Your "Optimal" Hardware Line

JimFiore

JimFiore

Silver Member
Who do you think makes a hardware line that best hits the "sweet spot" in terms of price and performance? Let's keep it simple and limit it to cymbal, snare and hi-hat stands, and thrones. I'm not curious about the toughest or some such. For example, I very much like my Tama Roadpro series gear but it's far from the least expensive stuff out there. Rather, who do think offers reasonably solid gear that is dependable, functional, easy to use, IOW it just plain works, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg or break your back lifting it?
 
ron s

ron s

Senior Member
Jim,

I have been very happy since I switched out to Ludwig Atlas Classic for all my stands.
They are sturdy, but very lightweight. Flat legs can be set to overlap if you need to set them up close to each other.
prices are about the same as most- not the most expensive and not the cheapest.
I know my hardware bag is significantly lighter, and the stands are very stable.
I happen to like the look of the flat based stands, but that is subjective.
 
alparrott

alparrott

Platinum Member
The Yamaha 700 series is mid-priced, single-braced, but lasts for years and years. I have been gigging these stands closing in on 20 years now, and they still work great.
 
Duck Tape

Duck Tape

Platinum Member
alparrott said:
The Yamaha 700 series is mid-priced, single-braced, but lasts for years and years. I have been gigging these stands closing in on 20 years now, and they still work great.
Click to expand...

+1

I like themmm.....
 
BradGunnerSGT

BradGunnerSGT

Silver Member
In practice, the mid-level hardware from all the manufacturers is fairly consistently well designed and constructed these days. Gone are the days of having to choose between super-crappy cheap hardware that gives out after a couple of years and break-the-bank hardware that lasts decades.

I have to agree with Al. The Yamaha 700 series is great. Excellent design and craftsmanship. The build quality is top notch. I have a couple of the last stands made in the Japanese facility and a couple of the first stands made in the Chinese facility and the new facility is held to the same QA standards as the old one.

I especially love the 3-hole receiver that lets you expand from a single cymbal stand to having a combination of boom arms and tom holders. Multi-clamps are nice, but getting them positioned just right and making sure that they stay that way in the hardware bag is a pain. The 3-hole receiver + memory locks make it dead simple to expand without adding extra footprint.

I have the Yamaha hardware set up on my practice kit, while my main gigging kit has a hybrid of a Yahama 740 hi-hat, a Sonor "Jojo" pedal, and Gibraltar flat-based stands. The Gibraltar stands are super light weight but are still very sturdy.
 
Pass.of.E.r.a.

Pass.of.E.r.a.

Gold Member
ron s said:
Jim,

I have been very happy since I switched out to Ludwig Atlas Classic for all my stands.
They are sturdy, but very lightweight. Flat legs can be set to overlap if you need to set them up close to each other.
prices are about the same as most- not the most expensive and not the cheapest.
I know my hardware bag is significantly lighter, and the stands are very stable.
I happen to like the look of the flat based stands, but that is subjective.
Click to expand...

+1

I really dig the Atlas Classic series, they're significantly heavier than the DW 6000 series, but that's not saying much as those stands always "dance" away from me when playing due to their weight, or lack thereof.

-Jonathan
 
BradGunnerSGT

BradGunnerSGT

Silver Member
One thing, hardware-wise, that I would like to try is using the Ludwig Atlas cymbal arms in conjuntion with the Atlas mounts. I could eliminate two stands using an arm mounted off of the bass drum and another one mounted off of a floor tom leg. Combining the left side crash and tom mount would eliminate a snare stand that I use for a tom holder. It may not weigh any less than my current setup, but it would take up way less weight in my bag.
 
alparrott

alparrott

Platinum Member
BradGunnerSGT said:
In practice, the mid-level hardware from all the manufacturers is fairly consistently well designed and constructed these days. Gone are the days of having to choose between super-crappy cheap hardware that gives out after a couple of years and break-the-bank hardware that lasts decades.

I have to agree with Al. The Yamaha 700 series is great. Excellent design and craftsmanship. The build quality is top notch. I have a couple of the last stands made in the Japanese facility and a couple of the first stands made in the Chinese facility and the new facility is held to the same QA standards as the old one.

