems like a waste when I don't need it, but I feel like the smartest man alive when I need it.
 
Im using this one, never had a problem with walking, wobbling or anything else and I can hit hard.

I like the function of swivel when needed (when a cymbal stand is in the way or so)

5c8787.yamaha-hs1200t-hihatstand.jpg
 
Im using this one, never had a problem with walking, wobbling or anything else and I can hit hard.

I like the function of swivel when needed (when a cymbal stand is in the way or so)

5c8787.yamaha-hs1200t-hihatstand.jpg
I've got the same stand, but older version. never had any problem. Bought my son a 2 legged PDP quite a few yrs. ago. His is fine too. I also have a 3 leg Pearl swivel, no problem.
 
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