Just like with cars, there are a lot of drum hardware brands out there. Some of them have got really good stuff.
Some of them goodlooking, some of them not.
Some of them work well, some of them not.
Some of them last a long time, some of them not.
But some have got it all right, including a legendary name.
Tama is one of those legendary brands in drums & hardware, and their stuff is goodlooking, very durable and it's innovative all at the same time.
I still have stuff from them back from the days I started making music...had a rough life, but to this day it still works and looks good.
All those reviews you read here telling the same story: they're all true.
One buyer even wrote that your kids will be able to use your Tama equipment after you die, and he wasn't exaggerating.
It's extremely durable. Tough. From the screws to the smallest of rivets to the mechanisms, everything. Even the chroming.
I contemplated long before buying this boom.
A short boom arm.
I decided I needed an extra splash floating between my hi-hat and hi-tom, as an extra left-hand percussive splash positioned under the main left crash, which I put up high.
There were several options available with Z-rods, all kinds of cymbal rods and clamps I already possessed, but I wanted a boom-arm.
Because I use a Gibraltar SC-PM 3-way adapterarm on a Gibraltar side wing holding 2 booms already: 1 boom arm with a double splash going to the middle between hi-tom + mid-tom, and 1 Tama straight pipe with the left main crash cymbal. (this is one of those oldies)
So I had a spare clamping hole left in the SC-PM, and using a cymbal boom not only takes about the same amount of time to set up as a Z-rod with clamp, it also looks better. And it's better to memorize with memo-locks.
First my eye went to Gibraltar, which has a nice heavy duty model. With all the Tama specs, including 2 memo-locks
The Tama is €23 more expensive, and has no memo-locks.
I have no trouble mixing up brands of hardware, but a cymbal boom is very visible, and I aim for esthetics now more since I started making clips with my fellow musicians.
The Tama boom looks better than the Gibraltar, to me.
And since my main crash straight pipe is an old Tama also, and with all those years in between them they still have a similar shape, I bought the Tama.
It also means I can use this new boom into the base of the old Tama cymbal stand, instead of the straight pipe, should the need occur.
So I bought some extra memo-locks with it.
Back to the speed of set up: I can now take the whole Gibraltar SC-PM off the rack with all the 3 pipes still attached to it, and put it in the hardware case.
I take the boom-rods seperate because of the memo-locks, but it means no more guessing during the next build up.
I don't have to tell you about how this top brand item works flawless.
Many in these reviews have already told it.
This just a story about why someone buys a 66€ item while something half the price could also fulfill the same function.