transporting drums

[drummerzuki]

I was wondering how much people break down their gear when moving kits to gigs or practice. I usually take off the 5 cymbals i use and leave the drums,module and leads on the rack but it is a back breaker. I recently broke the rack down into two,one small rack holding hi hat,side snare and crash. the other chunkier rack holding two toms,snare and 3 cymbals.after the rebuild its still pretty bulky on that side and maybe even more complicated to load the car. The gf aint going to agree to changing to an even bigger car to accommodate that. Im considering going to three racks each with a bit on and the module on the one with the most items. Im just interested to know how far everyone goes in breaking down their kit to move it and maybe what car they are driving.lol.

[campster]

My Experiences with various kit/s combinations:

TD9 - left everything on rack, rotated the cymbals so the booms didn't stick out, lowered the back seat in my car (it's a wagon), put it straight in. Threw in the pedal/stool/HH foot pedal. Thankfully the TD-9 is nice and light and can also fit through standard size doorways when folder a little!

TD30KV - I take off all cymbals/pads/module put them in a Gator edrums soft bag. Hihat stand, throne, snare stand goes into a generic hardware bag. I rotate the cymbal booms to align with the rack, i fold up the rack as flat as possible and sit it ontop of the soft bag (and my PA which usually travels when i pack up the TD30).The kick pad travels in an old suitcase with the kick pedal. I usually throw the power/audio cables in this bag too.

TD30KV - "3 piece" - basically as above but i don't take the rack and use two DW tom stands (with cymbal mounts) to hold the cymbals and toms. I take only the drums/cymbals I need and mount on the stands as required. I can do up to the full 6 piece kit, with 2 crashes+ride) on these stands if I so desire, but usually just resort to the rack when I want all the drums/cymbals.

[redsumsum]

Td-20sx kit. I just re designed my kit and use a modifie pearl icon rack(cut down like gibralter stealth) I have one for each side of the bass drum...all cymbals are lowered to other mounts. Each side is free standing and I just load into mini van. The pads go in a bag and that gets placed on top of a hardware box with all pedals and stands etc....I place a roland td 700 amp in there and vola. When we have more space I have a 2 piece stage I asseble as well and now I st up over the band. Lights are added and its game on....takes me less than 30 to set up and to take down. I usually beat the lead guitarist out

[Macarina]

TD-15K, so this kit has 2 cymbals and the single hi-hat on the rack. All 4 pads (snare, floor tom, 2 rack toms) on rack.
I bought some inexpensive travel bags (wheels and extend handle, which I never use) with large zipper top openings. One bag is slightly larger than the other and it holds my Floor Kick and the kick pedal, Hi-hat Foot Pedal and the power cord.

In the other bag, I remove all the toms, wrap them in old bath towels, so not to wear and protect during travel. Then wrap my cymbals and hi-hat on top.

Oh and for the module I bought a soft cooler with hard walled insert. Bought some 1" foam (Walmart) and 3 rows of that at the bottom with hole where the post goes and then one more piece that fits over the top. Incredibly light.

I fold up the rack relatively flat. All cables are hang loose, but yet tight with Velcro straps.

Takes me 3 trips to the vehicle to transport.

[sycle1]

I have a 14 piece TD-30 Kit and take cymbals off stands, drums off, remove cymbal stands, fold rack, put cymbals in big plastic box on wheels, put drums in big plastic box on wheels, all stands go in traps case on wheels, brain has its own padded bag, TD-30 has a bag, leads stay on the frame also use two JBL EON G2 wedges and a Behringer mini mixer to make it all work sends to PA and return signal for vocals. Another bag for Audio leads power boards and power cables oh and stixx.
It is a task each time I have to set up or pull down but a pure joy to play.
The rest of the band love the TD-30 sounds

[drummerzuki]

you are dead right about pure joy to be out playing, but pain to move the kit especially with a whole pa system too. I was out last night had a great gig and a drummer in the crowd came up to say how impressed he was with the kit been half acoustic and half electric.his mind was blown when i told him the cymbals he thought were acoustic were alesis surge and the big bass drum at front was a fake.lol. I have now gone with three racks for breakdown.main rack in middle has velcro strapped leads,module,high tom and snare with 1 small kit toys cymbal.rack to right which just unscrews from main rack has a tom and two cymbals (remove cymbals for transport) and rack to left has side snare,hi hat,2nd hi hat and a crash. again remove pads for transport.three rack makes it less of a back breaker to carry (and squeeze through the crowd/awkward sized stage doors) and whole setup was still just half hour from car to switching on everything.will stick with it for now,but trying to convince the other half how wonderful a transit van would be.lol.........might take a while to convince her of that one.