Solid, Reliable, Universal, Great price & Great Backup. Most clubs now have "House Kits" with OK hardware. I keep this in my cymbal bag along with other parts...just in case. Thanks to the Sweetwater staff for their assistance and speedy shipping

I've owned several different clutches over the years, and have always had a pretty strong preference for a DW standard clutch as far as simplicity, usability, and reliability.

I'm currently piecing together a fun sort of hodgepodge kit that fell into my lap and the clutch the hat stand came with war really lacking. However, being a totally unnecessary extra kit I was trying to keep the budget to a minimum.

This guy looked really interesting as it seemed to be relatively similar to what I know I like but for half the price. Reviews said it held solid so that was the main concern so I thought I'd try it.

Oddly I couldn't find any picture or video of this clutch actually put onto a rod, so I didn't exactly understand what the meant about how the mechanism works. I uploaded a quick YouTube video and an image for this review for posterity.

Pros: $ is half what you pay for DW or other main line clutches. So that's gotta factor in. And still it seems like perfectly solid and acceptable machining/build quality on par with anything else Gibraltar I've tried.

The design is also pretty clever, I totally see how this design would mean not chewing up or marking your rod and multiple wide points of contact means it really is grabbing on super solidly and should slip even with a very heavy foot.

Cons: the negative of this design is that it is oddly floppy/loosey goosey when not secured to a rod. It just kinda bothers me, though shouldn't really matter, though I could see the wing nut falling out from movement.

My main complaint is the nature of the design also means you really need to crank down on it to lock it down, and turn it way more than I'm used to free it up and low the top hat to come off. With my DW standard it's like between a 1/4 turn and a 1/2 turn to put it on or off. With this Gibraltar Super we're talking more like two complete turns. If you're not popping hats on and off it's not a big deal, but this will add a couple seconds to each set up and tear down you never do, so consider how much you might care about that.

Overall it's a fine piece of equipment, but I think I'd never have chosen it if I'd tried it in person first. If I was local to the store I'd very likely return it and either try the Gibraltar "pro" model out or just spend the $ on the DW that I know I like, but adding in return shipping cost and turnaround time, and this being for a spare kit kind of situation, I think I'll stick with it and it will be totally fine.

TLDR: if your priorities are saving $, or rock solid grabbing the rod for heavy feet, or not wanting to mark up a rod, this could be the one. If your preference is for getting the best you can get, ease of use, reliability/no loose parts etc, probably pass.

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Doesn't say it in the description but This is made for a 7MM pull rod. Works great.

Well-made and heavy-duty. This clutch has great clamping action because it makes full contact with the pull rod all the way around, and it matches the contour of the pull rod instead of biting into the side of it like a more basic clutch does. Even without engaging the bottom nut's set screw, my top hat has never come loose with this. I also feel better having the non-threaded portion of the metal sleeve to prevent any thread/cymbal grinding. Pure upgrade at an affordable price. No reason not to get one in my opinion!