Stands & Racks

The Raxxess ESD-4 is a rack mountable drawer designed for use in the recording studio or any place where you have a traditional rack casing for gear or otherwise. We have one of these in a rack at the studio where I work, storing all sorts of little gadgets in it for quick and easy use. It's great because it stays out of the way but at the same time is right there for easy access whenever you need something. It's just a great hub for everyday things in the studio that you might not want laying around, like DI boxes, A/B boxes, etc. The ESD-4 in particular takes up for spaces, but Raxxess makes drawers like this in all shapes and sizes to meet whatever needs you might have. It's definitely a drawer that is built well as it easily slides in and out without issues and this one is large enough where we can hold a whole bunch of stuff in it without it being cluttered. We also have a one space rack draw like this for holding smaller items like connectors, pads, etc. The price of the ESD-4 isn't exactly as cheap as you might think, but it's not an unreasonable price for a highly specified item like this. We actually have two of these at this size, one of which is in a rack and one of which is on a floating cabinet. While maybe not necessary for all studios, I love the convenience of having this as it makes storing smaller items easier and less things get lost since we have a place right there for them that is both out of the way and easily accessible. The Raxxess ESD-4 is definitely the way to go if you're looking for a four space rack drawer.

SKB finally did something that very few people in the music industry do; they thought ahead. It's common practice among gigging guitar players with medium-to-complex rigs to not only have rack effects but to also use pedals, shelves, drawers, and switching units to allow them to perform much in the way rack effects and rack gear work. Thus, most players, either doing it themselves or having a professional do it for them, put together a rack shelf or rack drawer to which they affix and wire up different pedals to integrate into their live sound setup. Many times, this involves putting one side of some industrial velcro on a stationary or sliding rack drawer on one side and putting the other side of the velcro on the pedal(s). SKB has taken the guesswork out of the task by creating a rack shelf that has one side of the velcro already covering the bottom of the shelf. This leaves only half of the work to be done (adding the velcro to the bottom of the pedal(s) and positioning them on the shelf. This is a brilliant time-saving idea and also allows you to re-position pedals at will without having remains of old adhesive "gunking up" the surface of your rack shelf. Better still, with strategic placement of velcro-backed zip-tie retainers, you can route and re-route cables your cables over and over making the shelf outstanding for anyone with a dynamic environment. The shelf latches into the rack and does not come out the front without the flipping of a releasing latch, so your pedals are secured into the rack by the shelf latch and onto the shelf by the high-quality velcro. For the price paid, the velcro covering on the shelf alone saves sufficient time and effort to justify the cost of the shelf. It comes with all of the mounting hardware needed to fit it snugly into 2U of any standard 19" rack. If you're sick of sticky tape and messy pedal boards, the SKB VS1 is the prescription for what ails you. This product could have been a ten, however the shelf is mid-grade plastic and could be more solidly-built. I have a competitive sliding rack shelf that neither locks nor is velcro-coated. This is a much better option in my opinion. Try it for yourself.

The Ikea Dave Laptop Table is a small, inexpensive table that you can use for a laptop or other small devices. I purchased thus unit with the intention of holding my laptop on stage, as part of my digital piano, synthesizer rig. It is one of the cheapest options you can find for a laptop table or stand (at $20), but it is far from ideal. The base legs of the Dave unit are very large, and although they provide great tilt support, they are often in the way of other equipment, such as the stand of my digital piano. They are simple plastic as well, so they don't seem as road-durable as other, more professional equipment. But in a pinch, they can certainly work. The tabletop itself can be adjusted so that it's tilted, but the plastic surface is too smooth to safely hold any equipment on an angle; at least I wouldn't be confident with that angle. That is fine and all, since you can just set it to be perfectly level, but the latch and lock that controls this tilt is a bit unusual, and as a result, the tabletop is never totally stabilized, and it always is a bit wobbly. This can be a problem if you are pressing buttons on your device with pressure, such as a drum pad controller. So again, it is just not an ideal stand for everything. The top surface is nice and large, and can certainly hold any sized laptop, and I've used it around my studio just to hold random equipment, and for that, it's great. Don't expect it to hold anything too heavy, because it can wobble, and the height lock is not totally secure (it's just a screw rubbing tight against the flat metal top piece). But for lighter equipment, it's great. Overall, it's hard to recommend this stand, as it can be problematic, but it can be useful as well, especially for it's price. It only does what it looks like it can do.

