Do you recommend Visu-lites?

[Ponch]

I considering replacing my PD7/9 cymbal pads with Visu-lites. If you own them, are you happy with them and do they give a "real cymbal" feel? How's the triggering? Would you buy them again? I'm using a TD-8 sound module.

Here's what I'm considering in Translucent Gray:

1 1800B 18" Ride Cymbal
1 1600 16" Crash
1 1055 14" Chokeable Crash
1 1200 12" Crash for HiHat top
1 1200 12" Crash (no rubber) for HiHat btm

Tom Pickard at Visu-lite recommended the 1200 for my hats since I'm using the Roland FD-7 foot pedal.

Thanks.

[Tom Berry]

Hi Ponch,
I have 1 Visulite Chokable Crash and 2 of the 18" Ride with Bells. I like them pretty well, however I wish I had waited a few months until the vcymbals had come out. But overall I'd give them a 7 on a scale from one to ten. I've played the vcymbals and would give them an 8.5 (still waiting for the perfect ecymbals I guess). I am going to buy the Roland Hi Hat when I get the money. I had the Visulite and sent them back. Just didn't like um. I think at some point I will try to sell the Visulites and go completly with the Rolands.
Make sure you try the Rolands out before you buy the Visulites.

[Ponch]

Thanks for your input Tom, I played the Roland Vcymbals at our local Guitar Center and really liked them. I was hoping not to spend that much on a set of cymbal pad replacements. The Visu-lites are a lot less expensive.

[RonBon]

I just bought the Hats and the Bell Ride. I've only had them a couple weeks so this is my first impression.

I absolutely love the Ride. No complaints.

The Hats will take some tweeking. First of all I use a DW Hi-Hat stand with the rotating legs and had a heck of a time mounting the controller. Second, I'm afraid if my clutch slips and the pedal goes to the floor that I'm going to rip this thing apart.
Third, the bottom cymbal seems to dance a little more than I'm used to and that causes the two cymbals to rattle together more than a like. Fourth, I'll have to get used to the difference in weight. I don't what it is but it bothers me. Fifth, there seems to be a Hot spot right above where the trigger is mounted. I don't get this on the ride.

Like I said I've only had these for a couple weeks so... Would I buy them again? Yes.

Would I recommend them? The ride, definitely.
The Hats, too early.

Also, about the hats, when I take into consideration that I get to use my own stand and that they are only $175 for the whole thing compared to $179 just for the FD-7. I feel much better about my purchase.

The crashes are next on my list.

------------------
RonBon

[ADD]

I recently bought 2 14" crashes to replace my pd-7's and it was a good move. I think they look and play a lot better than the pd-7's. They also trigger perfectly which was one of my major worries. I would go with the roland v-hi-hat if you like using your fd-7. But if you really like the feel of a real hi-hat stand then go with the visulites. The v-crashes feel better than the visulites and have more inertia which is nice but they are still 3X as much. I would try a crash and ride and if you like those get some more.

[BtnkBndt]

Originally posted by RonBon:
The Hats will take some tweeking. First of all I use a DW Hi-Hat stand with the rotating legs and had a heck of a time mounting the controller. Second, I'm afraid if my clutch slips and the pedal goes to the floor that I'm going to rip this thing apart.
Third, the bottom cymbal seems to dance a little more than I'm used to and that causes the two cymbals to rattle together more than a like. Fourth, I'll have to get used to the difference in weight. I don't what it is but it bothers me. Fifth, there seems to be a Hot spot right above where the trigger is mounted.

I have the same DW stand you describe and the controller would barely fit. Okay, what did was to mount a Gibralter L-rod type tom mount on my rack upside down from the top bar. Mounted the stand to it using one of those Pearl accessory clamps and then proceeded to mount the controller to the L-rod of the upside down tom mount.

Clamp goes between the tom mount on the right of the pic and the hat stand on the left.

Don't let the clutch slip!

To stop the bottom cymbal dance, adhere the felt from the stand to the cymbal using double sided carpet tape (Home Depot). Drill a hole in the metal washer and punch a hole in the felt so the tilt screw will extend through. The hole in the felt should be small enough so the screw sort of threads into it.

As for the triggering hot spot. At first I rotated my hat so the trigger is actually to the right of the area I played. I have since moved it back and played with the parameters a bit. Working fine this way. I also enlarged the hole underneath so the piezo housing and wire wouldn't contact the lower hat at all. They might have enlarged this hole by now? I also added an fsr so I can access the edge sounds.

I disliked them at first myself but went ahead and worked the bugs. Alot of additional work but I'm very happy with them now and I really enjoy the feel of the hat stand as compared to the e-footpedals.

[This message has been edited by BtnkBndt (edited April 30, 2001).]