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KraftGeek – Best of NAMM 2024 Music Stand

Recently, I took delivery of a musical product often overlooked by those of us who have too many guitars, amplifiers and pedals – and that is… the humble Music Stand. But not just any stand… The one I’ve been sent recently won Best of NAMM Music Stand 2024.

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Hello viewer, my name’s Stew, please do check-out the rest of my channel, as it covers my return journey back to playing and recording guitar after a 40 year break. Lots of gear unboxing – and reviews from my perspective having been away from things for a long time.

A big thank you to those that take time to subscribe, hit the bell for notifications, share and comment…

Okay… full disclosure… I was contacted by KraftGeek who are based in California USA and asked if I would review one of their products… in this case – their latest Award Winning Music Stand.,

I’m not being paid for the review, I did however receive the Music Stand as a gift… and you can at this time (January 2025) get a discount if you order one of these stands through my channel. And the discount code and link to the products is listed below – KraftG-Stand-SGC-15

Now… I’m not in the business of reviewing music equipment that is not “fit for purpose” and so I am happy to review and give a thumbs up to this particular product.

Okay… with that out of the way…

Coming up…

1: Unboxing and Product details.

2: My Likes and Dislikes

3: Conclusion – final thoughts

So… without further ado…

Number 1:

The doorbell rang… The courier handed me a sturdy cardboard box and inside I first of all pulled out another box which holds the actual music stand…

along with that I was supplied with some accessories that can be purchased separately or you can purchase as part of a bundle.

Here we have a protective soft bag for the stand…

And I was also sent a light attachment – called a Lumi Light…

and an adjustable cradle attachment called a Flexi Mount suitable for holding smartphones and tablets.

Okay first up…

The Stand.

Well, it comes in a Nice box and inside we have the stand which as you can see is in a black finish. And along with it – there is an instruction leaflet.

The stand weighs around 2.5 lbs – And looking at the bottom section, all you do is give a gentle turn to the collar which unlocks the stand legs which neatly open out.

The height of the stand is easily adjusted as required… going from (29″- 66″)

The sheet music holder simply unfolds and then can be extended if required, and here you see clips to hold sheet music or notes secure. The whole frame is also easily adjustable.

The Case…

The stand breaks down in seconds and The soft case… holds everything neat and tidy.

Next… The Lumi light:

Removing it from the box, with instructions – holding in my hand I flip out each of the led lighting bars. You can either put 3 AA batteries into the battery compartment. – Unscrewing the little screw I pop in 3 batteries. On the side of the unit you have a switch for – OFF, and Low and high illumination. On the other-side of the unit is a Type C USB if you want to power with a suitable power supply.

The unit is attached and tightened in place on the stand with the large thumb screw.

Next… The Flexy Mount for a SmartPhone or Tablet

Removing from the box, with instructions… and looking at the back of the unit… at the top right is a button you push-in to enable the top section to extend up. The top holding bracket has a spring-loaded function ensuring a good grip on your phone or tablet.

At the bottom left same again allowing an extension at the bottom. As you see it extended its approximately 14.5 cm but does extend further via those spring-loaded sections which take it out to around 20 cm  – although there is quite a bit of tension at that maximum point.

The fixing spigot can be angled and swivelled through 180 degrees and locked in place and can be affixed either at the foot of the holder or at the back of the holder.

Fixing to the stand is a simple affair.

So there you have it – The KraftGeek Music Stand with Lumi Light and Flexy Mount… very nice.

Number: 2  My Likes and Dislikes

So… I have a number of music stands in the production studio, and I am quite familiar with all kinds of accessory stands which includes music stands where they get used for many different roles but notably – holding sheet music, voice-over narration scripts, tablets and mobile phones to help individuals who are being interviewed… and so on…

So… What do I like…

Well first off… It came well packaged…

1: As a former engineer… I do like the design… it’s well thought-out.

2: This is the black finished model (there is the platinum model available) – black is usually preferred in production studios so they don’t cause glair. The finish feels hard-wearing so it should keep its looks and it’s certainly easy to keep clean.

3: While it’s lightweight, compared to heavy stands we have in the studio…  it does have the feeling of a solid quality build… and is certainly sturdy on it’s tripod feet.  It opens out in a very positive way… and collapses down into a very neat size, around 29 inches and fitting neatly into the soft case..

4: Generally, music stands tend to be fairly simple in construction and layout, and this one is no different but it’s been achieved with a lot more style. The addition of being able to fit an adjustable LED lighting unit and a holder for a Smartphone or Tablet – is a nice touch.

