DRUMANDSTAGE FORUM

I recently re-acquired a 600 Series DCS that I sold 14 or 15 years ago, I guess. I didn't realize how much had changed on the 600 series in that time. Most people wouldn't care, but I am a very detail oriented and practical person. In this case there were some legitimate things to sort out and one or two very trivial things.

Issues: The cymbal tilters on my older 600 series stand have M6 posts with the dual wing nut set up. TWO chances for me to lose something every time I take a cymbal off or put it on. The newer ones have M8 posts and the quick release things which I LOVE because whenever I am not playing my drums, the cymbals and snare drum are in their King Kong Kases. Really slows me down dealing with wing nuts.

The older stand doesn't have the memory lock on the tripod. Most people may not care, but I am meticulous and I like all my bases (2 in this case) set similarly so that whatever I grab can be immediately positioned properly. Everything has a memory lock setting and a specific place in the rig.

Next is the vertical tubes on each cymbal arm. Who decided that you need to be able to jack your cymbals 10 feet into the air? These aggrieve me because they extend down into the region where the wing nut for the base resides. It can be fussy to have all that extra tubage (I made it up, but this is MY story) in the way. So, I have the short pieces to replace them. The short pieces also modernize the memory locks which is certainly trivial, but I want everything updated, when possible.

Next up are the booms. Long, and potentially sticking out into traffic. I like the BA-TB's. I have one now and three on the way.

Not only does this give me flexibility to put things where I want them while keeping a really clean footprint, but when you add up all the changes, it really cuts weight to. When you load all the 600 series stuff into a case or bag, every pound you can eliminate helps!

That leaves one really trivial things. The last memory lock on the middle section of the stand. The original one is completely functional, but it drives me a little nuts to have one thing on the stand mismatched. HOPEFULLY Sam has one and can hook me up when he comes back from vacation.

So... does anyone share my quasi-irrational thinking about hardware?

I am this way inclined, but the vast majority of my hardware is Pearl (including two Icon racks - don't ask) primarily because here it's like 25% of the cost of Sonor stuff. This Pearl-centric approach to hardware heads off my OCD tendencies.

And I have a stash of Signature Series and Phonic era hardware to achieve your dual telescopic cymbal arrangement.

I do have three 600 series boom stands though which have the M6 locknut and wingnut arrangement and that brings me onto reflecting on the wingnuts. I don't gig, so speed isn't an issue for me, but sound is. I've tried these thumb button quick release cymbal nuts everyone sells under different brand names and the spring in them is often audible when you crash a cymbal. So I've been dropping QR nuts in favour of normal wing nuts and of course they slowly but surely unwind themselves. Pearl's Winglock felt/QR nuts don't back off, but do get chewed up and because the centre sleeve is all part of the unit they can be an expensive replacement. Which is leading me back to think, that in true Sonor form, maybe the locknut/wingnut combo on 600 stands was really the over-engineered but perfect solution all along...

I have since been entertaining ideas of replacing all my cymbal booms on my rack with Sonor ones and then wincing at the cost. If they don't come with the locknut/wingnut combo anymore, that seals it.

I recently sold what must have been 8 or so of the M6 cymbal tilters. And I am about to have 2 more! I haven't head anything coming from the spring loaded units, and am perfectly happy with them. Particularly so when trying to pack up cymbals and snare after service and meet up with folks for lunch.

I bought some 600 hardware (2 dbl. cymbal stands, a single cymbal stand, and a snare stand) in like-new condition from a guy on the old Sonormuseum soon after it came out. I used it until 3 years ago when I switched to 3000 stands for rock since I didn't need the rotating leg or heavier weight once I quit using an 8" tom. I sold the single and one of the doubles this past year, but still have one double and the snare stand. The double is in a case in my garage and I use the snare stand for rock gigs. Mine never had the tripod width memory locks, so I used hose clamps as I have for 45 years. I have 2 of the BA-TBs and really like them. I use the 6mm T-shaped threaded discs from the Designer era and they don't loosen. I have a second generation 5000 hi hat on my home kit and use a 3000 for rock gigs. I had a couple of the second generation 5000 block double cymbal stands with the Signature-like tripods. They were a work of art, but were completely impractical for gigging without memory locks on the blocks and they were really heavy. I sold them once I got the 600s.