How to Set up a Drum Rack 

To rack or not to rack? It’s a question every drummer must answer for themselves. If you’re an aspiring rack-onteur, Sweetwater’s NDV shows you how to rack the right way! Shop drum rack systems and parts here 👉 imp.i114863.net/KeRQWn

When I was a kid playing the original club scene in Colorado in the late 80's early 90's, a rack was super convenient to set up my kit perfectly every night and get on and off stage quickly between bands on bills that had upwards of 5 bands per night. And my rack fell off the back of a truck, got dragged a few hundred feet, and still held up for the gig. It was so good, someone stole it. I've never been able to justify the purchase of a new one in my older years, but I loved my Gibraltar rack back in the day.

My old e-drum got old and useless so I used it's rack for my acoustic and boy am I glad that I did that. In a small room racks really do come useful.

got a Gibraltar rack. Love it so far. However, you should consider some guides like colored tape or labels on your rack parts. Setting up for a gig can be..."puzzling."

Interesting that I get this recommended today. Just got my Gibraltar rack in. I went very small and very effective. I bought what’s marketed as a left side extension and and used my bass drum as the other leg by clamping the crossbar to the cymbal stand coming out of it. Got three rack toms and two cymbals on one 36 inch bar. Works like a charm!

My dream rack as a teenager was the Voelker rack that the great, late Nick Menza used on tour with Megadeth.

"It is as solid as a rock" Whole rack jiggles

Thanks for show casing items and gear at Sweetwater. It’s great to see the many options to make playing fun.

I love having a drum rack. It's better than having stands

Had my stealth rack (front and side) for 7 years.. stayed the same through a bunch of kits. Takes a little playing around, and you may end up buying a piece / clamp you don’t need along the way, but it’s worth experimenting.

We never had any problems back then with bass mounted tom holders,flat base stand,s,etc.been there done that,the old analogy,k.i.s.s.,but still,nick,love yourchop,s,your professionality,and the way you explain thing,s.

My friend has that exact drum set I play on it when I sit in with his band it sounds great

Dude, I really dig how you describe the products at Sweetwater... you can sell an Eskimo ice 🧊! Keep up the great work!

Guess its time to pump out some overtime cause I really like that setup.

That's good information. And a great video too, thanks for sharing 🤘

One day, I had a customer approach me and asked me where he could find a rack. I advised him it was right next to Syria, where it's always been! (Not kidding, this really happened)!

I started out in the 70s with flush base Premier Lokfast stands, went through the heavyweight double brace hardware then to a rack system, back to double brace and now my kit is supported on flush base stands again hence going full circle. Great video Nick on building a rack system but I would like to see you do a review on the lighter but still perfectly sturdy flush base offerings from DW, Ludwig, Gibraltar and Tama classic ranges of lightweight hardware.

love Gibraltar racks. I have a cage built from over 70 tubes. 200 clamps etc. monster eighties style cage

I would like to see individual videos of each rack systems. I want to see a video for the Yamaha Hexrack.

With a larger kit racks are very nice to have

Indiana in this piece! Love Sweetwater! 💯 🥁

You forgot about Tama's Power Tower rack system. Remember those crazy drum cages hair metal drummers used to use in the 80s? I always liked the original, the Collarlock bar system. Their ads always featured really creative setups. Unfortunately, their system was complicated, with multiple tube diameters which necessitated multiple clamp sizes IIRC (none of their clamps were diamond-hole universal clamps). DW bought them, discontinued them, then came out with their current Gibraltar clone rack system. Nothing against Gibraltar, I use two customized mini-racks on either side of my kit at home, but I wish DW would've worked to streamline and improve Collarlock instead, or at least come up with their own ideas beyond adding spikes and spirit levels (admittedly great ideas, but still).

Thanks for the tips

Great segment!

I love my DW rack way more than stands.

Take a shot every time Nick says rack

I prefer cymbal stands because they're cheaper 🤣 and then I put tons of boom clamps and cymbals on them to increase their usefulness....but eventually I'll probably grab a stand for my next home setup.

I use a PDP/Gibraltar rack at home, my gigging kit is smaller and I only need a couple stands. ^_^

Drum lego is best lego!

The link doesn't have any of the components used.

Drum racks has a bad rep?? Why? As far as I'm concerned, racks eliminate every last annoying thing I had to deal with using stands. 1. The hassle of setting up the kit and spending loads of time tweaking and adjusting every single boom arm, tom, etc, is completely solved with memory locks. I love the idea of everything just falling into place when setting up, instead of finding space for three cymbal stands that god as my witness stood perfectly and hour ago, but now it just won't fit in comfortably. 2. My rack is specifically designed to be easy to tear down and build up. I can do it in about 15 minutes. And I have a big double bass setup. That's because everything is build to be as low effort as possible, and everything connects perfectly. I've gone a little overboard, in the sense that nothing sits on the floor - besides pedals and the rack itself. That means that my snare, floor tom, hihat, and even bass drums are connected to the rack. I removed my bass drum legs and used the Tom post as the connection point, so I don't even need to worry about that anymore. The only downside is that providing backline at gigs can be a potential problem because the other drummer can't really adjust the bass drum distance. If they remove it from the post, it's just gonna roll off stage, lol. 3. Customization is soooo much easier when you can just throw it on the rack instead of squeezing in yet another stand. New cymbal? Attach it to a clamp. Having trouble finding the sweet spot for your toms because your bass drum is offset or whatever? Attach it to a clamp. Voila!! 4. It looks badass. Function over flash, obviously. But Gibraltar is clearly banking on the wauv factor with many of their designs. And for good reason. I have two docking stations with my two kicks, and it looks absolutely brilliant. I don't get drummers - specifically metal drummers - who have a ton of cymbals on individual stand. It's a complete mess of tripods, I don't get it. Not to mention the whoppeling from everything and the nightmare of hauling everything around when playing gigs. 5. Less parts! I've been able to significantly cut down the amount of stuff for my kit because when using a rack, I need less to make a lot of stuff work properly. The important thing to note here is that less stuff means fewer things that can go wrong. Fewer wingnuts or screws that can go loose, and suddenly fall over, fewer points of tension or stability that suddenly gives out. All in all, using racks is not suitable for every situation or setup, and I get why someone would refrain from using them. But I don't get the bad rep part. Racks are incredible pieces of gear and immensely versatile in use. And thanks to Gibraltar, you can treat your drum kit like a model train landscape and fidget with every single point of your setup, like I do 😂

Cool setup, to bad i play mostly at smaller veneus so this rack system is to big for me

How the docking station lock whit ah 20" bassdrum?

As long as you don't post a video of Terry Bozio's rack set up, we're good. Otherwise we'll all be here to see the next ball drop in Times Square..😂

I'll start using a rack if I'm at that point where I can no longer lift things when I'm older, but still want to drum and get people to help set it up with me. Otherwise, stands are quite easier to place for me and I'll use the time while I'm still young and working out for it!

The concern I have with racks is that I set up my kit so that the toms are in front of the snare drum.

Is this product offered in black?

Hey Nick, what do you do to number the pieces?? Sharpie??

doesn't DW own gretsch and gibraltar now anyway? also, PDP, gibraltar and DW racks, as well as a majority of no name racks, use 1.5" pipes, so any of their components work with each other. can't do that with Pearl or Yamaha.

je ne vois pas l'avantage d'un rack pour un kit aussi simple

DW owns Gibraltar too :)

All that junk just to support one tom and five cymbals? You could achieve the same with two DW 9000 tripods and five cymbal arms.

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