Hercules stands had tubular legs with swivel tips, plastic adjustment knobs and overall larger diameter tubing.

Conversely, Atlas stands used all flatwork legs with rubber tips and smaller tubing. The biggest difference in tubing size could be noted on the hi-hat stands.

Not entirely correct. The later Atlas series had tube legs with the "swivel feet". These replaced the flat-leg Atlas stands for a time, then Ludwig re-released these flat leg stands for a while, before coming out with the Atlas II line. The Hercules line does have tube legs, but they have large rubber feet.

Adding to this old thread to clear up some misconceptions...

Atlas stands went through an evolution up to the point when the Hercules stands came out. Around late 1975 Atlas stands switched from flat legs to tubular legs with little swivel feet on them. After a year or so the swivel feet were dropped and replaced with the big rubber feet. During this same time frame the metal adjustment knobs were replaced with the black plastic ones. These were all still Atlas stands...many people think that the tubular legs indicate a Hercules stand but there was around 3-4 years of Atlas production that used the tubular legs. Hercules stands came out around late 1978/early 1979. They used a bigger diameter top tube and a much beefier tilter on the cymbal stands. At that point the Atlas line went back to using the flat legs again.

The picture below shows a late Atlas along with an early Hercules.

K.O.

A picture is worth a thousand words! Thanks for clearing up this old thread!

-Mark

The swivel foot stands were one of Ludwig's worst ideas.

The plastic knobs on the Hercules stands weren't much of a better idea either.....DOH

If I had to choose between the swivel feet or plastic knobs as Ludwig's worst idea, my vote is for the plastic knobs! Were the bean counters to blame for this?

-Mark

Actually, I'd say Ludwig's worst idea was discontinuing both the Speed King pedal and the Weathermaster heads.

Not a Ludwig expert here but I'd say their worst idea was using rivets along the wrap seam. Ugh!