5: All in all… A well engineered product… it’s an attractive and very functional music stand – with easy portability.

What don’t I like?

Compared to most other music stands… albeit – none have the design features of this particular stand…. It may prove too expensive for some – although, its clearly very well engineered… for which it won an award… quality products do tend to come with a premium price tag.

If I was going to be picky, it would have been nice to have had a rechargeable LED light instead of using 3 AAA batteries – there must have been a reason they didn’t do that.

And that’s it… so…

Number 3: Conclusion – final thoughts

I do like this music stand, it looks very nice in my guitar studio and it’s certainly being put to good use.

For me music stands can either fall into 2 categories… they often look cheap and simple and can often fall over easily or they are quite heavy and cumbersome and not very portable.

This music stand is without doubt a very thoughtful piece of engineering, made of quality materials, and easy to carry around. And If looked after, it should last a lifetime. As I say, I think the only drawback for some folks might be the price.

If your someone who appreciates quality made gear… If you fancy one one of these then you can actually get a discount if you order one through my channel and the affiliated link is available below.

Please do think about subscribing, hit the bell to get notified of upcoming videos, like and share. As always… It really helps the channel out.

Next up… a heavy duty piece of kit for the recording studio…

Do check-out my channel play-lists which covers my journey back to playing and recording guitar, after a 40 year break. Lots of equipment reviews as I seek out the gear I would use in recording. 

So… whether you’re a newcomer, an ongoing player, or like me, an old hand returning to guitar playing, I always take time to engage with folks, who take time to comment. So…

Until next time… the journey continues… do take care…

======= I LOVE YOU TEDDY BEAR 💝🧸💝============

UB44 Grossmann Fatbox Isolation Cabinet

At the end of 2024 – I ordered something very particular for my studio recording projects  – that being the German made Grossmann Fatbox Isolation Cabinet finished in black.

PEDAL CLIP

Hello viewer, my name’s Stew, thanks for joining me for another equipment review, which is gear I actually try out to see if it’s what I need for my music projects.

So….

Coming up…

1: The product and its Specifications

2: How it works and What it sounds like

3: My Likes & Dislikes

4: Conclusion – Final remarks

So… without further ado…

Number 1: The doorbell rang… and I took delivery of two fairly heavy boxes which have an overall weight of about 28kg….. and on opening…

The First box contains the top cabinet lid… so to speak… and it certainly weighs a fair bit…

The Second Box contains the bottom part of the cabinet which is lighter but just as substantial. Both are made of 25mm MDF and an 18” Birch plywood baffle.

So… taking a look at the top cabinet part… from the outside it has this very nice black textured finish… feels pretty tough. Here you see the Grossmann branded plate and a top carry handle. Inside is what appears to be a pretty dense acoustic foam treatment.

Now, I should say at this point…. The acoustic deadening properties which also involves a resonance absorber – are not a hap-hazard fitting… but have been very carefully designed in regard to frequency response issues that can be a problem when enclosing a speaker in a box.

The bottom cabinet section which holds the speaker – has in this case got Neutrik XLR inputs for two microphones and a locking ¼ inch jack socket for the speaker lead. (Remember, always use correct speaker cables and not guitar leads to connect an amplifier to a speaker cabinet). And also just to say… you can get a unit that has 3 XLR inputs for a 3 mic placement on the speaker.

Now, inside the box we get a few items that need to be fitted, starting with 4 solid rubber parabolic feet which help keep those bass vibrations from going into your floor.

This model has 2 alloy microphone brackets and nice chunky thumb screws for quick and easy placement – here you see how easy it is to put them in place.

I’ve been supplied with 3 high quality speaker cables which makes it easier to switch different speakers out – nice and quick – no soldering required.

The speaker cut-out is for a 12” speaker which, once quickly connected is firmly affixed with the 3 retaining clamps. You can also get an adapter ring to allow you to fit a 10” speaker if desired.

Here you see me fitting a Sure SM57 onto one bracket and a Sennheiser MD421 (2) on the other. It’s important to know… never position the mic at the top of the bracket – because, where the bracket ends is where your mic cable will come into contact with the foam of the upper box lid. And particularly, with this type of mic and holder arrangement on the Sure SM57– the mic could get pushed out of its holder and end up damaging your speaker cone.

I tend to use a bit of electrical tape at the rear of the holder around the body of the mic which just makes sure it does not vibrate loose.

