BIG NEWS: Pearl FINALLY Makes an L-Arm Tom Holder

Having bar bashed with an Export kit for many moons, I always liked the stability of the tubes, just not the lack of adjustability. For Pearl to get this far is promising, but clearly they're just placating Pearl owners.

Most of us moved on to the ball & socket mount a long time ago.
 
True, but dont most modern drums have a suspension mount of some sort ?
Sure, most do, but we're beginning to see some diversification from the typical RIMS mount. I always felt like that mount, while effective, was the problem component in the difficulty you mentioned. I've used L-Arms with ball joint with a variety of other type tom mounts , and they are problem-free and incredibly flexible.
 
I've never had the vitriolic reaction others have had to Pearl tom mounts. Do I prefer them? No, but they get the job done, even the ISS mounts. I think not having the small T-screw is a minus, though. They have it everywhere else! Why go 90% of the way?



Dan

After having some issues with the (kinda enormous) T-handles on my INDe tom mounts I retrofitted mine to drumkey rods and I couldn't be happier. I always have a drumkey handy to double check memory locks etc. when I'm setting up/tearing down anyway, and having a slimmer profile on something that needs to fit into a bag is a big plus for me. Everything drops onto big memory locks anyway, so I'm not even having to really hold up the drum, I just make sure it's aligned properly, and then lock it down.

But this new Pearl tom mount does have a wing screw. It's just the holder coming out of the bass drum that has a key rod, and I can't imagine that being a part that gets adjusted very often at all.
 
To not-love the original L-arms is to not-love the original Rogers Memriloc who pioneered the big tube mount in the first place. But I guess it just takes time to weed-through the hate that Pearl is now responding.

I think this puts Pearl players in a weird position though because they’ve defended and used the L-arm since the beginning - and now Pearl is gonna follow everyone else by having this new type of mount too?

So do the current Pearl owners upgrade their mounts? They must feel a little betrayed. And now Pearl has to support both mounts on the service end. Or will Pearl eventually phase-out the L-arms on all of their kits? I can see internet fights about Pearl “pre-L” and “post-L” like how Rogers fans are convinced that Dayton drums are better than Fullerton drums - or how the only Slingerlands that matter are the ones from Niles. This particular internet landscape will be askew for some time.
 
To not-love the original L-arms is to not-love the original Rogers Memriloc who pioneered the big tube mount in the first place. But I guess it just takes time to weed-through the hate that Pearl is now responding.

I think this puts Pearl players in a weird position though because they’ve defended and used the L-arm since the beginning - and now Pearl is gonna follow everyone else by having this new type of mount too?

So do the current Pearl owners upgrade their mounts? They must feel a little betrayed. And now Pearl has to support both mounts on the service end. Or will Pearl eventually phase-out the L-arms on all of their kits? I can see internet fights about Pearl “pre-L” and “post-L” like how Rogers fans are convinced that Dayton drums are better than Fullerton drums - or how the only Slingerlands that matter are the ones from Niles. This particular internet landscape will be askew for some time.

Maybe, but I'm just thinking about all of the people that said "I'd buy a Pearl set if they didn't have those crummy tom arms." If even half of them make good on their claims Pearl is going to have to go to the "60s Ringo Boom" 24 hour a day production schedule to meet demand.
 
Maybe, but I'm just thinking about all of the people that said "I'd buy a Pearl set if they didn't have those crummy tom arms." If even half of them make good on their claims Pearl is going to have to go to the "60s Ringo Boom" 24 hour a day production schedule to meet demand.
That's true! Lol
 
Maybe, but I'm just thinking about all of the people that said "I'd buy a Pearl set if they didn't have those crummy tom arms." If even half of them make good on their claims Pearl is going to have to go to the "60s Ringo Boom" 24 hour a day production schedule to meet demand.
Well, there is that. So it’s the gamble that Pearl will pick up aLot of new customers to balance the backlash of current customers. Their drums are great - maybe people will jump to Pearl for that. Hopefully.

This is just a bigger change than when Sabian decided to re-design their logo to appeal to the teen market.
 
Will take a close look at those new L mounts in person. I have the older pipe mounts on my Export EXR and didn't have a problem with them. Not overly thrilled with the ball mounts on my Renown, but I make do as I need to and my being adaptable is ok as long as the mounts get the job done.
 
