Benefits of a rack?

[remhed]

Hi all,

Infrequent poster here...

I am considering getting a rack for my main kit. It is a 5 piece gretsch renown maple. I usually have two crashes and a ride- pretty simple set up. I"m a hobbyist / amateur and play in a local band. My two high toms are stand mounted, not bass mounted. The floor tom has its own legs. When we play out, I'm looking for a way to lighten the load of hardware I have to carry, speed up my set up and tear down, make it more consistent, and take up less space on stage. I already have some lightweight DW flat base hardware to help lessen the weight of my hardware case (hi hat and snare stand).

So is a rack worth it? Will it meet my objectives? One concern I have is that I like my right high tom to the left of the bass drum and the right high tom just about centered over the bass with the ride hanging over the right side of the bass to the floor tom. With the racks it looks like there is no good way to get that kind of configuration.

Thoughts / opinions?

THanks,

Steve

 

[Sequimite]

I play a 5 pc 3 cymbal setup as well. I was using a rack but have stopped in order to take up the smallest amount of space when playing live. I think it's of questionable value for this size set and I just don't seem to have a problem with the drum kit being set up a little differently each time.

 

[noahJT]

You get a lot of free drinks with a good one

 

[stickinthemud]

I don't see a rack as a solution to your problem (desire to speed setup, reduce hardware) unless you have a truck you can just set the rack in and walk the thing into your venues.

A lot has been said about how to speed setup. I try to avoid breaking my stands down unless I foresee a situation where the loading dock is far from the stage. This saves me the time it takes to fold everything out. Because my kit is not precious (yours sounds more worthy of protection than mine), I don't case my kick and toms, but carry them in and out as a unit. That may change in time. Snare gets cased, as does suspended tom. My drum carpet is marked with tape to speed setup.

This message from Captain Obvious: Remember, kids - the easiest way to reduce hardware is to reduce the number of cymbals and drums you use.

 

[Jordan Blue]

you're looking to lighten your load and you're considering a rack?
Ummmmmmm....no....no...and NO...
Get some lighter weight cymbal stands.
Setting up a rack/tearing down takes way too long unless you have a big truck to slide it in already set up.

 

[bolweevil]

As others have mentioned, for the size of your kit a rack may not be the best solution in terms of speed of set-up and space taken up on stage.

Take it from me, as my metal days grow further and further past and my kit becomes smaller, I'm really trying to find a way to unload my rack in order to buy traditional stands.

 

[Stixnergard2]

If the ergonomics work for you, consider a Bass drum double Tom mount and replace your cymbal stands with DW 6000 flat base stands or another lightweight stand.

 

[Mrtboner]

You get a lot of free drinks with a good one

Thank you!

 

[paul]

I've been using Gibraltar racks since 1997 on configurations of four to nine pieces, and have done a lot of measuring.

With my smallest kit, a 13/16/22 set, the rack was just a few pounds lighter than the stands it replaced. Actual stage footprint was about the same. Stage space is often defined by the cymbals, not the legs of stands or lack of same.

My normal gigging setups now are 2 up/2 down with different sized drums, and with 6-7 cymbals. The racks are always torn down completely and are extensively memory locked and labeled. Setup takes about 20 minutes, and teardown 15 minutes or less, depending on how big a hurry I'm in and how much room I have to work.

One of the best things about a rack, IMO, is that it decouples bass drum and small toms, and lets you put both exactly where you want them, and do so consistently.

The more toms and cymbals you set up, the greater the advantage in weight and time a rack offers, but I've seen no real penalty in either with any of my racks. Floor toms with legs and small toms mounted on bass drum offer a significant weight and setup time advantage, but with the disadvantage of limiting drum positioning, and that's a killer for me.

A rack, no matter how far down you break it, offers extremely consistent positioning with minimal adjustment at gigs, and everything is where it's most comfortable for the drummer.

The only downside I've found is that making changes is not something you want to do before sound check. The first time I set up a rack for bass and seven toms I spent about four hours getting everything where I felt comfortable. I'm better now, but still expect to spend at least a couple of hours building a new configuration, and also allow myself a few days to practice with it and make final adjustments. I'll also make small changes on gigs, but after a month or so of working with it I rarely need to.

 

[Slippy]

I love my rack but only for my rehersal kit cause it never leaves the studio. Its sturdy it has memory locks so when i do have to break it down it goes back up the same way. But to use it for live shows now way it takes me about 20 min to set it up. I bought a 5 pc 2 tom mount off the bass drum for easy set up.

 

[remhed]

Thanks for all the great feedback.

I try to avoid breaking my stands down unless I foresee a situation where the loading dock is far from the stage. This saves me the time it takes to fold everything out.

Stickinthemud, I don't quite follow you here. Do you have a van or something that you transport your stuff around in where you don't have to fold the legs up? I have a hardware bag that everything goes in, so everything gets folded up and collapsed to a degree but they are all marked so I can set up with as much consistency as possible.

 

[ludwig402]

I set up my toms the same way you do. On one of my monthly gigs the backline kit had a rack system.
Even though the rack itself was curved, I still could not get the toms exactly where I would like them to be.
In fact I had to give myself a good hour to re-position everything in a way that I could play somewhat comfortably.
(The guy that played before me must have been like 7'4" or something) I think making adjustments on individual stands
would have been a lot easier and far less time consuming.
The rack is not my cup of tea. For me, memory locks on everything, a couple of duct tape markings on my carpet and
I'm good to go.

 

[Manicoti]

i minimized weight by going with mostly DW6000 stands and then a DW7700 single braced boom stand for my ride. I then used one of those booms that clamps to my dw7700, so two cymbals off one stand. I also sometimes use a splash which also mounts off a boom stand that clamps either to my hi hat stand or another cymbal stand depending on positioning requirements. To top it all off, i've also started mounting more off my bass drum. You don't have to drill. DW makes a great wood hoop clamp that allows for countless possibilities.

 

[Phishbowlin]

I've never used a rack, and I would like to try one but I'm not going to shell out a couple hundred bucks for something I might not like on a whim when I have fully functional stands. Perhaps using stands with multiple booms will lighten your load?

 

[bolweevil]

I have just switched my RIMS mounts so my rack is used for my practice kit at home and the stands that came with the practice kit go with my gigging kit. I'm just tired of teardown/set-up and lugging it around, but a rack is great at holding cymbals and drums in place, obviously.