I currently play on a 6 pc. Pearl kit from the early 70's(22",12,13,14,16,14x5 - 2 toms up, 2 floor). I have my rack toms on a seperate stand so I can have them off the kick and over to my left. This allows me to pull my ride in tighter and gives me the same feeling as playing a 4 pc. but with more options.
Right on, dude! A lot of guys today would "poo-poo" on the 12/13/14 part of your tom combo ("
not enough separation!"), but it always worked for me. Seems it does for you, too.
I also tried to move my toms onto a stand, but that never worked for me.
Pushed the hi-hat out too far and I could never find a comfy spot to place the 12.
I used to sit the ride low and hunkered between the 13 and the 14 (or 16), but that doesn't always fit the area you find yourself playing in, so I found just as comfy a spot by sticking it up higher and having it overlap the outer and upper 1/3 of the 13. About 2"-3" outside of, and about 2" above the middle of the head.
That allowed me to place the toms back on the BD and made playing the kit more comfortable...plus it decreased the size of the kit's "foot print", so it could more easily fit into more confined spaces.
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Timmdrum,
I thought "Gadd sizes" were 6/8/10/12/13/14/15/16, all mounted on stands, sometimes an optional 18FT, and a 22BD?
I've seen pics of him with that long row of rack toms with, and without, floor toms.
I'm not sure if this answers your question, but I tend to tension ALL of the heads on my toms to the same number of turns and let their sheer size differences differentiate the sound coming from them.
Always worked for me, and I played 12/13/16 setup for many years on various kits.
Now I play 10x8 and 14x14, tensioned the same way, and it works too.
Elvis