Gibraltar Boom Arms - Brake vs Ball Tilter

[Soupy]

Anyone have any comments about Gibraltar's brake tilters vs their ball tilters on cymbal booms? Ease of adjusting, reliable holding, durability, etc?

SC-LB: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibraltar-Lo...ht_1315wt_1280

SC-LBBT: http://www.amazon.com/Gibraltar-SC-L.../dp/B000BZHV74

Thanks.

[bobdadruma]

Both styles work well, Its just a matter of preference.
I like the brake.

[KarlCrafton]

The Brake Tilter is nicer, and better functioning design for a drummer IMO.

Mine always stayed in place (it also has a built in lock on it). I got them late '06 or early '07, and used them for 3 or 4 years of gigging. Never had any issue, very reliable and ultra sturdy.
The wing nuts go on VERY smoothly on every single one of the tilters I bought-- which were a LOT (stands, arms, extras for customizing things).
Comfortable too. The cymbal sleeves last, and the felts are really nice.
I don't use those stands currently (heavy, didn't feel like lugging them any longer), but they are on my son's kit. They haven't moved in the couple years he's used them either.
I've used some of the arms on other stands, and they work like I just bought them yesterday. The Brake Tilter is also on the Gibraltar flat base stands.

I never actually liked that 360 tilter.
For one thing, it looks to have the possibility of the angle getting moved pretty easily in transport.
If you were setting up, & needed a slightly different angle, you could just swivel the boom arm on the Brake tilter a bit, so I don't see any real advantage to the 360 ball.
It also seems like a lot of weight and "apparatus" just for the ball thing. The idea was there, but Mapex did their 360 ball tilter better IMO.

It also doesn't have very much stem for the cymbal to be above the 360 ball "housing" thing, another down side for me. I wouldn't want any possibility of a cymbal ever coming in contact with a boom arm.
With the Brake Tilter, even if the arm is straight, the tilter/stem is long enough to never have the cymbal able to touch the arm.

I also wouldn't want a tilter to (maybe) weigh almost as much as a cymbal. You'd really want a leg under the arm then.

[Soupy]

I see what you mean about the stem length, but actually, it looks like the ball can't even tilt far enough back in the socket for the tilter to be vertical while the boom arm runs horizontal. So that might be a bigger limitation.