The 5 Best Drum Racks for Acoustic Drums (2024)
Drum racks allow for better and easier mounting of toms, cymbals, and other drums and percussion instruments to your drum set while minimizing the number of individual stands that you need. Drum racks also look great!
The following are some major benefits of drum racks:
- Less stands are required for your cymbal, drums, sample pads, and percussion instruments.
- Easier and better placement of items on your drum set.
- Separation of toms from your bass drum, allowing for better placement.
- They can make your drum set look pretty epic.
Later in the article, I will discuss some essential drum rack parts and mounts that you may want to consider when getting a drum rack: tom holder, cymbal boom arm, multi-clamps, and an electronic mounting clamp.
My top recommended drum rack is the Gibraltar GCS-450C. This is a lightweight and incredibly popular and quite sturdy drum rack.
My second recommended drum rack is the Gibraltar GRS300C Road Series Drum Rack. This is a beginner drum rack at an incredibly affordable price tag.
Contents
The 5 Best Drum Racks (2024)
Let’s compare these in more detail.
1. Gibraltar GCS-450C
Starting this list is the Gibraltar GCS-450C Road Series drum rack. This is a curved drum rack that has four posts on it for your drums. It also comes equipped with 4 memory locks. This lives up to the name of the series, Road Series, as it makes folding and unfolding of the rack really easy and precise each time.
Also, another great thing about it is that it has all of the cymbal stands included on the rack, so there’s no need for additional stands to bring with you, meaning less weight when traveling.
Everything is chromed so it also looks good. It comes with nearly 10 feet of mounting space, so you can easily add anything you might want to your drum kit. Pricewise it’s in the mid-range, and for this amount of money, you’ll hardly find anything better.
2. Gibraltar GRS300C Road Series Drum Rack
If you’re looking to save up money but still want a quality rack, you should consider the GRS300C. It’s a basic rack that holds a bass drum and has space for two more toms or cymbals. For a trimmed drum kit, this is perfect, whether you’re just starting or you just want your basic drum kit with you.
The great thing about this is that you can also expand it using the GRS125C rack. This is an additional curved rack that transforms your GRS3000C into a three-legged construction, giving you 36” of additional space to fit everything you want to add to your drum kit.
This is a very affordable and cheap solution, with a nice expansion ability, so you can save up money now and invest it in the future when you would need expansion.
3. DW DWCPRKMAIN 9000 Series Main Rack Package
If you’re looking to invest some money into quality, high-end stuff, you should consider DWCPRKMAIN as your choice. This is a slim, yet sturdy rack with heavy-gauge stainless steel tubes and clamps. It is a two-legged system, with one long rack in the middle where you can fit all that you need for your drum kit.
Alongside this rack you’ll get a lot of different clamps that are all quality-made so that you can easily attach anything you want, with two cymbal stands included, making it enough for a standard drum kit.
It’s easy to fold and unfold and it’s quite light because of fewer tubes used. You can also expand this set easily, but be aware that the price is at the high-end of the spectrum.
4. Pearl Icon 3-sided Drum Rack
This is a high-end option for professional drummers that need a consistent and quality-made rack for everyday travel and use. Pearl Icon is a 3-sided curved drum rack that offers great quality for professional use.
It has a lot of space and a nice addition of adjustable kick height. Once you set it all up, the clamps are never going to move, making it very easy to fold and unfold night after night.
5. PDP PDSRPK05 Main Rack Package
If you’re looking for an adjustable, expandable, mid-range rack then PDSRPK05 is your choice. This is a nice, small, two-sided main rack, which can house two cymbals and the complete standard drum set.
The great thing about this rack is that it’s really well adjusted to most of the third-party accessories you can buy on the market, giving it everything you might need easily. It’s also quite affordable, so be sure to check it out.
Essential Drum Rack Parts and Mounts
When buying a drum rack, you should consider the following essentials:
Tom Holder
Having many parts in your drum kit can sometimes make a mess out of your playing. Cramped up toms issue can be resolved by buying a tom holder for your drum rack These holders can allow you to add more toms or just rearrange them in a better way that’s more suited for your playing style.
If you’re looking to get one, the Gibraltar L-Rod Ball Arm Tom Holder is a great item to look into. It’s an affordable, quality-made L-rod holder, that is easy to manipulate yet sturdy enough to take on the full force of drumming.
Cymbal Boom Arm
Adding a new cymbal stand can be an issue if you have to carry it with you every night. There is of course a much easier and more elegant way of solving this – a cymbal boom arm. It’s essentially just a boom arm that you can attach to your existing rack and add a cymbal without all that hassle.
If you’re interested in buying one of these, you should consider the Gibraltar Cymbal Boom Arm which is easily mounted, light and all-metal made, so you know it will be sturdy and reliable when on the road.
Multi-clamps
Multi-clamps are useful for mounting toms, sample and percussion pads, and other percussion instruments to your drum rack. A good example of this would be the Gibraltar Road Series Multi Clamp.
Electronic Mounting Clamp
With the development of technology, more and more drummers have some additional electronic instruments they want to use together with their drum kit. And so, the question arises of where to hold them? One of the solutions can be Gibraltar’s SC-GEMC Electronic Mounting Arm Clamp which is a lightweight and reliable way of holding any electronic device on your drum kit safely. It’s completely adjustable and can be mounted on any standard 1.5” drum rack.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking to expand your kit to add some extra elements to it, maybe you want to prove the placement of items on your set, or just reduce the number of stands that you want to carry around, then drum ranks can be a great option.
My top drum rack pick is the Gibraltar GCS-450C, a lightweight and incredibly popular and, sturdy drum rack.
My budget drum rack pick is the Gibraltar GRS300C Road Series Drum Rack, a beginner drum rack at an incredibly affordable price tag.
