Millenium AS-2001

"Turn that amplifier down!" they shout.

"But I can't hear myself!" you protest.

"We can't hear anything but you!" they retort. And turn their own amps up...

And so the onstage volume war begins, escalating ever upwards. It leads to the destruction of musician's ears, and is the bane of soundmen worldwide, as onstage volume gradually overwhelms the front of house PA system.

How does this come about? Musicians often place their amplifiers on the floor next to where they are standing. However, speakers are quite directional, especially in the mid and high frequencies that allow you to pick out your own sound amongst the mush of live sound.

But feet don't have ears, so it's easy to set the volume to a comfortable level for yourself, while deafening another musician 10 feet away. Add in rumble transmitted through stage floors finding its way into open mics, and the problem worsens.

This stand goes a long way to solving this problem, through application of the completely obvious - it points the speaker towards your ears, so you can actually hear the sound you are making.

I use it with my 1x10 and 1x12 bass combo amps, and it supports their weight perfectly well.

Buy one for yourself. Even better, buy them for your whole band. If they are open to enlightenment, they will thank you, as will your sound man and audience.

I bought this for home use in order to; a) try and stop some of the lower frequencies escaping into my laminate flooring and disturbing the downstairs neighbours, and b) to elevate the amp and direct the speaker towards myself, rather than into my bed.

My amp is a Vox AC15C1, which is a rather heavy amp. I was confident on purchase that this stand would support my amp, which it does. However, my intention is to keep my amp on the stand for the foreseeable future (don't know if this is common practice or not). Upon putting the amp on the stand I immediately had the feeling that I couldn't move more than a few feet away from it for fear of it falling off. There is only one arm the holds the arms that hold the amp (if that makes sense), and as a result that is the only thing connecting my amp to the stand. It really didn't feel like it could take much more than I was putting on and I didn't want to gamble how long I could leave it on the stand.

The product I received was also quite warped, which didn't really help my fear of it falling. This meant that the rubber feet did not touch the ground, and rather the metal did which effected stability. The arm holding the arms (again, sense made?) was also bent, meaning that the amp sat at an angle.

I've had many of Thomann's Millienium products over the years and they are great value for money and really do their job well but if you want a stand to support a heavier amp, I'd recommend spending a bit more and getting a sturdier product.

I didn't have major expectations based on the price, but I've been pleasantly surprised. I can imagine based on the tooth quality that if this is something you are going to adjust often, there may be more wear and tear, but I keep mine in the same position and us it to hold a vintage tape machine when bouncing mixes. This is a 20kg piece of kit, and it handles it very well. I'm extremely cautious, mind you, but I can't say anything bad about it.