V-Pro Rack

[alacrity024]

I've just been killing time, perusing through some old posts, laughing my ass off now and then (we've got quite a collective sense of humor), and "ah-ha"ing a few times. One of the recurring topics I noticed was that almost NOBODY seems to like the V-Pro rack. I think I saw svook encourage someone to immediately get rid of it and buy a different one.. In my own experience, the v-pro rack (we're talking about the dark blue/purple one here, right?) is sturdy as a rock, despite the fact that I recieved it with two of the post tops slammed in. I've had my set for a month and a half now, and all the clamps are rock steady, the frame doesn't away or torque, in fact, my only complaint is the cymbal mounts- the pads tend to rotate because it's impossible to tighten one of the "elbow" clamps enough. But other than that, I don't see what everyone's complaining about....

adam

[animal]

well that's the problem! The clamps are plastic and don't hold worth a flip. Also, if you travel a lot with the rack, the clamps tend to break. The gibralter racks use metal clamps wich are rock solid. And it's looks a lot better too.

http://www.vdrums.com/reviews/grsrack.html

good pics of the GRS

http://www.vdrums.com/discussion/For...ML/000118.html

post to read about breaking clamps


[This message has been edited by animal (edited August 18, 2001).]

[alacrity024]

no no, the plastic clamps are fine on my rack. hard as nails. I've been able to keep all the drums mounted on the rack and literally toss the entire thing into my friend's minivan with minimal folding and absolutely zero difficulty, and by just unscrewing four of the hex nuts, I can take a leg off and fit the whole thing, pads and all, into the trunk of my hatchback. I'm very pleased with the overall construction of everything. What I'm talking about is the metal cymbal thingys. You know, the big arms? I dunno.. I think there's a camera at my house.. I'll take a picture when I get home and post it..

[luvtheartz]

Adam...I'm with you on this (including the two smashed in plastic caps on the vertical tubes!..I had the same problem). I'm very happy with the rack and have no movement, racking, swaying or even cymbal mount problems. Although I've finally got a handle on the cable routing problem, somebody clever could design a rack with built-in cable management.

[Steveo the Devo]

Originally posted by luvtheartz:
somebody clever could design a rack with built-in cable management.

Numerous members have already come up with different cable management systems routing the cables through the vpro rack. A search should reveal them.

As for the V-pro rack itself. I have very little positive to say for it.
1. Bulk. When folded up it is considerably bulkier to cart around than Gibraltar equivalents
2. Plastic clamps,
a) Difficult to move around (you have to pull the rack apart to relocate them!) and
b) Have a nasty habit of getting broken in transit. Albeit, if you treat it like glass then this will probably not occur but you would be hard pressed breaking anything on a Gibraltar clamp.
3. Tubing, with the plastic clamps you get a black plastic 'graze' occuring where the clamps swing around. Looks bloody ugly.
4. Rack design, cannot fit an acoustic bass drum (greater than 16" in size) under the rack. At least with other racking systems you can use acoustic and electric drums interchangbly.
5. Torque issues. When packing up and down from a gig a couple of times a week, you get the bars working loose, resulting in uneven seating, the crossbars work their way up and down the legs....

As far as positives go. I agree with you all, there is little swaying and rocking.

In my opinion, for the price you are better off getting a midget to hold the drums for you (someone mentioned this as a viable alternative in another thread) or buying another rack.
If the rack is working for you guys then that is great, however most people who have used a different racking system will agree that the Roland rack has been a big let down.

[gingerbaker]

You all make good points.

All rack systems have pros and cons, tho.

I used to use a Gibralter rack for my Pearl set. I learned to despise it.

It was heavy. The big bag you HAD to buy to carry it all was heavy.

It required completely tearing it down and then setting it up from square one every time. (Thats 4 times for one gig)

Here are the steps. *** Don't read this unless you want arterial blood to spout from your ears***

____________________________________________

(Find the feet. Find the cross bar. Find the posts.

Put each post into each foot, maintaining the proper angles for post and foot.

Tighten each post down. Figure out which way the crossbar goes.

Somehow attach each end of the crossbar to the two posts, each of which is now four feet apart.

The crucial clamps are the ones that hold the main crossbar. Everytime you setup and breakdown, you have to open and retighten both of them.

Each time you do this, the metal of the clamp stretches a little bit more. Eventually, they won't hold anymore, and guess what happens?

