Lightweight gear

Chuck Martin

New Member
I am interested in reducing the weight of my drum kit. I am 76 and play in four bands. What can you recommend ? My current kit is Pearl Master Custom, with double braced cymbal stands ( two, one with a boom arm extension), double braces hi hat and throne. My bass is 20”, side tom 10” and 13”, floor tom and snare are 14”.

Chuck Martin
 
Welcome to Drummerworld!

You should start with getting lightweight hardware. The best lightweight hardware on the market is either the Yamaha Crosstown set ($400), or DW Ultralight set ($370). I have the DW Ultralight set myself and I highly recommend them. The 2 straight cymbal stands, hi-hat stand and snare stand fits in one quality bag, and weighs 17 lbs. The Yamaha Crosstown set is just as light.

If you don't want to spend quite that much, the Tama Classic hardware set ($280) is good, although it's not as lightweight.

Are you looking for a lighter drum kit as well?
 
Welcome to Drummerworld!

You should start with getting lightweight hardware. The best lightweight hardware on the market is either the Yamaha Crosstown set ($400), or DW Ultralight set ($370). I have the DW Ultralight set myself and I highly recommend them. The 2 straight cymbal stands, hi-hat stand and snare stand fits in one quality bag, and weighs 17 lbs. The Yamaha Crosstown set is just as light.

If you don't want to spend quite that much, the Tama Classic hardware set ($280) is good, although it's not as lightweight.

Are you looking for a lighter drum kit as well?

Thank you for that valuable insight. Consistent feedback on the Yamaha Crosstown HW3 ! Yes I am also interested in a lighter drum kit. The Yamaha Stage Classic Hip Kit looks interesting on video.

Thank You,
Chuck
 
Thank you for that valuable insight. Consistent feedback on the Yamaha Crosstown HW3 ! Yes I am also interested in a lighter drum kit. The Yamaha Stage Classic Hip Kit looks interesting on video.

Thank You,
Chuck
We haven't heard a proper demo of the Stage Custom Hip kit yet, but the regular Stage Customs sound great and are the best value for money in the $500-700 price range. The Hip will not sound as big and full, but I have a feeling it'll be a hit with people who need a scaled down and portable kit.

The regular Yamaha Stage Custom Bop (18/12/14) is also a great option if you don't want to compromise sound for portability.
 
If you are not into flat base hardware too much, I recommend single braced tama stagemaster or yamaha 600 series hardware. Both are sturdy enough to get the job done in most situations, but light enough to relieve your back noticeable. I bought a 4 piece set of tamas including a handy bag for about 220 bucks 2 yrs ago. Though I still kept my roadpro stuff, I do all my jobs with the new stands.

You'll find many thin plywood shells out there that one can handle with ease. My little Gretsch Catalina might not be the best kit on the market, but it sounds decent and almost weights nothing with its light lug design and 1.6 mm hoops.
 
I'm assuming that you are using drum bags as opposed to hard cases for your drums. If not, ditch the hard cases and buy some drum bags. My EMPTY 22" hard case weighs about the same as my soft case with my kick inside it.
 
Heavy hardware isn't generally required, but it's nice to have at home, for windy stages, if you clamp on a lot of things or, or I guess if you're a really hard hitting rocker.

I got to check out the Crossroads stuff before Christmas and it's really light. You can't clamp stuff to that thin soft aluminum though, so because of that I'm leaning towards other stuff.
 
Heavy hardware isn't generally required, but it's nice to have at home, for windy stages, if you clamp on a lot of things or, or I guess if you're a really hard hitting rocker.

I have the coolest little set of red sparkle Ludwig Classic Maples in downbeat sizes. I would absolutely love to get some single-braced, flat-base hardware for it . I love the look and the lighter weight. However, I play on so many sketchy, uneven surfaces, I'm afraid that they would be more likely to tip over. I play in really tight corners too where band members fight for real estate. I like being able to intermingle my tripods without too much hassle.
 
I have the coolest little set of red sparkle Ludwig Classic Maples in downbeat sizes. I would absolutely love to get some single-braced, flat-base hardware for it . I love the look and the lighter weight. However, I play on so many sketchy, uneven surfaces, I'm afraid that they would be more likely to tip over. I play in really tight corners too where band members fight for real estate. I like being able to intermingle my tripods without too much hassle.

Yeah, there ae no one size fits all for this stuff. Ideally, if you do lots of different stuff you'll have heavy stands, light stands and rack just depending on what's most practial for the situation.
 
DIY light weight cymbal stand (why don't manufacturors do this?):
get a mic stand ( much lighter than a standard(?) cymbal stand), If it has a boom, remove it
Use a clamp to attach your available boom arm to the mic stand ( it won't crimp the tube)
Spread the mic stand legs to their max
Attach your cymbal
OR
Instead of clamping the boom arm, find one that can fit inside the tube and make a straight cymbal stand

Presto! A stand that's 1/2 the weight of your regular cymbal stand
FYI: I attached a 19" Paiste PST7 to my test mic stand and smacked it around a bit and the stand did not fall over.
 
Back
Top