tom mount mania!! slingerland or rogers?

[bon viesta]

i was planning to have just a snare stand as tom mount, but there’s something a lot nicer looking about a tom mounted on a bass drum, along with the reduction in choking, that i want to take advantage of.

so, maxwell makes a reproduction slingerland tom mount of the setomatic. they look cool, i’ve heard they’re very stable, and since it’s a reproduction i won’t have to worry about it breaking and being unable to find replacement parts. seems legit.

on the other side, my all-time favorite looking tom mount (with an all-star roster of ringo, john bonham, mitch mitchell, neil peart etc), steve ellis makes a reproduction of rogers swivomatic tom arms. great, adjustable, cool. but the problem is just that i’d have to source and rely on 50+ year old rogers tom brackets. and this form of mount would also be probably 2x as expensive.

are the vintage rogers brackets and the price associated with them worth it?? is there a big chance that they may break on me if they’re in anything but pristine? all opinions/experience welcome.

 

[John Panick]

i was planning to have just a snare stand as tom mount, but there’s something a lot nicer looking about a tom mounted on a bass drum, along with the reduction in choking, that i want to take advantage of.

so, maxwell makes a reproduction slingerland tom mount of the setomatic. they look cool, i’ve heard they’re very stable, and since it’s a reproduction i won’t have to worry about it breaking and being unable to find replacement parts. seems legit.

on the other side, my all-time favorite looking tom mount (with an all-star roster of ringo, john bonham, mitch mitchell, neil peart etc), steve ellis makes a production of rogers swivomatic tom arms. great, adjustable, cool. but the problem is just that i’d have to source and rely on 50+ year old rogers tom brackets. and this form of mount would also be probably 2x as expensive.

are the vintage rogers brackets and the price associated with them worth it?? is there a big chance that they may break on me if they’re in anything but pristine? all opinions/experience welcome.

I used Rogers for decades gigging with zero problems.

 

[levelpebble]

There is nothing better than Ohio era Rogers swivo gear. Nothing. Make sure you have the machined collet noses, not the later die cast Fullerton ones.

 

[John Panick]

There is nothing better than Ohio era Rogers swivo gear. Nothing. Make sure you have the machined collet noses, not the later die cast Fullerton ones.

☝ this!!!

 

[JohnnyVibesAZ]

I had the Set-O-Matic tom mounts on my two Slingerland sets, and they were both solid as a rock. I had absolutely NO trouble with them.

 

[Talktotommy]

I had the Set-O-Matic tom mounts on my two Slingerland sets, and they were both solid as a rock. I had absolutely NO trouble with them.

Yes indeed the single Setomatic will (should)never fail.
Always wanted to try one of those fancy swivo-matics though.

 

[kdgrissom]

I can't speak to the Slingerlands, as I have no history with them, But my Swivo Rogers mounts (Cleveland and Fullerton) are as solid as the day they were made. Though I did swap out the cast collets with the Machined collets on the Fullerton years ago.

 

[Mcjnic]

Not to confuse the point … but you can put a Rogers twin tom pole into a Slingerland bass mount.
Something I discovered one day while messing around with my vintage kits.
I would play my Rogers 60s tom’s mounted on a Slingerland bass.

 

[K.O.]

Just a note about the Maxwell repro arm. I have heard that the D shaped arm on the mount was made upside down so you have to flip the bracket over on the tom for it to work. So the tightener on the bracket faces down instead of up. Not a huge deal but just one thing to consider if such things might bother you. It's even possible that this have been sorted out if they've done another run of them (I was at Maxwell's Chicagoland store yesterday but didn't look into that).

I've used both original single SOM and Rogers Swivo and both work great. A single Rogers is trickier to mount the base plate on the drum since there are two possible angles to work with (two different base plates, actually three if you count the 90 degree one) and you have to figure out the best placement. The Slingerland just goes on the top centerline, usually a bit closer to the batter side of the drum for a single SOM.

Of the two I'd probably lean towards the Rogers but either is better than a Ludwig* or a Rail.


*Although modern Ludwig with a ball arm works very well if that option appeals to you. The "L" arm design does not protrude into the shell and the ball is very adjustable. I use those on my sets that had the center post style bracket to hold one tom (via an extended length L arm). And then there's INDe's slick designs.... but I digress.....

 

[bon viesta]

after doing a little math, it seems that the rogers mount would cost upwards of 400 bucks plus a road trip 5 hours away to pennsylvania if i get repro collects and a repro arm (60x2 for collects, ~80x2 for the actual brackets, and 175 for the steve ellis arm which is only sold by local pickup), versus the 145 i’d spend with steve. i should mention i’m very influenced by jazz and i think slingerland drums are kind of “jazzy” in my opinion.

anyways, i think i’ll go with the slingerland mount unless if someone starts reproducing their own rogers brackets (PLEASE SOMEONE DO THIS!!!! those brackets are always in demand it feels like)

 

[BennyK]

Rogers with a bit more flex will allow your toms to resonate more , especially if you mount them receiver plates at center of the shell like the originals and extend the hex bar as far away from the shell as possible . That whole nodal point school of thought is iffy to me . Go for pre Fullerton machined parts if possible .

 

[bon viesta]

also for the record i’m talking about putting a mount on ludwig drums, i’m not sure if slingerland on ludwig is sacrilegious to some.

 

[drumtimejohn]

i was planning to have just a snare stand as tom mount, but there’s something a lot nicer looking about a tom mounted on a bass drum, along with the reduction in choking, that i want to take advantage of.

so, maxwell makes a reproduction slingerland tom mount of the setomatic. they look cool, i’ve heard they’re very stable, and since it’s a reproduction i won’t have to worry about it breaking and being unable to find replacement parts. seems legit.

on the other side, my all-time favorite looking tom mount (with an all-star roster of ringo, john bonham, mitch mitchell, neil peart etc), steve ellis makes a reproduction of rogers swivomatic tom arms. great, adjustable, cool. but the problem is just that i’d have to source and rely on 50+ year old rogers tom brackets. and this form of mount would also be probably 2x as expensive.

are the vintage rogers brackets and the price associated with them worth it?? is there a big chance that they may break on me if they’re in anything but pristine? all opinions/experience welcome.

Perhaps an alternative.

Rogers Dynomatic Ultra-Adjust Tom Arm with Straight Rod | Reverb

Rogers Dynomatic Ultra-Adjust Tom Arm with Straight Rod New Ultra-Matic ball adjustment joint for exact drum placement Original Rogers spec hex rod arm & vertical shaft Replacement for Swivo-matic mounts Straight hex rod tom mounting style Hex rods measure 4 3/4" and 7"

reverb.com

 

[K.O.]

also for the record i’m talking about putting a mount on ludwig drums, i’m not sure if slingerland on ludwig is sacrilegious to some.

In that case why not use Ludwig parts? You can have nearly the same sort of set up as either of the vintage models will achieve using modern Ludwig parts. Install the classic diamond base plate on the bass drum. Get a single tom mount that accepts a ball arm (extended length ball arm if you can locate one). Drill the tom for a classic mount but install an INDe BR2 instead. Now you'd have a "correct" Ludwig setup (or one that could be retrofitted to be) with a good deal of flexibility (any holder with a 1" downtube could be utilized) and have an iso mount besides.

Just a suggestion. That's the setup I use on Ludwigs that already have that base plate in place and it works as well as either of the options you mentioned.