The Seventh Circle Audio CH01 is the chassis that you will need in order to case your Seventh Circle Audio build your own mic preamps. The CH01 will house up to 8 modules from Seventh Circle Audio. This will only be compatible with Seventh Circle Audio modules as I don’t believe any other company makes modules for it. While it’s a bit of a commitment to get this chassis and the power supply and wire harness that you will also need to buy with it, it’s totally worth it in the end because you’re getting a fully customizable rack. It’s also a really nice and clean design that makes it as easy as possible to build. You can choose from a variety of different preamp modules from Seventh Circle that includes Neve, Millennia, and API clones. While they mostly have preamps, they also do have a compressor module and you can choose to buy them pre-assembled if you don’t want to put them together yourself although you can save even more money by doing so. Even if you don’t it’s still quite cheap to buy the already made modules. The chassis will take up two rack spaces and I believe it has XLR connections in the back for each of the 8 spaces. The only small bummer is that it doesn’t have any meters for the preamps but you can’t expect the world here. The CH01 chassis is cheap enough on it’s own and in the end even with all of the modules you’re not going to be spending a lot of money, especially when compared to what it would cost if you went with a 500 series rack system instead. While it takes a bit more effort and time, the trade off is worth it with the Seventh Circle Audio CH01 system if you’re interested in saving a boat load of money and getting some top quality preamps of all different types.

The Raxxess ERSS-36's are a set of 36" monitor stands for use in recording studios. The professional studio that I work at has a number of rooms on site and we have these stands in one of our smaller mixing rooms. Right now we've got a pair of Dynaudio BM15A's on them, but we switch out monitors here and there to meet client needs, so we've had a few different pairs of monitors supported by these stands at one point or another. They're definitely reliable and well built stands as I've never had a problem nor seen any issues at all with them. They seem like they'd be able to support some pretty large monitors, but to date I've only mounted a few pairs of smaller monitors like the BM15A's and Genelec 1030's I believe they were. They do also make these stands in a larger size in terms of height, so it's nice to have the option if you need your monitors higher or lower up. These are probably best suited for near field monitors, which is what I've used them for, as I can't see these being useful for mains really. They're definitely going to be best suited in smaller studio environments in general where you might not have the luxury of a large desk to place monitors on. Having said this, the Raxxess ERSS-36's are of course useful in any situation where you see fit. The bottom line with them is that they're well built and will hold up your monitors for as long as you need them to, as I can't see them ever breaking unless by a freak accident. I'd suggest doing a bit of research to find the best suited monitor stands for your studio and the exact monitors you have, but the Raxxess ERSS-36's should be able to suite the needs of most studio owners out there.

The DR Pro Tripod Mic Boom Stand is a simple, but extremely sturdy and effective microphone stand for all applications. The setting that I’ve used these stands in has been in the recording studio, as the studio that I work at has a few of these on hand. When micing up drums, these stands are usually the first to come out for the microphones that call for a stand like this. It’s definitely going to be hard to find a sturdier stand than this one, as it’s built incredibly well. It’s very easy to adjust it according to what you need, which isn’t always a given with microphone stands. I can’t say that it has an special features that really make it stand out from the crowd other than it’s overall incredible build, and really what more can you ask for in a mic stand? The DR Pro Tripod Mic Boom Stands aren’t going to be very cheap because of this great construction, but if you’re looking to add some stands to your professional studio where you’re going to be using them to hold up thousands of dollars in microphones, you might think twice about investing in a mic stand like this one that will last a lifetime and give you exactly what you need day in and day out. It’s not something that would necessarily be needed in a smaller home studio or something of the like, but no matter what the setting it’s still going to a good idea. I can’t imagine these lasting any shorter than a lifetime as long as you treat them right, so really if you consider that the cheaper stands out there are going to most likely break at some point, it makes a lot of sense to invest in stands like this one. Of course I’d recommend spending your money first on the proper microphones, but once you’ve got some nice mics it’s a great idea to pick up a few of these stands to insure safety with them.

The Road Ready RR8U-AD (Deluxe Amplifier Rack System) is an eight space rack that is to be used on the road or even in the studio. This is definitely the sturdiest eight space rack that I've ever seen before. They had a bunch of gear racked in this at the studio that I was last working in - mostly stuff for live shows though. The owner of the studio was also a gigging musician, so I guess this rack would float in and out of the studio depending on if he was playing out or not. I can't imagine that anything could ever get broken in this! While probably not necessary in the studio where things aren't being shifted around as much, the RR8U-AD is perfect for bringing to live shows or for touring. I haven't gigged with it since I don't own it, but judging by the sheer size and stability that this has to offer, I'd say you'd be in very good hands with this thing. Beyond just being built extremely well in terms of the outside casing, the inside of it is padded around where you put your gear for extra protection. The price of the RR8U-AD will prevent those who don't really need something as heavy duty from buying it, but for those who are gigging and/or touring a lot and have some rack gear in their rig, to date I haven't seen anything as sturdy as this rack casing. This is really over the top for use in the studio, but I guess I couldn't argue with someone wanting to be extra safe. Having said this, the Road Ready RR8U-AD should really be considered as something for gigging with, as there are plenty of sturdy racks out there for studio use that don't cost nearly as much. Road Ready is one of the leaders when it comes to top tier rack casing for the road, so if you're a professional in need of a eight space rack, look no further than this...

