racks

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Blink 182

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im looking into the idea of setting up my drums on a rack. mainly because im quite limited on floor space where i practice, and all my cymbal stands take up alot of room, and i cant get a good set up. ive seen a few models, like the pearl, tama and gibraltar ones, but whats really got me confused is how they come when you buy them. alot of them have the prices, and lots of individual pictures of the different parts of the rack. do the racks complete (the front and the 2 sides) or do you have to buy everything seperatly? and also, i have a four piece premier genister kit...just wondering how i would mount the toms. i'd need to mount both because my floor tom attaches to a stand...the pearl ones appear to mount off the same system they have on the bass drum, but i cant imagine the premier systems working in the same way.

any help would be much appreciated.
 
Normally a rack comes with the front bar, 2 side bars and two or four legs.

Normally there are four mounting brackets (enough for 2 mounted toms, a "floor" tom and one cymbal stand). The book arms are not normally included (you should be able to use the top section of your current stands).

Any extra brackets must be purchased (about $20-$30 each) and any extra boom arms must be purchased.)

While the rack may only cost $170-$250 (again based on size and brand) you can spent a couple hundred extra on brackets and boom arms.

You should be able to take the Premier tom mount and clamp it on a rack using the brackets( which come with the rack). A traditional floor tom (with 3 legs) does not mount well, unless you use a differnt mounting system.

I put Pearl Opti-mounts on my Genista kit
 
what rack would you recommend then?

and could you tell me exactly what parts i'd need to mount 2 toms and 3 cymbals...
 
The only rack systems I've had hands on are the Gibralter & the Pearl.

Some people don't like the Gibralter, because they claim slippage (cause of the round tubes) Cetainly the Pearl does not slip (square "tubes").

I don't like the Pearl because the side tubes are too long and as any drummer knows, many times the drummer is stuffed in a tight corner (I've had to crawl out from under a Pearl rack).

I like the Gibralter with the curved front tube and the two curved sides (I think it's the 350 model) at about $250. I have not had a slippage problem (you can tighten the clamps pretty tight with no damage.

I use this to mount up to a 6 piece kit with a set of mini timbales (6 drums actually mounted) and 7 cymbals plus a mounted cowbell and tambourine.

It comes with 4 brackets so you would only need one extra bracket (they call it a multi clamp - about $25) If you already have boom arms on your cymbal stands you can use them - if you don't you would likely need to buy some (they run about $25)
 
I second Mikeh's post. You can't go wrong with a Gibraltar Road Series rack....just avoid specifically the Gibraltar "Power Rack" series. I got a Power Rack a few years ago and had to replace all my right-angle and T-clamps but you won't encounter any slippage or clamp quality issues if you go with Road series.
 
Let me interrupt this Gibraltar lovefest to cast a vote for the Pearl. I used a Gibraltar rack for 9 years before getting a Pearl rack, and wouldn't consider going back. The Pearl rack just feels completely solid. When I was on tour, when tearing down, I'd just remove the drums and the big cymbals and just fold the rack up and toss it in the trailer.
 
I had a Pearl. It was sweet, for the first few months.

It wasn't worth the hassle for playing shows and such, though.

It was a lot of extra weight that I didn't feel like carrying around. Now, I use stands. For 2 crashes, a china, a ride, and 3 toms... I have 3 stands.

Get clamps and heavy duty stands. You'll save money.

I have my high toms and a crash mounted off one stand, a crash off another, and my ride, china, and low tom off the other.
 
elevate,

I do agree the Pearl racks are very solid - I just think the sides are too long for most club work. If I were doing a stadium tour - or at least knew a club tour would have large stages - then certainly the Pearl would be great. But I've found in smaller clubs the Pearl rack had me trapped - or I had to move it far enough away from the back wall that the guitar guys didn't have room up front.

The 350 series Gibralter is a good compromise of reasonable stability with limited space requirements

geet 73,

I agree that a small 4 or 5 piece kit with 2 or 3 cymbals works just as well (if not better) with stands rather than a rack. But Blink's original post didn't ask for debate about the value of a rack - Blink just wanted info about racks.

Certainly going to a rack is a significant extra expense (given that most people who go to rack already have stands).

When I do a sub job with a 4 piece kit and a few cymbals I don't use my rack. But when I take out the bigger kit with several cymbals the rack makes more sense.
 
I know that he was looking for info on a rack.. he's just got a small kit. **I** don't think it's worth it. ;)

It's up to him with what he does. I just suggested something that would save his precious floorspace and also leave some cash in the pocket.
 
I recently downsized my kit from a massive 13 peice Ludwig Super classic, with 14 mixed brand cymbals - to a 6 peice Pearl Masters with just 4 cymbals.

The old massive set up had the older model Pearl Rack, the one that wasn't height adjustable. And though I loved it for that kit, I doubt I'll bother with it for the smaller, newer kit. It just seems like a big hassle to me. Most anyone will tell you that it takes less time to set up your kit. I, however, disagree. Memory locks can get you far in life.

If your kit's not that large, it's probably not worth the extra money to get a rack. Yea, they look cleaner, with no floor legs laying around. But the thing I noticed, especially when recording, is that when you hit a deep tom, that's mounted (even with a rims, or iss mount), sometimes the cymbal will ring a bit, just from the vibration. If all your stands are on a carpeted floor, that won't happen. For that reason, I like going with stand alone stands. Not to mention the flexibility with stands. I could never get my cymbals just right (stacked on top of each other), with the rack, even with boom arms. With stands, I have no problem.

So, if you definitely want a rack, I recommend the Pearl. Their new curved front and sided racks are on their way now, so I'm told from my drumshop buddies. Which will mean two things, one: the old ones will go down in price, and two: they'll be really cool for the extra cash.

Hope that helps.
 
my whole thing is floorspace. i use 3, quite beefy double braced stands, and a hi-hat stand and a tom stand for my floor tom. im having trouble setting up properly because i have limited floor space...i was thinking a rack would take up less space, but still allow me to set up how i want. if im better off as i am then cool, i just imagine a rack would be better because stands you have to open the legs out quite wide for stability. racks appear to take up less floorspace...
 
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