I sing live over the internet, and use a microphone on a stand. Most mic stands have a heavy, round base. The problem with these is, if the mic is extended toward you on a boom or gooseneck, the stand can tip over. The Pyle Pro stand is unique with its weighted, u-shaped base. This places the center of gravity toward the back of the stand - the result is you can have a mic extended toward you with no worries of tipping.
The only caveat is that the included gooseneck is the only support you can use for your mic. Unlike other stands that use a standard thread in the base for various supports, the thread in the base of this unit is the same as that you normally would use to attach a microphone to. Pyle-Pro PMKS8 Desktop Microphone Stand (Gooseneck, U Shaped Base)
I bought this to use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech-recognition software. It works a lot better than a typical desktop stand as it gets the mic close to my mouth despite the presence of the computer's keyboard between me and the mic stand. I was concerned that it might not be heavy enough to do that without tipping over as I'm using it with a Sennheiser 431-II mic, which is a relatively large and heavy microphone. However, it has proved to be up to the task, even with the head of the mic extended nearly a foot forward from the tip of the base, provided that the mic is directly in front of the base (it will tip if moved to either side of the base). It's very stable.
My only quibble is the roughness of the casting of the base, but that's purely looks and doesn't effect function. The gooseneck is of very good quality, but the mic clip is just OK -- I replaced it with the larger and sturdier clip that came with my Sennheiser mic.
Note that as of January 2011, Amazon was selling this mic stand for only $7.00, considerably less than what other sellers were charging. To find the Amazon price, look under "other sellers," add it to your cart, and then go to your cart and click on the item. It's annoying that Amazon now makes you do that to find the best price. Or try clicking here: [...]
This gooseneck mic stand is good, but it won't hold a wireless mic as the holder is too tight. I'm sure it would be fine for a standard mic though. The mic holder on the stand can be stretched to hold the thicker wireless mic's with a little tweaking. And if you leave a wireless mic in the holder once you get it in, it does become easier to remove & insert the wireless mic after a while. But if you don't leave the mic in the stand when you store it, it will go back to being too tight again. The screw and nut for tightening the swivel on the mic holder does not stay tightened for very long. All and all, it's a good stand for the price though.
Base front ends were worn in shipping (probably on a slow boat) so that the paint was worn off and a small amount of rust started to form. A quick fix with a black marker or some gloss black paint would work ok. Base is nice and heavy cast metal, but is pretty rough sand cast. Threads on plated gooseneck are well formed and fit my mic very well. 3 pads on bottom of base make a non-wobbling stand which is nice for low end noise reduction. For the money it will suit my needs just fine. - Microphone Stands - Stands - Microphone Desk Top Stand - Microphone Stand'
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