daniel k
Tiger Talk Trainee
Reged: Oct 12 2005
Posts: 4
Loc: Virginia
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Hi - I was wondering if anyone has tried one of these vibe frames suited for marching band/outdoor performance just for indoor stuff. It seems like some of the frames they sell for indoor use aren't all that stable, and maybe one of the outdoor ones would be better for general use. Anybody know about this?
Daniel
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L Lawless
Tiger Talk Pro
Reged: Dec 24 2003
Posts: 282
Loc: TX
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The "all-terrain" frames are certainly sturdier, and the larger casters are nice, but for mostly indoor use I would have 2 concerns.
The first is that these frames are generally much heavier, and depending on if you gig out a lot, you never know what you might be facing in the venue (stairs and whatnot).
The other is that nowadays, the big thing with marching mallets is the ability to mount other percussion instruments onto the frame, such as cymbals, a set of bells, snare drum, etc. Some companies attach a separate bar on the instrument for this purpose, which then makes it too big to go through a standard door.
We have a set of Ross vibes at my school with their Ruff frame for marching, but also use this as our indoor vibes. The Ross design has a pipe underneath for attaching the extra stuff, so it fits through doorways. I have not been very happy with the durability of the frame, though. Both the bottom bar (where the pedal is attached) and the height adjustable feature rely on pressure screws that do not hold up. Usually we have to raise the lower end of the vibes back up to playing height every time we move it, because the weght of the lower bars makes that end sag down. I've talked to several Ross muckety-mucks about this, who assure me they are aware of the problem and working to fix it, but I have seen no improvements yet.
The other solution to a sturdier frame is the Musser Piper vibe that certainly is sturdy, but again, very heavy. I think Nico VanderPlast's frames are also sturdier than the usual suspects, but I've only seen those once at the PAS convention and don't really remember how his frame is put together.
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daniel k
Tiger Talk Trainee
Reged: Oct 12 2005
Posts: 4
Loc: Virginia
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Thanks for your thoughts on this. I am seriously considering a Ross vibe since they're so much cheaper than Musser, and I think they sound okay. Glad to know about the problems with the frame ahead of time, and knowing what I do now, I probably won't go with the outdoor frame.
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