Drum Racks; yea or nay - experience or prejudice?

[Jules]

Do you use drum racks? What brand do you favor?

Personally, I had a Gibraltar rack I added to my Alesis rig several years ago, but it lived in the living room. I never longed for one on an acoustic drum set, I do recognize the convenience and sturdiness of having one.

MAYBE one of the experiences that was a turn off to me was being a stagehand in 1990 and we had a local back opening for a Fall even that also included some bigger acts. This drummer was watching us all work but not knowing the ins and outs of his rack, guys undid lots of things in his rack that really messed up his set up and the drummer was literally about in tears (or maybe actually in tears). This was a lasting first impression that I never got over!

[Scott_M]

I've owned 2 racks over the years, and at this point I'll stick with stands instead of using a rack again.

1 rack was a 1st generation Pearl rack (the one designed by Jeff Porcaro in the late 80's(?) ). While I found not having to argue with tripod bases nice, and the square tubing had absolutely no issues with slippage, the fixed rack height barely cleared the shell of my 24" kick, the lack of modularity to adjust for the size of kit I wanted/needed to use (i.e. string from 8 pc down to 5), and it's inability to collapse or easily break down for transport (sides folded in, but the legs didn't...) prompted me to sell it.

2nd rack was a Gibraltar. Primarily used with my ddrum4 electronic kit, I also used it with my Pearl and Sonor kits a few times. With that one I learned very quickly the importance of memory locks - not just for quick setups, but also for added grip to prevent a clamp from slipping. As nice as it was to be able to setup everything quickly and a 2-person lift to get it on stage once assembled, there were times it would literally take hours to get everything adjusted correctly, especially if one of the bars was at the wrong height or wrong angle. I also had a few of the clamps wear out from the heavy knurling of the ddrum L-Arms, which had to be taken out anytime it was being transported or I'd end up impaling myself or someone else, or snagging intimate objects with them... Sold the ddrum4 kit, and decided to sell the rest of the rack shortly after as I'd already gone back to stands with my Designer kit.

I'm finding that I'm quite happy with bass-drum Mounted Toms, and using at most 3 double-cymbal stands. Even using Sonor's 600 series hardware, the weight of the tom mount and 3 stands is equal or less than a rack would be, they're quicker/easier to setup and tear down, and can fit in a smaller/shorter rolling hardware bag than the rack tubes can.

That said, I'd reconsider a rack if I decided to get another electronic kit, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

[drummermark]

I’ve never used a rack system but I don’t have a bias either way. I opt not to as I don’t want to load the extra gear at gigs. Same reason I prefer kick drums with tom mounts. Less gear equals less back pain. I never play anything larger than a 5 piece but I can see it being practical for larger kits.

[SonorBart]

I never jumped on the rack bandwagon in the 90's/00's. It looked to me like it would be more work to set up and tear down. I like a double tom holder on the bass drum and floor toms on legs.

[DaveInNZ]

My gear lives in my drum room, and let's just say during my 'enthusiastic' period for adding cymbals, stands just got to be a total pain. I ended up with one new Pearl Icon rack, and then added a second older one while buying second hand clamps etc.

It's unsurprisingly steady as a rock and leaves a lot of floor space for mic stands etc. I don't see how anyone could use a rack system with round bars, I've seen both Gibraltar and DW racks have their clamps spin on the bar far to easily, whereas the Pearl square bar, and I assume the Yamaha Hex Rack simply prevent this. Pearl's range of add on clamps and adapters basically mean you can mount anything.

I can only see me moving away from it for gigs outside (lightweight stands for this obviously) or if I started using the heavyweight Sonor triple and quintuple stands for mounting stuff.