DW rack-tom mount

rdb

Senior Member
Hi everyone:

I just received a DW Performance Series kit, and this being my first kit and all, my instructor is going to help me with setup, but since he's currently away on vacation, I'm getting started on my own. So this is a newbie setup question.

The kit came with a rack-tom mount that mounts on top of the bass drum. It looks like a dwsm992 which you can see on this page. So here's the question. Does it go on with the auxiliary clamp facing back (toward the drummer, between the 2 rack toms) or facing forward (toward the front head of the bass drum). If I put it on facing back, the bolts on the auxiliary clamp stick out dangerously between the 2 rack toms, just asking for a disaster. If I put it on facing forward, then the rack toms end up positioned (what seems to me to be) too far back, encroaching on top of the snare drum.

I've looked around the web for pictures to help, but all of the pictures that I could find always show the Performance Series kit with the rack toms mounted off of cymbal stands. I can't find any pictures of a Performance Series kit with the rack toms mounted on the bass drum. That my kit came with the rack-tom mount on top of the bass drum came as a surprise to me.

Anyways, thanks for any help.
-- Bobby
 
Hey there rbd. When you say mounts on top of the bass drum do you mean your bass drum has a tom mount bolted to it? Performance Series kick drums are undrilled or virgin kick drums. Was your kick drilled and affixed with a tom mount? That accessory clamp on the double tom mount goes behind the toms. Here is a pic showing the clamp to the rear supporting a boom arm for a cymbal.

IMG_2492.jpg
 
Firstly this is your very first kit :-O You are a lucky person!!

As for the mount pretty much what arefish said.
 
Hi areFish:

Thanks for the quick reply. Indeed the bass drum is drilled with a mount bolted to it. That surprised me, since I thought it would be undrilled, and the rack toms would mount off a cymbal stand as you show in the picture (and as in every other picture I've ever seen of a Performance Series kit.
 
Hi areFish:

Thanks for the quick reply. Indeed the bass drum is drilled with a mount bolted to it. That surprised me, since I thought it would be undrilled, and the rack toms would mount off a cymbal stand as you show in the picture (and as in every other picture I've ever seen of a Performance Series kit.

I should have mentioned this in my first post…Congratulations on your kit!

Did you buy it second hand? If it's a DW Performance Series and has a tom mount, someone must have retrofitted it. Any pics? My rack tom(s) are mounted to a double tom stand, but cymbal stands with the right clamps work too.
 
Unless the new years/post NAMM shell pack options now include a tom-mount option factory installed. Might be what he/ his dealer ordered by part#
 
I should have mentioned this in my first post…Congratulations on your kit!

Did you buy it second hand? If it's a DW Performance Series and has a tom mount, someone must have retrofitted it. Any pics? My rack tom(s) are mounted to a double tom stand, but cymbal stands with the right clamps work too.

that same thought just went through my head when I saw his follow up post, is it used or ordered from the factory?

Something just doesn't sound right here, can you post up some pics of the bass drum for us?
 
It's brand new from the factory. Here are 2 pictures, a top view and a side view, of the rack-tom mount on top of the bass drum. As you can see from the top view, I've got the mount with the auxiliary clamp facing back (toward the drummer), so those bolts are sticking out frighteningly between the toms. Fortunately, I've got some black rubber tips that I happened to have, but it's still freaking me out, so I'm more convinced that it should be the other way around, with the auxiliary clamp facing forward. Figuring this out as I go, since I've never seen a Performance kit with a rack-tom mount like this. Thanks everyone for all the help.

-- Bobby
 

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Turn the top part around. The clamp is meant to go towards the front head of the kick. Then, use the slider movement on the vertical post (I can see the drumkey fastener in your picture) to adjust the back-and-forth positioning to your liking. Problem(s) solved.
 
The aux. clamp should face the rear. I don't believe that is a law or anything, but the intended design. Perplexed how you ended up with a kick mount. You didn't request that? Nothing wrong with that, just didn't know they where setting them up that way.
 
Turn the top part around. The clamp is meant to go towards the front head of the kick. Then, use the slider movement on the vertical post (I can see the drumkey fastener in your picture) to adjust the back-and-forth positioning to your liking. Problem(s) solved.


Yup turn the mount around so the unused clamp is facing out and you can use that to mount a small boom arm for a splash or cymbal.

I can honestly say this is the first performance kit I've seen with a bass drum mount for the toms and I've never seen one like that. Never knew that was even an option. Honestly if you didn't order it that way I'd probably take it back and ask them to order a virgin one (one with no mount for the toms.)
 
I have the double tom mount on my Ludwig Classic Maple kit reversed. This makes a major difference where the toms end up when trying to place them, especially the front to back distance on the bass drum. I too like the bass drum mounted rack toms. Four of my kits have them.

DSC_0552-1.jpg


Dennis
 
I went ahead and turned the mount around so the aux clamp faces forward (away). It does seem like that's the way it was intended to be used, and even with those rubber tips, having those bolts sticking out so close to the toms was freaking me out. Still, I can see Dennis's point, since I've found it a bit harder to place the toms where I want them with the mount in this direction.

Anyways, I'm checking with the store to see if there were any special instructions about getting the bass drum drilled. Like the rest of you, I've never seen that on a Performance kit, so I don't know if it was due to special instructions from the store or if this is the new way they're doing it from the factory.

In any case, I'm happy to have the option. As a newbie, I'm still experimenting to see what I like. Lots of people seem to like having the 2 rack toms directly above the bass drum, and that's what I'm trying now. But I also see the logic in mounting them off a separate tom stand to the side of the bass drum so that they're directly behind the snare drum. I want to try that configuration too.

Really appreciate all the help I'm getting. Best,
-- Bobby
 
You've got the sliding bass drum mount, but you can't get the toms far enough away from you? Surprising. Remember, you can also swing the L-arms so they point to the front of the drum as well.
 
I just got my DWPS about a month ago, and I'm really glad mine didn't ship with drilled bass drums like that. I would have flipped!
 
The auxiliary clamp should face toward the front of the bass drum. Look at any picture on DW's site in their "Showroom" or one of their catalogs, and you will see how the factory intends for the mount to be used. This concept applies to DW's double tom holder which is mounted on a bass drum and the stand mounted version as well. DW also makes a single tom mount with the auxiliary holder on the side, not front. This particular head is appreciably smaller than the double tom mount.
 
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I just got my DWPS about a month ago, and I'm really glad mine didn't ship with drilled bass drums like that. I would have flipped!

Really? lol.....it's a top-notch sliding mount that they use on their flagship product. Hardly worth flipping over. Besides, I bet your dealer ordered what you asked for, whereas the OP's probably had a miscommunication with their sales rep.

To put it this way, I drilled my own DW for one 10yrs ago as I was so sick of carrying around heavy duty hardware to hang the toms and fighting for stage real estate for them as well. My kick still sounds awesome and huge.
 
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