The Proline MS220 is a pretty standard Tripod Boom Microphone Stand. It isn't the cheapest mic stand out there, and is actually built pretty well. While not on the level of the sturdiest stands out there, it will still get the job done better than a lot of the other competition out there. Upon first setting up the stand, I noticed that it was easy to manipulate and to get on its feet and in the position that I wanted to get it in. I was setting up a large diaphragm condenser microphone in the recording studio, so I needed a stand that would hold the mic in place well for an extended period of time. While there were a number of stands in the studio, a lot of them were in use, so the MS220 was one of the bottom end stands that were left. This isn't a knock on the MS220, the studio just had a lot of really heavy duty stands that we use before touching the stands like this one. However, in terms of tripod based boom stands, this is a very solid stand. While it will cost you a bit more than average when compared to other stands, it is still an in between level of stands, as it isn't built as well and won't cost you as much as the best stands out there. For use in both home and professional studios, I think that the MS220 will get the job done. I'd say that if you're a home studio owner looking for a stands that won't break in a couple of months, but don't want to spend too much money on the really heavy duty stands out there, the Proline MS220 is definitely something that I would recommend. On the other hand, if you're a professional I'd probably only recommend this as something to use at the bottom of your stack of stands, meaning in a professional studio it is a good idea to have really sturdy stands to use first, and then something like the Proline MS220 on the back end. All in all, this is a very solid mic stand that will get the job done in more situations than not.

The On-Stage Stands RB7030 Rack Space is a simple 12 space, rack space. It is just about as simple of a rack space/stand as you can get, and is also one of the cheapest. I've currently got one of these in my home studio, and it definitely gets the job done for me. While it isn't the sturdiest rack space out there in the least, it holds everything up fine and with easy access to the connections in the back. Having quick access to the back is a big plus for me, as I often find myself needing to make switches and this isn't always easy if you have a closed back on your rack space. I should also say that I don't have this space filled to capacity, as it only hold in my main pieces of gear. It sits on top of my desk for easy access to it, so I didn't want to put too much weight on it. Even though the RB7030 is built pretty sturdily in general, I definitely would not be surprised if it were to break at some point as it isn't made up as strongly as other rack spaces are out there, and is really just the bare bones. When I bought this I was really looking for as cheap of a rack space as I could find, regardless of the protection that it has around it since I was only looking for something to stay in one place and to not be moved around to much. I have a larger Gator case which I use if I want to transport any sort of rack equipment, as this one definitely isn't suitable for moving around with anything in it. The price is definitely the best selling point with the RB7030 as it makes for a simple yet effective rack space at an extremely low cost. I'd definitely recommend taking a look at this 12 space rack space if you need some simple racking for you studio.

(Originally written by Oliver93/translated from Audiofanzine FR) How long have you been using it? Almost two years. Which feature do you like the most / the least? Pros: price considering the product. Cons: the mix panel is not angled enough... Just try to mount a CD controller and a mixer and you'll have problems, especially with professional XLR and 1/4" plugs... Same thing regarding the rack depth: once you plug XLR connectors you can't close the rear panel anymore. Same thing with 1/4" jacks unless you buy right-angled ones... (Mac-Mah amp) Did you try any other models before buying it? An L-shaped rack. How would you rate its value for money? See question 2... Based on your experience, would you buy this product again? No, next time I'll check all dimensions first!

(Originally written by Will Zégal/translated from Audiofanzine FR) - How long have you been using it? Over two years - Which feature do you like the most / the least? Pro: price. Con: quality - Did you try any other models before buying it? Yes - How would you rate its value for money? Ok. It's not expensive so it's no top quality! - Based on your experience, would you buy this product again? Not sure... I don't own this exact model. It's nearly the same model but the top rails can be tilted over the top. Which is very convenient to access the rear panel of a mixer you have on the rack. Like in my case. The main advantage of this product is its very affordable price. It's difficult to find such a rack for this price. If you want higher quality the price will be a lot higher. It's a good solution for people on a budget or people who don't want to spend too much money on a rack. But don't expect a high-quality product. I didn't use it a lot because I stopped touring soon after I bought it. Nevertheless, the snap catches are already oxidized and hard to open. The wood is a bit thin so the product must be handled carefully. It's not roadie-proof!!! It's a product for a band that uses its own gear. BTW it's not very convenient for transportation. This bulky rack has only two handles placed right in the middle. In spite of my long arms I can hardly hold it by myself. And mine is pretty light since it's not full and I only have some light effect processors on it. No amp for example. Anyway, it's normal for a such big rack to be rather heavy and be transported by two persons. Hence it should have two handles on each side. Considering that the gear's weight is concentrated on the front the rack tilts when you try to lift by the handles only. Once you know all these things it isn't really a bad purchase: the rack isn't very durable but it does its job and your gear is protected for a few bucks.

(Originally written by Selecta Biss@/translated from Audiofanzine FR) - How long have you been using it? 6 months - Which feature do you like the most / the least? It's simple, convenient and rack-mountable... - How would you rate its value for money? it's here where it starts to limp. When I bought it I thought it would contain at least a self-inductor and a capacitor to "regulate" the mains voltage... but nothing, it's only a rack-mountable consumer mains power strip with a pair of low-grade IP54 outlets on the front panel... Convenient but very rudimentary... - Based on your experience, would you buy this product again? Good question! It's not a good product but for this price I didn't find anything else... and its value for money is somewhat overrated ...