gerenm.photography - August 22, 2018

When Ultimate is not so Ultimate — gerenm.photography

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When Ultimate is not so Ultimate — gerenm.photographyWell-nighBlog Galleries Music Contact Menu 701 Franklin Avenue Westminster, MD 21157 (443) 691-2616 the images, words, and music of geren w mortensen jr Your Custom Text HereWell-nighBlog Galleries Music Contact When Ultimate is not so Ultimate August 22, 2018 Geren W. Mortensen, Jr. It's really disappointing when a visitor known for premium products falls down. But that seems to be exactly what's happening at Ultimate Support Systems. Just over a year ago purchased Ultimate's Apex AX48-Pro-Plus dual-tier keyboard stand (pictured here). The Apex is a good-looking stand, and I'd owned one many years ago. The one I had previously was built like a tank, and so, I had every expectation that this one would be, too. Upgrades over the previous model included a stabilizing foot on at the player side of the base, and an zipper point for a microphone boom, which is included in the "plus" model. As with the original version, the feet fold smartly into the marrow of the stand, and the support stovepipe fit neatly into slots in the top of the column. Full of unconfined expectations, I received the Apex and immediately put it to use. I had just joined 7Souls, and had decided that I was going to need to use two keyboards with the band, and that my Ultimate V-Stand with a second tier wouldn't really do (the V-Stand.was flipside disappointment, but I'll write well-nigh that some other time). My setup then was a Roland V-Combo VR-09 on top, a Casio Privia PX310 on the bottom, and I built a custom pedal workbench to fit over the wiring to hold sustain and volume pedals, as well as a TC Helicon Voice Mechanic pedal, and foot-switches to tenancy OnSong. Everything was fine and dandy, until a few months in. I was packing up without a rehearsal, and grabbed the stand by it's handle to flip it over to fold up the feet. As I turned the stand over, the handle tapped off in my hand, sending the stand crashing to the floor.Unlike my original Apex, which had a very nice, solid handle made of metal, the new Apex sports a plastic handle, held in place with plastic clips that indulge it to slide up and lanugo in the columns inside track, and its position was locked with a thumbscrew. The strain of picking up the stand and turning it over had rationalization the plastic zipper points to shatter. My solution was to mumble a bit, and use a pair of self-tapping machine screws to nail a sturdy metal handle from the hardware store. It doesn't retread like the old one did, but it's not letting go any time soon. But I do wish that I hadn't had to do that. And, in fact, I shouldn't have had to. Further, if the part had been made of metal, I wouldn't have. Fast forward to last month, setting up for rehearsal. I'd set the stand in place, and was setting the Korg Kross 2 88 on the lower tier, when I heard a snapping noise, and saw something kind of scoot wideness the floor. Thinking I'd dropped something or knocked something off the pedal board, I wilting lanugo and discovered that I hadn't dropped anything. Instead, the leveling foot had snapped off the base.Close inspection revealed that the plastic zipper point had broken. It appears that a captured nut had pulled right through the plastic locking plate, self-glorification out the front side. I haven't had time to come up with a solution for this problem just yet. It'll probably involved drilling and tapping the post for a 10-32 thumbscrew, which is what Ultimate should have washed-up to uncork with. In the meantime, I'm having to wedge the foot in place and strap it on with gaff tape, or wedge under the wiring of the stand to alimony things steady -- or pretty much whatever it takes to alimony the stand from falling over and spilling my keyboads onto the floor.As if all this wasn't enough, last Friday night at a gig, the mic tattoo failed. It's no longer possible to tighten the tattoo unbearable to alimony it from sinking under the weight of a microphone. It's really worrying when trying to sing and play, and the microphone is slowly sinking into the keyboards -- no matter how tightly I zombie lanugo on the locking handle. Fortunately, I have an old AKG telescoping tattoo arm "in stock", so I won't have to spend a permafrost of transpiration to get flipside decent one. Then again, without only a few months of use, I shouldn't have to.As I said at the top of this missive, Ultimate once made the ultimate stand, but I think that's no longer true. Unfortunately, they still tuition a premium price, while relying increasingly and increasingly on plastic where metal should be.I'll protract to use the Apex, at least for a while (click here for a post that shows a picture of the rig). But I'll be on the lookout for something better. X-stands don't work well for me, as I like the two tiers to be unappetizing and relatively tropical together. Z-stands a tremendously sturdy, but folded/disassembled, they are unwieldy and take too long to set up and tear down. I've had a couple variegated designs of A-frame stands from Ultimate, when they were good, and Standtastic. The Standtastic was okay, but a bit unwieldy to set up and it tended to slip virtually a bit. What's your favorite, gig-worthy stand? Let me know in the comments. I'm lookin' for something!   In music, product tests and reviews Tags Ultimate, Apex Pro Plus ← Several Species at Baltimore's MECU Pavilion (Formerly Pier Six)Thirty-Nine Years → Featured Dec 28 Dec 28, 2018 – Dec 29, 2018 Phillips Pub & Grill 7Souls at Phillip's Pub & Grill Dec 28, 2018 – Dec 29, 2018 Phillips Pub & Grill Dec 28, 2018 – Dec 29, 2018 Phillips Pub & Grill Subscribe Sign up with your email write to receive news and updates. First Name Last Name EmailWriteSign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you! Powered by Squarespace