Does anybody use a tilting hi-hat stand?

Push pull stroke

Platinum Member
I’ve been thinking about getting the Tama Iron Cobra Lever Glide so I can play heel down on the hats without reaching (it can tilt). Any ideas? Are there others that tilt?
 
I have and use the Tama IC Lever glide. I think it’s the best feeling hat stand available. I also use it tilted 100% of the time and it does reduce the reach. The max tilt angle isn’t much, but it does the job.
 
I have the IC Leverglide and Speed Cobra. Love them both angled.
 
If I put something under the feet of a normal hi hat stand to cause it to tilt toward me, does the Tama Lever have that much advantage over it? I’m trying to understand the Tama’s advantages. Mechanically, the Tama seems to be high quality but costs $300.
It’s designed with two legs and the pedal and a extendable brace directly under the pedal. To tilt the stand you simply lower the legs past ground zero and it tilts the main shaft—all of it—towards you. However, the pedal is on a floating hinge so that nothing binds when the shaft is tilted. This means that pedal is not the third leg of the tripod, and the extendable brace is.

It’s very stable, but I think the entry price is for the lever glide action. There are other brands with a lever-activated hi hat stand, too.
 
I use a bog standard dw 5000 stand ( I cut the legs off to rack mount it ) and tilted it by loosening the two drum screws that allow the foot plate to fold up for transport, leaning it over to where i wanted it and doing them back up. It's never moved or loosened whilst playing in over 20 years. This is not the greatest picture to show it, but you can see the amount of tilt I get from simply not having the screws right back in their slots.81069476_10218484590599083_4749535197110730752_o.jpg
 
I have and use the Tama IC Lever glide. I think it’s the best feeling hat stand available. I also use it tilted 100% of the time and it does reduce the reach. The max tilt angle isn’t much, but it does the job.

What’s the advantage of the lever glide versus others?
 
I use the adjustable feet of the Atlas Classic stand to tilt it toward me slightly, and I like that since it makes it a bit easier to play staccatos with the stick tips.
 
My Trick hi-hat tilts which I used when I had 13" hats just to bring them closer to me without getting my foot underneath me. Since going to 14" hats, I've gone back to vertical - didn't really notice any difference in terms of pedal feel or responsiveness when tilted.
 
I'm another Tama Lever Glide user. I also have the tilting seat cup. I adjust the angle to mitigate some of the offset from running a double pedal, but nothing extreme. The top cymbal ends up being slightly tilted towards me, which I prefer anyhow.
 
I have the Speed Cobra version of the Lever Glide and I highly recommend it. It's the smoothest HH pedal I've ever owned. And the most stable HH pedal I've ever owned. Everything about it is top notch.

The tilt feature is awesome and something I never want to do without now.

It's heavy, but I think HH pedals should be heavy because it keeps them more stable and prevents slippage.
 
Last edited:
I rocked a Tama LeverGlide since the mid 1990s and LOVED the feel and positioning with the tilt. I decided to pick up a Sonor 5000 (Designer) hi hat to go with my kit, which is great--but I miss the tilt feature terribly. My son snatched up my Tama hat, so I may have to pick up another, lol. BTW, I've also been playing the same K/Z hats on that Tama stand, and they aren't keyholed at all. Not an issue.
 
This discussion is not complete without mention of the now-discontinued Gibraltar 9607MLUA Ultra Adjust Hi Hat Stand. Reviews said it wasn't quite as "immediate" feeling due to the cable, but an pretty neat piece of equipment.
 

Attachments

  • Capture.PNG
    Capture.PNG
    108.5 KB · Views: 1
I have the Speed Cobra version of the Lever Glide and I highly recommend it. It's the smoothest HH pedal I've ever owned. And the most stable HH pedal I've ever owned. Everything about it is top notch.

The tilt feature is awesome and something I never want to do without now.

It's heavy, but I think HH pedals should be heavy because it keeps them more stable and prevents slippage.
Same here...you just posted for me.
 
I also use it tilted 100% of the time and it does reduce the reach. The max tilt angle isn’t much, but it does the job.
It’s amazing how just a bit of tilt can make a huge difference. Especially when you use bigger hats.
 
I’ve been thinking about getting the Tama Iron Cobra Lever Glide so I can play heel down on the hats without reaching (it can tilt). Any ideas? Are there others that tilt?
Back in the day I had an Iron Cobra Lever-Glide hi-hat and I did tilt it towards me because I used an IC double pedal at the time and the tilting feature brought the hats a little closer and I liked that. These days light weight is more important to me and I don't need a double pedal anymore so I use a light entry level Pearl hi-hat. But those lever glide hats feel amazing. If I find a used single braced one I will snap it up.
 
Back
Top