2 Tier stand recommendations needed (or alternative ideas)

[Losendoskeys]

I thought a kg was 2.2 lbs. That would make it 13.2 pounds each. Is that correct?

Or, just under 1 Stone in weight. We use "Stones" here in the backwoods of the Shenandoah Valley. ha ha ha

 

You are quite right - I was converting litres to pints!!! Doh!

[enigma0Z]

I have a 2 tier standtastic, it's sturdy, sets up relatively fast (except for the 1st time when you adjust everything to how you want it) it's 4 pins that lock the tiers in place, 2 braces that wing nut on from front to back, and 2 knobs that you tighten to adjust the width. Fits in a long, narrow bag. It's a little heavy but no more than any sturdy stand. You can adjust the height of both tiers and have them at any angle you want. Plenty of room for pedals underneath.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/E8BD4B6E-1DB2-4BE0-9633-FE31A0078E5D-7795-00000BBCBD3CD8C6.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/1B8A062A-E161-4665-96B4-55F53013EFAD-14290-0000170F6909C538_zps600d41c4.jpg

 

More standtastic questions... (and thanks again everyone for being so helpful)

 

...

 

What is the max height on your top tier? I'm a stander, but I've been told I keep my keys somewhat low (my top tier is -- at the arms of the tier -- at 39 inches).

 

For height less than maximum, do the tiers simply slide up and down on the rails, or do the rails telescope up (and down) so that you don't have a bunch of rail sticking up on the sides of your rig?

 

Do the tiers allow for *any* adjustment in height, or do they slot in at the marks on the stand?

 

Is that a mic boom attachment I see? How (and how well) does that work for you?

[Tobias Åslund]

The rails do not telescope, they are fixed height/lenght, the tiers however slide up and down, so you can place them exactly where you want them, which is nice. It also means you can place two boards very close together. There are no slots in the rail, you just loosen an allen screw, slide the tier and fasten the screw again.

 

There are two versions of the Standtastic, the shorter 48" model and the taller 64". The max height of the top tier is at the very top end of the rail. I guess for a two tier setup the 48" is tall enough, unless you're very tall.

 

I do also have the mic clamp, but haven't used it much, so I can't help you with that question.

 

more info:

 

http://www.lmproducts.com/StandtasticPage.htm

[Sparky2]

I have a 48" Standtastic with 3 tiers. My bottom board (PC3x) is set high enough to stand for some songs. I removed the top end caps so I can get the top tier a little higher to accomodate a steeper angle for LCD screen legibility while sitting. Fits a PC3x, Roland XP-60, and PolyEvolver easily. Set up is as quick as shown in the demo video. I pull the pins and remove the middle tiers for packing in the bag. Standtastic bag handle is offset so that the stand will carry level (because it is heavier on one end)and I think the bag is a good deal at $26 US. Stand is definitely heavy, but very stable when loaded up. PLeanty of room for pedals, especially my Taurus 3.

 

Mark

[DanL]

They make a boom attachment, but mine is home grown. I bent a piece of aluminum bar and slide it down the top of the channel, and have a small c clamp to lock it down. I drilled a hole and bolted a standard boom to the bar. It works great and cost a lot less than theirs.

[HAMEGZ]

The rails do not telescope, they are fixed height/lenght, the tiers however slide up and down, so you can place them exactly where you want them, which is nice. It also means you can place two boards very close together. There are no slots in the rail, you just loosen an allen screw, slide the tier and fasten the screw again.

 

There are two versions of the Standtastic, the shorter 48" model and the taller 64". The max height of the top tier is at the very top end of the rail. I guess for a two tier setup the 48" is tall enough, unless you're very tall.

 

I do also have the mic clamp, but haven't used it much, so I can't help you with that question.

 

more info:

 

http://www.lmproducts.com/StandtasticPage.htm

 

Question : I see the shorter 2 tier (122ks) the top tier appears to sit parallel with the bottom tier, whereas the taller 102KS the top tier appears to angle down,

I play sitting and my top board is a stage 2 73 that sits tilted on my present stand..So, can the top tier of the 122KS tilt down?