I especially love the 3-hole receiver that lets you expand from a single cymbal stand to having a combination of boom arms and tom holders. Multi-clamps are nice, but getting them positioned just right and making sure that they stay that way in the hardware bag is a pain. The 3-hole receiver + memory locks make it dead simple to expand without adding extra footprint.

I have the Yamaha hardware set up on my practice kit, while my main gigging kit has a hybrid of a Yahama 740 hi-hat, a Sonor "Jojo" pedal, and Gibraltar flat-based stands. The Gibraltar stands are super light weight but are still very sturdy.
Click to expand...

The cymbal stands on the 700, 800 and 900 series were, for many years, the same from the tripod up. The 900 stands now have the gearless phenolic ball tilter, which is nice, but I'm very happy with my geared 700s.

The only time I've ever seen anything Yamaha break is when I overtightened a tom arm and the screws holding the phenolic ball casing stripped out. Beyond that, you have to actually take hacksaws and Dremels to the hardware to "break" it.
 
wildbill

wildbill

Platinum Member
I've got mostly Yamaha stuff, and the majority is 700 series. Got some 800 series stuff, but it's a bit heavy. The Pearl stuff I've tried was also pretty heavy.
Had a bad experience with a cheap Tama throne.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Ludwig hardware, and their newer designs make a lot of sense.
If I'd ever get a Ludwig kit, I'd want to have their hardware to go with it too.
 
porter

porter

Platinum Member
I like Ludwig's Atlas Standard cymbal stands a lot. I also have a Tama Roadpro boom that's good, and the Pearl S2000/1030 is practically untouchable as far as I'm concerned. I really liked the weight of the Standards though, they are just light enough to be easy to carry without being too light to remove my confidence that they'll stand up to metal :)

Tama's boom attachments/clamps are also extremely good and well-priced in my opinion.
 
ron s

ron s

Senior Member
This is the Atlas mount used to replace a lug on the bottom of my 16" floor tom. I inserted a rod and used an Atlas scissor lift to mount my 20" ride cymbal without having to carry a stand. It cleans up the floor on that side as well- good for tight setups- allowing my monitor to come in closer.
Along with the Flat based classic stands it save weight and cleans up the look.
 

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WhoIsTony?

WhoIsTony?

Member
for the working drummer carrying his/her own gear you cannot beat the Yamaha 700

sturdy
lightweight
durable

best stands made

my two cymbal stands and snare stand are always Yamaha and have been for many years

hit hat stand is always DW5000
 
Bo Eder

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
The Yamaha 700 series stuff is great and I just realized I've been using mine for years. I just recently got into the 600 series straight cymbal stands and those also work well. A mix of the two is what I use on my traveling stuff: 600 cymbals stands, and 700 hi hats and snare stands. My throne is a generic heavy duty spindle one.

However, when I line those up against my Pearl 900-series stuff, the weight difference isn't that big. I might be adding another 20 pounds with the Pearl stuff, but I split my hardware into two cases so it's less noticeable.
 
B

Blisco

Senior Member
BradGunnerSGT said:
One thing, hardware-wise, that I would like to try is using the Ludwig Atlas cymbal arms in conjuntion with the Atlas mounts. I could eliminate two stands using an arm mounted off of the bass drum and another one mounted off of a floor tom leg. Combining the left side crash and tom mount would eliminate a snare stand that I use for a tom holder. It may not weigh any less than my current setup, but it would take up way less weight in my bag.
Click to expand...

This is the way to go! My example. Effectively drops 3 stands. Ride is on bass. Crash is off floor. Crash is off hi-hat.

I used to use DW dogbones and would put 3 cymbals on a stand to try and lose weight. It's still a lot to haul around. The Atlas lifts are light and flexible and set up is near instantaneous.



I am partial to the DW 9000 because it just works and lasts forever. But the weight is always an issue. The sweet spot is probably the single braced Yamaha like everyone says.
 
BradGunnerSGT

BradGunnerSGT

Silver Member
Blisco, that's exactly what I'd like to go for.

I was thinking about getting 2 of the straight Atlas arms and setting up one on an Atlas mount off of the bass drum and the other off of a floor tom leg, but after seeing your setup, I think the Scissor Lift on an Atlas mount will enable a lot more flexible positioning.

That looks like the long version of the scissor lift, is that correct? What do you have your ride cymbal mounted on, is it the Short Aerodyne Tilter Clamp or the long one?
 
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