During a gig, the whole crossbar lets loose, and all your toms swing en masse on top of your snare and into your lap. Great fun, yes, but somewhat disruptive I can tell you!


Try to put the little notch on the crossbar clamp into the always more highly-deformed openings on the clamps of the posts, knowing that each quantum of deformity means a higher likelihood of a lap dance with your toms.

Tighten everything until your fingers bleed.

Find the rods to hold your toms.

Each one has a slightly different angle and must go in exactly the right place, aligned correctly, and inserted only so far.

Tighten them all down until your fingers bleed. Etc, Etc.

Repeat backwards for disassembly)


___________________________________________


The V-Pro rack has been an absolute dream comparitively.

It's light, it folds up, it is foolproof, it has three real sides - bigger and better than my "beloved" Gibralter,

The clamp system doesn't require a separate rod for each drum .

Want to move the sides closer or farther? Grab them with your hand and move them! No need to tighten or loosen wing nuts.

Did I mention it folds up? I did? Well let me mention then that it folds up! In three seconds. Into the space behind the front seats.

While I have yet to have a clamp break, I'm sure it may happen some day.

But my ears won't be bleeding when it happens.

[Mick Wade]

Hey, gingerbaker:

Don't you use any memory locks on your Gibraltar rack? It sounds like several of the unpleasant setup steps you describe would have been made much easier by using them. The collapsing toms (ouch!) certainly would have been avoided.....

[Steve Gardner]

I have used a Gibralter rack for five years. It sets up in three steps.
1. Connect one leg to vertical bar.
2. Connect 2nd leg to vertical bar.
3. Make sure all is tight.
this takes three, possibly four minutes max. I love my Giblralter rack . Nothing EVER slips, never has. I do not collapse the thing down to every little pice. I bought this thing so setup would be quick and it has more than satisfied that need.....
I do like the fold up of the Roland rack. Ginger, I have never heard anyone speak of the Gibralter rack with the difficulty you have had...

[gingerbaker]

Dear Mick and Steve,

I'm sure that most people have had better luck with their Gibralter racks than I did - gosh, I sure hope so!

They do have plenty of returning customers and their product is well built, and now comes with a better design than the one I used.

They now come with clamps at the top of the posts which fold, rotate on themselves, so the whole rack can go into a bag in one piece, which is great because it also eliminates the need to reattach the main crossbar each time.

To get mine into a bag, it had to be broken down all the way; memory clamps were used for marking locations of clamps, but could not help with the slipping main bar.

Actually, I wound up drilling holes thru the big clamps down thru the cross bar and out the other side, and used 6" sections of 1/4 " brass rod to make it impossible for the crossbar to slip. It was pretty copacetic after that, by geezum!

Anyway, I guess my point is my experience with the V-pro rack, any way you want to cut it, has been more convenient and enjoyable than the other rack.

With so many folks sharing their displeasure with the Roland rack, I wanted to share my complete satisfaction with it.

(noise of all Roland clamps shattering simultaneously in background. With Banshee wail growing, then fading into starry night over city)

[TimG]

This has been here before, but take a look- good points of Gibraltar (including Gibraltar clamps), with much lighter weight (including a lighter wallet after buying one...)
www.carbonlite.com

[TomLandin]

Bored at home, so I'll add my 2 cents worth....

I love my VPro rack!! Yeah, I've had 2 broken clamps in 2 years (one was my fault, and the other I was able to fix with some liquid metal). But compared to the mechanical breakdowns I used to have with my top of the line Pearls, the VPro rack is a cake walk.

I have everything down to a system. All mounts and posts are marked with a a dab of white paint, so I always set up exactly the same - without the extra weight of memory locks. Wires are all pre-staged, tie wrapped and marked for quick use. I've even figured out that VPro bag with the carrying strap in the way.

Being able to fold and go is such a blessing!! And the expansion potential has not yet been fully realized. I have 2 used PD-7's on their way, and I plan to mount my BBE 462 on a lower cross bar.

One man's trash is another man's treasure! I'll keep my VPro rack thank you!

[Drooling Dog]

Those Carbonlite racks look pretty cool. I may have to get one.

For those of you who don't like the clamps on the V-Pro rack, here's a $12.99 solution:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/ex/sh...723?pid=449045

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Drooling Dog