I have used ISS and Optimount for the last 20 years or so and have never had any issue with either. Though, the ISS mounts did affect the sustain of the drum. But that was the suspension mount not the tube arm. For the life of me, I can't understand all the hate on the tube arms. IT's not difficult to adjust as many imply and it is SOLID. Inifinite adjustability to get it where you want it and then set your memory locks and it ain't goin no where. There is zero sag, play, or bouncing. And, aesthetically, I think they look really freakin cool. Which I know is subjective and obviously I am one of maybe 5 people on here that enjoy the look.

As for the new mounting system, I guess we'll just have to see. I'm not sure how I feel about the little rubber washers that can be added to serve as muffling. Isn't one of the the points of the suspension mount to not interfere with resonance? If I can add an extra washer at the connection point to muffle the drum, then that necessarily means the mount is affecting resonance. And this is a selling point? I don't know, I find that kinda weird.

While I have never desired to use an L arm mounting system, I am happy that they have introduced the option. I see a lot of people ragging on the lack of ball and socket... First, why do the same thing everyone else does? I think it's great that they didn't go that route. And if they had, then all the Pearl haters would be ragging them for holding out so long on the L arms only to produce the same product that the other manufacturers have been making for years. This provides the same solution and mounting experience with a new design. And the gyro-lock is amazingly smooth and infinitely adjustable. The lack of a wing nut and the need for a key to adjust the L arm is a non issue for me. My experience with Pearl hardware tells me that once you have that tom where you want it and tighten it down, you won't have to touch that adjustment again until you are ready to break down.

I am less interested in the new line of shells because I won't be purchasing a high end kit anytime soon. Exciting in general, but I am happy with my Sessions. Maybe 10-15 years down the road I'll treat myself to a Reference kit. I do like the new finishes, though. Wish I would have had more options when I purchased my Sessions.
 
Well, the photos from their big unveil event seem to show that both mounts are going to be available, so I doubt that the tubes are going away.

BTW, there are a lot of odd arguments floating around about this addition to their lineup. I don't think any of us "haters" would ever claim that Pearl made bad drums or that the mounts didn't work well. The claim is more personal than that-- I just don't like how the tube mounts look and work. It's a matter of taste, which is, of course, usually completely subjective. I don't hate Pearl drums at all and don't think they're bad or that the tube mounts are bad. I just don't like the mounts. I don't find them attractive and they don't feel good to me when I work with them. But YMMV.
 
I guess I'm one of the odd men out. :)

I LOVE Pearl Optimounts and the 7/8" tube arms. All my hardware is a mix of Pearl and Yamaha. They're interchangeable and I have the best of both worlds. That said; I'm sure I could grow to love the new Pearl L-arm mounts. They probably are an improvement. Given the strength of my current Pearl mounts, they'll probably last 100 years before they need replacing! :D

In the past, I've owned various nylon ball socket mounting systems: Gibraltar and Yamaha. They work fine, but do suffer from "sag" when you first set them up. You have to purposefully position toms a little higher to account for sag. After that, they're perfect.
 
video from the concurrent Other Peral thread




Peral? yea kinda like it..
 
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I got all excited and was ready to buy a maple-gum Master's kit until I saw this hardware:

B-3 copy.jpg

B-8 copy.jpg

Tama Starcast is still my choice.
 
So do the current Pearl owners upgrade their mounts? They must feel a little betrayed. And now Pearl has to support both mounts on the service end. Or will Pearl eventually phase-out the L-arms on all of their kits? I can see internet fights about Pearl “pre-L” and “post-L” like how Rogers fans are convinced that Dayton drums are better than Fullerton drums - or how the only Slingerlands that matter are the ones from Niles. This particular internet landscape will be askew for some time.

Game On Fighting GIF by Shalita Grant

Napoleon Dynamite Fighting GIF
 
I got all excited and was ready to buy a maple-gum Master's kit until I saw this hardware:

View attachment 134546

View attachment 134547

Tama Starcast is still my choice.

I have no doubt that suspending the drum from points 180* apart leads to better suspension, but I don't love the look. Noble and Cooley and Mapex have similar looking systems too, and I think those are still a little too obtrusive. I like seeing as much of the actual shell (and the finish) as possible.
 
I love that they are keeping both options. I love the new suspension system too.

Pearl really does innovate and provide great hardware options. Sometimes it just takes a while lol
 
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