Gear / Technical Help > Microphones & Setup

Cool modular mic bar system...

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aaronji:
I almost always take trains, with a lot of walking and an occasional bus, when I go to shows.  As a result, I am always trying to trim excess weight and bulk from my rig.  To get wider mic spacing, I was using a Manfrotto 154B, but that thing is the opposite of "light and compact", so I was searching for an alternative.  I had pretty much settled on either a followinbob 24" bar or a Grace spacebar, but I was hesitant to deal with the hassle of the international shipping (and associated VAT and import taxes) on the followinbob bar and the expense of the spacebar.  As luck would have it, I ran into a friend who does a lot of professional recording (including for NOS and VPRO) and he suggested I take a look at mic-bar.com.  I bought the basic AB bar and am really pleased with it.  Very solid construction and much lighter, and more compact, than the Manfrotto.  Robert, the owner, was very quick to respond to my e-mails and shipping was extremely fast and well-packaged.  At this point, I have used it "in the field" a couple of times and it works very well.  I will almost certainly pick up a second basic AB bar and the ORTF bar, which will give me 120 cm spacing (altogether, this will be the equivalent of Set 1: AB 120 cm).

During my search, I also came across this alternative.  It is more on a par with the spacebar (and priced accordingly).  This one also has a large central piece that mounts on the stand ("Mikrofonbasis mit Kabelabfangsystem"), but the bulk of that was another deterrent for me.

Anyway, I am not sure if this is of interest to most people here (due to shipping from Germany), but I thought I would post it.  I searched, but didn't see this anywhere, so apologies if it is already somewhere on the site...

cjc1103:
Thanks for researching this. Sure, ORTF mic bars are common, good mic bars for spaced mics are hard to find. I too have a Manofrotto 154B, and while super solid, it is unwieldy and a little heavy so your mic stand is more likely to waver back and forth. I really want to be able to put up a spaced omni pair with an XY pair in the middle,slightly forward of the main bar so they form a triangle with the spaced pair, with the sides of the triangle perpendicular to a line from the mics to the speaker. Everyone I have seen doing this and been using a homebrew setup. I was looking at getting a machine shop to make me a customer mic bar, but I'm thinking this would be a good alternative.

rocksuitcase:
Great looking product. We have been running split omnis with the Manfrotto for two summers now. This would be a nice alternative, but I would be loathe to do shipping and crap overseas.
BTW, what does the price translate to today in USD?

waltmon:
I spoke to the owner and told him about Taperssection retail page etc. Very cool guy has his own shop where he builds these.  I ordered the 2 shaped bar so I can run my AK40 active between and in front of my U89s.

Fried Chicken Boy:

--- Quote from: rocksuitcase on May 31, 2017, 12:32:22 PM ---Great looking product. We have been running split omnis with the Manfrotto for two summers now. This would be a nice alternative, but I would be loathe to do shipping and crap overseas.
BTW, what does the price translate to today in USD?

--- End quote ---

Checking the exchange rate today, it's around USD $122 for the "Basic AB" bar.  But those prices might include VAT which, in theory, U.S. residents shouldn't have to pay.  Maybe that and the overseas shipping would cancel each other out? 

Nice find, aaronji!  Don't know if one of these will be a future purchase for me, but you never can tell.  Some photos of it in use in the field would be cool. :)

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