[Sparky2]

Each tier has a half-circle plate or cam that pivots on the top pin. Set the top height of the tier with the top pin. Rotate the tier down to the angle you want, line up the nearest adjustment hole and insert the lower pin. No infinite angle adjustment, but I find it has sufficient options.

[Sparky2]

Look here at the tier picture and you can see the lower pin and adjustment holes Standtastic accessories . The plates slide over the sides of the vertical leg. Here is a picture of the tier bracket assembly Standtastic bracket . You set this where you want to stay and you can pull the pins and remove the tiers and not lose your positioning.

 

Mark

[HAMEGZ]

thanks Sparky. et all, I just ordered one

[AnotherScott]

I have both Standtastics (48" and 64", though the 48" is still sealed in its box). I'll get around to selling them at some point. The design has a lot of good points, but I just never got on with it. For one thing, as was mentioned above, initial setup is a bit clumsy and time consuming. That doesn't matter so much for someone who always uses the same boards and so only needs to do it once. But I change my keyboards all the time, and the Standtastic doesn't lend itself to frequent reconfiguration. You really want to optimize it for a particular rig and leave it that way.

[Sparky2]

...and the Standtastic doesn't lend itself to frequent reconfiguration. You really want to optimize it for a particular rig and leave it that way.

 

Hi Scott. My workaround for different setups is to mark the locations for each setup using a different colored piece of electrical tape (red for Rig1, blue for Rig2, etc). It only takes a minute to move the tier channels when changing rigs.

 

Mark

[OB Dave]

So, I've had this thread bookmarked as well as this one and after some hemming and hawing I bit the bullet and bought the K&M 18950 and the 18952 stacker bars, the 18954 adapter, and the 18956 mic boom arm.

 

The stand is very solid, pretty much bombproof. It'd easily hold up a Rhodes and probably a Hammond chop. The pairs of legs on each side fold up together, so the thing folds up quickly. It doesn't fold up that small, but it does fold quickly. If you use the stacker bars for a second keyboard, you can fold it without removing the stacker bars but it ends up being pretty bulky. The stacker bars are a pretty good design. There's a receptacle that fits into the stand, and the receptacle has a vertical half-tube into which the vertical part of the stacker bar is placed, and it's held in place with a single bolt which has a large plastic butterfly handle. The height of the stacker bar is determined by which hole the bolt goes through. I ended up putting a small piece of neon gaffers tape next to the correct hole to make things easier to see on a dark stage. If you use the stacker bars, there are no more receptacles on the stand, so if you also want to use accessories like the mic boom arm, the music stand, or the laptop holder, you need to buy the 18954 adapter which mounts to the stand and creates more receptacles.

 

Anyway, it all makes for a sturdy setup, but if you have all these add-ons, it's extra time to set up and tear down. In my case the stacker arms and the mic boom are three butterfly nuts that need to be spun off, the accessory removed, the nut spun back on, and the arms stowed somewhere.

 

The next issue is: how close can I get my two keyboards? The angle of the upper tier is fairly adjustable, but the height is determined by which hole you use to bolt the stacker bar to the stand. My lower keyboard (Nord Stage 2) is a sea of knobs, and while I could get the upper keyboard to barely clear it, doing so blocked access to all the knobs. So I moved up to the next hole up. I gigged with this setup for the first time on Saturday, and I loved having the mic boom attached to the keyboard rig. Normally my boom stand has a leg that needs to go somewhere next to the sustain pedal and sometimes gets mistaken for it.

 

My only issue was that the keyboards were a bit too far apart. So yesterday I broke out the drill press and made a simple wooden jig and drilled new holes in the stacker arm about midway between Too Low and Too High. The result is what's pictured here. Have not tried playing the upper keyboard with the new position, but this seems like it will be a reasonable compromise. As you can see my new keyboard is an SK-1. I got it for pretty cheep on Fleabay. This was the first gig with the SK-1, and more on that on some other thread, I suppose.

