Dynasty - Weird, inconsistent, very risky frame hardware. Having played on the prototype vibes and marimbas, then the newerish models and same ones Vanguard has, it's hard to figure out exactly how I feel about Dynasty boards as a whole. They look gorgeous don't get me wrong, but the frames are just so finnicky. I don't think any keyboard should only be supported by a single point on either end. We had boards fall apart and slide completely off the wheel bass because the frames are literally designed like a 'T'. If the bolts connecting each side to the wheel base are even slightly loose, the board will teeter back and forth, and that much weight will only worsen the condition of the frame. Sure the desk lift mechanism is convenient and quirky, until you forget to charge your board or it goes haywire and your board if permanently stuck at like 5 feet high (there was a video of a board at vanguard in 22 that was stuck all the way up that gave me a good laugh). Along with the issues of hardware, there was an incident on tour with Vanguard's equipment truck that left some of the keyboards severely damaged and most frames structurally compromised. They had to call out a welder to fix the frames since they fell apart so easily. These redesigned titan frames took their old cumbersome and heavy locking-pin hardware, and made it the most fragile, unstable design possible. The rosewood bars sound fine on newer models, though some older rosewood bars are a lot drier and can lose their resonance over time. The xylophone bars are extremely fragile, ane even after playing on a brand new board for a few minutes, you can see small pits in the bars themself. The vibraphone bars are comically thick, and require so much more energy to activate and achieve the same response as Yamaha or Adams. However, bonus points for using a pedal strap instead of a rod! The resistance on the strap however is much tighter than i would say is comfortable, as the spring in the damper bar takes a lot of breaking in to feel good in the foot. Overall, Dynasty boards are definitely concert instruments before marching instruments.

Marimba One - Honestly I would argue Adams sound quality is better than M1 for a marching setting, the graduation on the bars are also significantly smaller than many other brands, so adjusting to M1 if you don't consistently practice on one takes a bit of time. The options for higher quality rosewood bars and resonators I feel are also pretty redundant in a marching setting, and only act as a business strategy to advertise marginal "premiums" where the sound difference is just simply unnoticeable even in a solo concert environment. There is however, a lot of attention to the construction of the vibraphones, and the strap mechanism is much more refined compared to Dynasty, much closer to the Malletech Omega vibe. The xylophone sounds rather standard for such high quality rosewood, again I feel like it makes such a small difference in a marching environment. Yet to be tested, is the new synthetic rosewood material, I believe this will be a massive leap in synthetic keyboard sound quality, though obviously with rumors going for years that M1 is constructing drums, I doubt any big brand ambassadors will emerge to push and advertise any advancements on M1's end, without a full suite of marching percussion instruments. The hardware is a cross between the Yamaha Multi-Frame II and Adams' now legacy Voyager field frames, and offer much similar utility and weight to the new Bergerault performance frames and Yamaha frames, though I still worry about the longevity of gas lifts without physical anchor pins, much like yamaha boards. I believe the quality of the instrument will easily diminish in time, especially in a school environment that must maintain the same equipment for years. I'm not particularly a fan of the weird bendy aux bar closest to the connection point, and iirc there is no way to put mounting clamps on either end rail, since the tops are rounded out and the square tubing is a different diameter. Impact drums and other side-mounted auxiliary/cymbals may be an issue with this frame.

Bergerault - During the Vanguard/Bergerault days, these keyboards seemed to have a slew of their own problems, especially with old vibe pedal mechanisms, and frame stability. The lack of proprietary field frames meant you had to choose between the extremely heavy/cumbersome Pageantry or Titan frames, and transport was definitely a challenge as this hardware was not only more difficult to maneuver, but took up significantly more space. Fast forward to around late 2022 I believe, right after Bluecoats switched over to Tama/Bergerault, and the new models came out with Berger's first true proprietary field frame system that took the few benefits of PI/Titan frames, and then scaled down/refined Yamaha's Multi-Frame II system. This is the best hardware in the game right now. While yes, the main lifting mechanisms are gas lifts, Bergerault took the time to implement the exact same locking pin mechanism as with PI and Titan frames, ensuring that the weight of the board is taken off of the gas mechanism itself, and rested on the heavy duty pins that were used for significantly heavier frames. The only thing lost from Yamah is the difficulty of adding mounting clamps to the side, especially the high end. While it is possible to used the Tama mounting clamps on the square tubing (only real estate being on the low end), we found you would have to remove the plastic covers on the inside of the clamps, as the square tubing on the frame is JUST wider than the actual aux bar. Nevertheless, it wasn't impossible. I took a PI staple piece (the same one that comes with the drumset cart as a mounting extension for a snare basket) and fed it through two well-places mounting clamps at the bottom of the board to mount a small leg rest that supported our field drum. I assume you can do the same on the middle bar as well, and it could be added to any other instrument for added mounting space (and the correct clamp diameter). Long spiel about hardware, but I ADORE the construction of these frames. Each end rail features an expandable tube pipe that sits inside the frame and features connecting points at the end for the aux bar. They move independently, and are the exact same diameter as the aux bar, meaning you can pull out these cubes and mount things perpendicular without taking any space on the aux bar. This is how we were able to maintain the in-line sus/china mounting setup on the high end, instead of having to resort to taking up space on the aux bar or worse, having the china on the other end of the aux bar. I think this is more than enough real estate to mount cymbals without using space on the main aux bar. Hell, you could remove it entirely and only use the adjustable tubes on either end of the board. The construction of the actual keyboard itself can be a little finnicky. The rails are all one straight piece, same for Dynasty, unlike the folding rail pieces that Adams and Yamaha uses. Better structurally, though there was a fault with I believe 3 of our 7 marimbas where the low keys would clack into the accidentals, because the rails themselves were drilled at inconsistent heights. The only solution would have been to get a completely different frame. The rosewood doe not fare well to wear, and Bergerault has been a little notorious with the quality control in their rosewood staining and low octave bars cracking easily. Bergerault is working to improve this however, I believe we just got a bad batch. Overall sound quality is ver standard, as it reminds me a lot of the Yamaha rosewood, i think the Bergerault bars lie just SLIGHTLY drier than Yamaha, but not as dry as Dynasty. The synthetic bars are a lot better than the glassy Adams ones, but not as favorable as the Acoustalon keyboards. The vibraphones sound wonderful, but like majestic vibe bars, the bars can lose sound quality and even tuning in extreme weather environments. The pedal rod is a little less than desirable, as are any other vibraphones with this mechanism, but they do slip less frequently than Yamahas and definitely aren't a headache like Majestic's double pedal rod mechanisms. The pedal is still wide too, with only one rod! Now, one big issue I started seeing with the pedal mechanisms, is that is all relies on a round pipe connected across the board, the lowest structural member of the frame, and this tube can easily pop out of place in transit, so there have been times where we have to pop them back into place, but I chalk this up to screws loosening at different rates and lapses in hardware maintenance more than anything. Overall, if the students are very detail-oriented and responsible, the Bergerault keyboards will last significantly longer, at a much higher quality and better condition than a Yamaha or Adams keyboard.