There's a completely new range of stands from Premier called 'Dual-lock'. As one would expect in 1985 they feature double-braced, tripod legs but with a Premier refinement, a movable and lockable strut collar. (The struts are the small flat pieces of metal which join the legs to the centre tube, and the beauty of having this movable collar is that you can change the spread of the legs, without interfering with the height of the actual stand.) All the stands have a totally new height arrest system which locks the whole block to the tube inside it. There's a separate split insert inside this cast block which wraps around the inner-tube. It effectively takes care of height arrest and once in position completely envelops the raw end of the tube below it. (As far as I remember no other manufacturer has had a system where the innertube had the whole of the block fixed to it, prior to it fitting over the tube below in the normal manner.)

The block itself is cast and massive. A drum key operated screw locks the collar to the tube, and a large 'T' shaped screw below locks the whole bang shoot to the top of the lower section. A spigot sticks out at right angles near the top of each tube to ensure that the cast block faces the same way each time. (I realise I may have made the locking system sound more complicated than it is, but I'm sure once you see it for yourself you'll 'twig' exactly what I'm getting at). So, there are no screws to penetrate and squash the tubes since there's a loose, shaped metal block in the way. The feet of the stands are rubber and wedge-shaped and another spigot/rivet stops the aforementioned bottom collar from inadvertently leaving the very end of the stand. In essence, the snare stand, cymbal stand, hi hat, double tom holder and stool have their height adjustments working in precisely this way.

The cymbal stands come in three varieties — two booms and one straight. They each have three vertical stages with those cast blocks in between and a very substantial cast tilter which has much bigger splines inside than usual and its own position marker. This consists of a 'U' shaped piece of wire which pushes between those splines and locks them very simply, but very effectively. The filter rod itself is thicker than ever before and longer with a very attractive nut to keep its washers in place. There are two sorts of boom arm mounted on the same base. One is exactly the same as the Tristar's with a ratchet filter for the boom itself which is held in place by an eye-bolt. This particular stand also has a counterweight. The other version is more up to date and its boom is held by a sandwich-type mechanism with the bread attached to the down tube, and the meat free to rotate. There's a hole drilled through the 'filling' to locate the boom. The very top of the filter shaft has a lead in on its thread which means the topnut won't fall on the floor when you spin it off. It works too.

Premier are producing two different snare drum stands. One has exactly the same gripping mechanism as the old Trilok — you know, the one with a moving collar which slips up or down the centre tube to set the playing angle. It also has, like its predecessor, two fixed and one moveable arm to grip the drum. The other one is something else again. It has an adjustable basket but with a splined rod sticking out from its centre section at right angles to it. This fits into a hole in the basket section with some lateral movement and as much rotation around it to give any desired playing angle. It is also capable because of this mounting feature of allowing the drum to be very low to the floor. (There's an eye bolt to locate and hold the piece of rod steady which is locked securely by a large Premier-type wing nut.)

There are also two different hi hats being produced. They both have tripod legs with double struts, twin-spring spurs tapped into the very bottom of their inverted 'U' shaped frame-work and a common top cymbal clutch and bottom cymbal cup, both of which are large and newly designed. The difference is in the mechanism. The one has twin, external, expansion springs housed in tubes grafted to the bottom section of the stand and a two-piece footplate. The other has a cheaper sort of footboard and a single internal spring for its centre-pull action which is adjustable rather uniquely by pulling up a lever and locking it at the desired position with a drum key operated screw. The double-spring model has the old 252 footplate with a metal strap while the other, which is like the old Tristar, has a slightly different strap. The better one has a facility to move the whole spring unit and thus change the angle of the footplate without messing with the action.

I've also seen the future as far as Premier's tom holders are concerned. They have a very good new version which is based on a very well tested principle. I've seen and tried it and it really is an improvement on the old 392 since it offers all the usable angles. Anyway I'm sworn to secrecy, but it is hoped that it will be available in the summer.

Something else I saw up in Leicester was Premier's conversion for a 252 bass drum pedal. It will turn it into a double unit with two beaters on one drum. The other pedal is situated next to the hi hat and linked via a series of rods and knuckle joints to the unit already joined to the bass drum. The conversion is being priced as I write, but since it includes a 252 pedal, I don't expect it to be available for under £100.

Well, I was surprised to see these new accessories. Premier certainly kept the secret well. My only criticism, or should I say query, is what you do with the stands when you put them away. Obviously since they have those blocks locked to each tube you can't put them away normally. (Also it's a waste of time, and defeats the object to move the memory clamps). Often a trap case becomes too small very quickly when you have to take stands a part to put them away. So, with a little lateral thinking I came up with a partial solution. Simply put the centre section inside the bottom one from underneath, then insert the top section in the normal way if you can.

Anyway, I suggest you have a very close look at this new hardware. I'm sure you'll be impressed.

PREMIER DUAL-LOCK STANDS — RRP: n/a