K&M 18820 Stacker complaint and workaround

[bfields]

Looks like a reasonable stand.

2 hours ago, Rustar said:

I leave mine assembled for transport, so that's easy.

I think I'd find that pretty awkward, though, to carry around and to fit into a car.

[Stokely]

I have a Spider Pro but ended up with the Omega Pro as well, and prefer it.  I love not having the column right in front of me, which I guess is a bit odd since I'm not in danger of actually hitting it, plus I stand.  Still, the Omega Pro is like not having a stand there at all.

That said, I regret not buying the 3rd tier and doing this hack before Thomann stopped shipping K&M to the states.  I've been using a single keyboard for a while now, but if I go back to two, I do find the 2nd tier a bit too tall.  I considered velcroing (or screwing down) something to raise up the keyboard sitting on the bottom tier, getting it closer to the top one while letting the two tiers connect normally.   I think I did rig something up for a gig or two in 2022, I now can't remember if I actually did it or was thinking about doing it    

[MathOfInsects]

As a very late update, this stand lives permanently in my studio now and will never leave unless I move to a new house or sell the stand. It is just not practical as a working-musician's everyday stand, IMO. Waste of wedding-ring money, since *anything* can be a studio stand and didn't need to contribute to Germany's GNP with this lavish purchase, but now that I own it, that's the way it's best used.

FWIW, this QuickLok has become my go-to two-tier board for bread and butter gigs. Yes, it has problems and will need to be replaced sooner than other stands. But it's the most versatile and reliable double-tier stand I have. We travel around the world to marry the X-stand next door. 

[stoken6]

4 hours ago, Rustar said:

I heard about this stand in the "Keyboardist's for Cover Bands" forum on FB[...] I leave mine assembled for transport.

The problem with those table-style stands is that the rear legs won't fold while the arm for the second tier is attached. And it's bulky to transport with the rear legs in their assembled position.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Old No7]

Interesting post...

 

Seems all the comments about finding the "perfect stand" are correct -- they haven't made it yet!

 

My takeaway on all this is...

  *  K&M 18820 and 3rd-tier stacker -- for 2-board studio use

  *  K&M 18880 and 18881 2nd tier -- for 2-board gigging use

 

All that said, that Grifin X stand recently mentioned worked really well for me at a 1-board gig (standing) -- and the outer legs held up the band's sign, which is a plus.  For transport, I just fold all the legs "in" to the center, drop down the height 8" (if I have the time for it, can also carry it when it's tall) and then I carry it resting on my shoulder like an upside down U, holding one leg with the same hand that holds my pedal board in its bag (the loop of the bag handle sits in my palm, and my fingers grasp the stand's leg).  The other hand carries the Hammond SK Pro in its flight case.  Yeah, it's a load -- but doable for 200 yards or so one way -- and it's still much better than what I had to lug around back in the 80's to get "that Hammond sound".

 

But I haven't tried it as a 2-board stand, although I do have the 2nd tier.

 

Old No7

 

[Rustar]

6 hours ago, stoken6 said:

The problem with those table-style stands is that the rear legs won't fold while the arm for the second tier is attached. And it's bulky to transport with the rear legs in their assembled position.

 

Cheers, Mike.

I'm sure that presents a problem for some, but I'm good with folding in the front legs and carrying it to the van. For me, the pluses of stability, ease of setup, and the ability for perfectly position the upper tier make up for the back legs issue. I don't disassemble mine for transport. 

[Rustar]

8 hours ago, bfields said:

Looks like a reasonable stand.

I think I'd find that pretty awkward, though, to carry around and to fit into a car.

I'm as misery averse as the next guy, but I don't find it onerous. My keyboard case fits into the space between the legs when loading up. I put mine into my gig mobile, a '98 Ford Exploder, I mean Explorer. It definitely wouldn't fit into a car.

[TJ Cornish]

The big OnStage two-tier Z stand is the only one that works for me for full-sized boards. The downside is that its stability and flexibility come at the expense of either disassembling it into multiple pieces, or in my case, chucking it in the vehicle fully assembled. As my daily driver is a full-sized Ford Transit cargo van that hasn’t been too much of an issue. If I take the time, it does come apart small enough to fit inside a quarter-pack road trunk, but assembly takes 3-5 minutes from fully broken down, and when disassembled, you’re left with 15 pieces including knobs that stick out awkwardly.