 

By the way, one further thought. If you're contemplating going this route and you're in the US, you will find that K&M stuff is quite pricey here in the states, and some of the accessories have long lead times. Thomann in Europe, on the other hand, is about half the cost, has everything in stock, and they have flat-rate 30 shipping to the US. If you buy the stand and all the accessories in one shot, it actually ends up being the least expensive way to buy this stuff.

 

Sorry for the clutter in the jam room, I know it's a mess.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_stand1.JPG

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_stand2.JPG

 

 

[stoken6]

My lower keyboard (Nord Stage 2)

 

No drawbars? Someone should make a set for that board :smile:

 

Cheers, Mike.

[timwat]

OB Dave,

 

Thanks for the tip on ordering from Thomann in Europe. Hadn't even thought to check - I bought my K&M from a US retailer, paid full boat, got the run around on accessories, waited months for the thing.

 

Sounds like Thomann is the way to go for future K&M purchases.

 

Tim

[Michael Wright]

OB Dave,

 

Thanks for the tip on ordering from Thomann in Europe. Hadn't even thought to check - I bought my K&M from a US retailer, paid full boat, got the run around on accessories, waited months for the thing.

 

Sounds like Thomann is the way to go for future K&M purchases.

 

Tim

I bought 2 K & M Stands from Thomann. Very fast shipping to Canada, and cheaper than any other source around here.

[deetee]

Nic pics Dave. I think that's helped me make my mind up to go for the same stand.

 

I know you said the second tier could go a notch lower but if even that wasn't low enough does it look like drilling a couple of holes in the second tier could bring it down even further?

 

My lower board has pretty much zero controls so accessing controls isn't such an issue to me

[OB Dave]

OK, in your case you can get the keyboards as close together as you like. You're really only limited by the thickness of the horizontal support arm part of the stacker bar. There are plenty of holes in the vertical part of the stacker bar, so there's a tremendous amount (probably more than a foot) of range from max height to min height. The issue is resolution: the holes are maybe an inch and a half apart (which means the height choices are at inch-and-a-half intervals. So by drilling an additional hole in each of the stackers I was able to get a little closer to an ideal height.

[Allister]

not sure if the millennium KS-3000 S has been listed. i ordered one yesterday so it should be with me soon. ill be sure to post a review as soon as i've gigged it a few times.

 

Link: http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_ks3000_s.htm?sid=a48cd70aef07dcf0990861ba25b97c2e

[OB Dave]

A couple more images for you.

 

This the stand with the stacker arms just barely clearing the top of the Nord.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_low_r.JPG

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_low_f.JPG

 

And here it is with the stackers using the next hole up.

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_high_r.JPG

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_high_f.JPG

 

The photos I posted earlier are the result of drilling the new holes between these two positions to create an in-between distance.

[deetee]

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_low_r.JPG

 

http://www.oceanbeach.com/temp/KnM_too_low_f.JPG.

 

I like this, looks perfects for my needs. Cheers for the additional pics Dave, massively appreciated!

[Stokely]

I have the 2-tier onstage z-stand. One biggie for me was getting a stand that was stable with a "tall" setting, as I'm tall For example an x-stand is not it--to get it (barely) tall enough it has to go very skinny and unstable.

Pros:

- very, very stable--the one caution is with a heavy board on top, make sure the bottom board is not pushed to the back or light, as it can go over backward in such a case. My 88-key controller is not that heavy but I put some adhesive cork stuff on the arms to keep my boards from sliding so this isn't an issue.

- Looks pretty cool IMO

- the onstage mic stand attachment works pretty well so far

- lots of room underneath for pedals etc

- cheap, got mine for $75 from amazon

- not too big of a stage footprint..probably not the smallest either but just how close can you be to the drummer? (answer: crash cymbal hanging over your top board )

cons:

- bulky, heavy and not easy to transport. I leave mine assembled (but lowered/collapsed) which helps with setup time but takes up that much more space.

 

That one con is annoying for sure, but otherwise I love the stand. If I was a gigging pro hauling it around more than I do it might be a reason to upgrade but I live with it for now.