I’ll be doing more on mic’s and mic positioning in another video…

So there you go…

Number 2: How it works and What it sounds like

So, as I mentioned, I’ll do another video where I actually use this in my recording projects and I’ll take a deeper look into the actual tones you can experiment with.

So… general guidance here…

For the sake of this video… as I’ve shown – I bought the 2 microphone placement model, instead of the 3 placement model (costs a bit more) For me, I’m not going to use anymore than 2 mics and in this illustration I have the Sure SM57 placed close to the speaker cap and the Sennheiser MD 421 placed at the outer edge of the speaker cone.

The speaker itself… in this case I’m using a Celestion Vintage 12 16ohm and what you tend to find is… the closer to the speaker dust cap – the thinner or brighter the tone. Moving further out to the edge of the cone you get a warmer or thicker tone.

Moving mics further away can create a feeling of space but once again, I’ll cover that in another video.

I’m hooked up to my Marshall 20 watt amplifier and using a room mic (in this case a Sennheiser MKH50 going into a mixer and here you see I’ve set the level so it doesn’t distort)  and here’s the sound with the lid off –

And now with the cabinet top placed in position and you can hear the volume drop as well as see the drop on the mixer meters.

The volume drop is around 30 decibels. 

Number 3: My Likes & Dislikes

What do I Like?

I’ve not owned the unit for long but right off the bat… so to speak…

Very nicely made, you could just say… typical German engineering… and of course,  I mean that as a compliment…

Very well thought-out, nicely put together, very tastefully finished… everything feels like – quality. This is built to last and to look good in any room – it does come in both black or white finish and there is also a model made of oak. There is a flight case available for the Fat Box thereby reducing decibels to around 40.

It’s simple and easy to set up – easy to change-out speakers if you want to get a particular tone. Placing mics at different angles and heights is quick and simple.

The volume drop is very good, no its not silent… and depending on how loud you are cranking an amplifier, as mentioned, it will knock about 30 decibels off – which is very good.

I play at fairly high volumes – (enough to annoy neighbours) – this solves that problem. If you lived in a flat – depending on construction variations… you may need to add a bit more deadening… a thick quilt cover over the top would certainly help and have no effect on the quality of your recording tone.

Now…. I also have a dedicated sound proofed studio with a sound proof booth and this unit  just allows me to have a more relaxed environment as well as – mics placed where I want them, without getting accidentality nudged, no issues with having to have mic boom stands that can be a bit of a pain in a small studio setting. All in all, I’m not having to concern myself with audio bleed depending on what I’m doing in the control room.

So… I really like this….

What don’t I Like?

It is heavy… your best to lift each section separately otherwise you’ll end up with a hernia… you can of course put it onto a dolly board to move it about if like me you have a dicky back.

I actually can’t see anything that I would want to see changed…. However…

Ordering the unit from Germany had a couple of hick-ups, you need to be aware of bank transfer fee charges and customs charges… so… not so straight-forward if you are outside of the European Union. If you are in the UK you will need to pay a considerable courier delivery fee and once it reaches the UK then you will get an import tax fee and a courier handling charge fee… which you can pay online or when the courier comes to your door.

What I will say is… Stephan Grossmann, the owner of the company – was, considering I ordered this over the Christmas / New Year holiday period – he was very helpful and was in email contact with me throughout the process.

4: Conclusion – Final remarks

So….I was going to either re-design a sound booth I have in the studio… or make my own isolation cabinet,….. but once I looked into all the various DIY projects online and – frankly some of those were just monstrous in size and didn’t look portable or very pretty… and then looking at the costs and time needed to do a good job –

– because poor frequency issues are a real problem if you don’t understand the challenges involved..

So… I think the Grossmann Fatbox is a good price. I did look at other commercial products that were a lot more expensive and they didn’t really convince me… in fact, some are now discontinued.

So… all in all… for my studio recording… this for me is just the ticket… I’m very pleased with it. In due course I hope to be able to bring another video where I show how I have connected this up to my amplifiers and the tonal quality you get… which is very good.

So…

Please do subscribe, hit the bell to get notifications, like, share and so on, as it really helps the channel out…

Once again, do check-out my channel play-lists where you will find ‘My guitar Video Series’ which covers my journey back to playing and recording guitar, after a 40 year break, lots of stuff on guitars, amplifiers, pedals and my on-going recording journey.

Thank you to those who do take time to comment or chat… I always take time to engage with folks, who take time to comment. So…

Until next time… the journey continues… do take care…