Hex Rack II

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Matus
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Hex Rack II

Postby Matus » Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:43 am

I recently got my new rack from Yamaha and thought I'd give you some insight, as there's not much literature about it :)
Right out of the box, what really struck me was how light all components are. It seems they re-designed the whole thing and made it even lighter than it was. It might have something to do with the non-flat tube sides. The previous version was a "true" hexagon section tube, but this one has a more complicated shape, while mantaining the hex concept (all parts from each version fit the other, BTW). Also, it's pretty simple to understand and manage. The first setup is a nightmare -as with all racks- due to the massive ammount of tweaking, heights, memory locks, etc, but as soon as everything's locked down, it's really simple.
All pieces use a plastic brace that fits the hex tube and leaves a round surface outside. The memory locks for rack bars (drumkery operated) leave those braces in place and the clamps leave it on the inside so you don't have to worry about them. Then you just tighten the massive wing nuts and everything stays in place. For some reason, it can take a lot of weight and impact without moving at all (unlike some other round bars). Everything else works just like any other rack, except for the angle clamps. I used one of these to set extra bars so I can mount auxiliar stuff... and look cooler :mrgreen: You can see it on the pictures.

Here's the first setup:
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And some shots onstage:
Image
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The best part is tearing it down. The hardware goes away in a couple minutes as the big clamps are really easy to release.
I'll try to get a closer shot of the bars this week.
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Josiah
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Josiah » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:53 am

Very cool! Those clamps look massive

I dig on the reverse rack toms too, nice rig!
bstocky
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby bstocky » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:24 am

Nice. Is that a 20" or 22"? This is a metal gig? I see the trigger on the kick.
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Matus
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Matus » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:47 am

Big pop gig ;) The trigger is for electronic bass drum sounds. 90% of the sound is my own kick, but the album had a lot of different artificial sounds added in the mix, so we took them from the Protools session and uploaded them to the DTXM12. Also useful for older, more dance-oriented songs.
So what I have is a different flavor on some songs in the set and just the acoustic drum on the rest.
And it's a 20"x18", very big sound for the diameter.

Josiah, the clamps are massive but surprisingly light. I think that extra surface and clamping mass is what makes them so stable. You can blame Dom F. for the reverse toms, he spent a whole weekend talking me into it!
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Richie Jarvis
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Richie Jarvis » Mon Oct 15, 2012 7:00 pm

I have had one of these on order since they were revealed at NAMM and I am still waiting. Getting items like these even if you are endorsed by the company you are still in a freakishly long wait if your located here in Australia.

Might just pick one up when I am in the states in 2013 as I want one even more now.
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Josiah » Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:34 pm

I think Dom could talk an Eskimo into buying an ice machine you know, in a good way. Guy just makes ya smile! I wish he'd do books on tape...

Occasionally I flip my rack toms for giggles, it's interesting how everything becomes extremely different. It's a serious paradigm shift.


For me switching to a new rack system would be no small collection of pennies, I'm on the fence about waiting for the next version just because Yamaha has been killing it lately
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Kurtis
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Kurtis » Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:43 pm

i would love a rack system like that. nice pix. you can pretty much place anything anywhere you want down to the 1 / 1000 of a centimeter. need more cash and another few lifetimes to live.
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby Josiah » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:20 am

Kurtis wrote:i would love a rack system like that. nice pix. you can pretty much place anything anywhere you want down to the 1 / 1000 of a centimeter. need more cash and another few lifetimes to live.


Look for used, it's hardware.

It's not too bad if you only use 2 sides, which is probably what most people only need. It's actually cheaper then buying stands because you can buy the top half of boom stands for about $40 (yamaha), where as the full stands obviously cost a lot more. If you already own a small forest, then at least you have spare stand bases for using smaller setups.

The Hex Rack 2 is very expensive though, being brand new and all. I've had my icon for years, I don't see any reason to change unless it breaks. Square pipes, very strong, probably will out last me.

Using only 2 sides of the ICON:

Image
drumnhands
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Re: Hex Rack II

Postby drumnhands » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:19 pm

Josiah wrote:
Kurtis wrote:i would love a rack system like that. nice pix. you can pretty much place anything anywhere you want down to the 1 / 1000 of a centimeter. need more cash and another few lifetimes to live.


Look for used, it's hardware.

It's not too bad if you only use 2 sides, which is probably what most people only need. It's actually cheaper then buying stands because you can buy the top half of boom stands for about $40 (yamaha), where as the full stands obviously cost a lot more. If you already own a small forest, then at least you have spare stand bases for using smaller setups.

The Hex Rack 2 is very expensive though, being brand new and all. I've had my icon for years, I don't see any reason to change unless it breaks. Square pipes, very strong, probably will out last me.

Using only 2 sides of the ICON:

Image


Actually, the new version of HexRack is quite a bit less than the earlier version. A front rack w/ two CH-755 booms streets for $399.

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