QUESTIONS WITHOUT EMAIL ADDRESS MAY VANISH!
Posted by Chris on 8/7/2006, 9:40 am, in reply to "Win a Snare Drum! Tom Mounting Opinion/Story" That’s how I feel at least. If it works well for what I need, I use it. For tom mounts, they need to be light, strong, easily adjustable and most importantly, they need to stay where I put’em! I’ve had exposure to just about every tom mounting system known to man at one point or another. From the massive metal monstrosities of Sonor, to the flimsy, lightweight consolettes on the 60’s Japanese kits. I’m not a big fan of using a snare stand for toms. It tends to put the drum too far to the left of the bass drum for my tastes. And the bigger the bass drum, the further out the tom gets. For what I do like, (working backwards from the tom to the tube), “L-arm” configurations (Ludwig, Tama) are among my favorites. Yamaha’s hex mounts (much like Roger’s Swiv-o-matics) are great too. Rock solid. Not a fan of Pearl’s large tube design. Tubes slip. Unacceptable. I don’t want to be forced to use memory locks for my toms to stay where I put them. I really prefer the adjustability of the “ball type” mounts at the ratchet points. Seemingly infinite adjustments are possible with these. Most of the majors have adopted them. I favor single mount most times over dual mount. If I have a single mount config and I’m going with a traditional four piece, I can throw a cymbal arm in that vacant space that the second tom would occupy. But still have the flexibility to go with toms next to each other if I want. Bass drum mount vs. Stand Mounted? I’m torn. I like the stability that added weight from bass drum mounted toms give; it tends to help to defeat the old bass drum creep syndrome. But I also like the freedom of placement “flying in” toms from a stand allows. Also, virgin bass drums usually do sound very good. Thankfully, I’ve never had a disaster on stage where a tom mount has failed me. I fully expected to at one point though. At the time (late 80s), I had a big Ludwig kit. 12, 13, 14, and 15 inch toms with a 16 inch floor, all mounted on a Tama cage. RIMS had just come out and I bought them for the kit. I had this big 16 inch floor tom on a RIM, hanging from the cage like a tom. To look at it, the relatively skinny Tama L arm looked as if it would snap at any time. That thing held up to months and months of hard playing in clubs and bars all over Philadelphia. It never failed me.
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Like most things concerning drums, ‘form follows function’.
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