Podcast Desk Mic Stand Boom Arm Comparison Review

In depth review of some desktop microphone boom arms aka Podcast Mic boom arms with me (Travis) from Hollywood DJ.

We review 3 of the Gator desktop microphone boom stands for beginner podcasters to the high end scissor stand BM3000 model from Gator Frameworks.

These range in price from $50 to $130 and after doing the review...The BM3000 is awesome and hands down the best choice.  It's also way more professional for daily use in a pro studio environment. Pro broadcasters will really like the feel and quality microphone arm of the BM3000 boom stand.   

If you're really on a budget, the $50-$70 retail BM1000 (pictured above) will do the job but once you've tried the BM3000 it's hard to go back. I purposely did the comparison from the entry level desktop stand to the higher priced one just to see how I liked them as I went along. This way I wouldn't be to unimpresed with the lower priced models, etc. The other interesting thing was the design of the BM2000 which I believe was made more for traveling with a very sleek design. Give us a call anytime at 800-700-4542 if you're looking for a microphone boom arm, we're happy to help.

(Transcript of the video below)

Travis here from Hollywood DJ reviewing the Gator Broadcast Boom Stands.

Today we're going to go over the different stands that are made for doing some desktop personal recording, solo artist type work or Voice Over tracks or whenever you need to hold a microphone on a desktop and you kind of want to suspend it using some kind of a little boom like one of these guys here.

So which desktop boom stand is the one that's right for you?

We've got three different microphone boom stands from Gator frameworks. I'm gonna go over all these today. First I'm gonna go over the Gator BM 1000 desk mic stand. This little guy, it's got the sort of less expensive springs but this is a less expensive model.

This is Gators least expensive model and this guy is only 50 bucks right now on sale - lists for 79. It's pretty simple, it's got a couple adjustments here for your mic you can tip it around screw on your mic right here it's got a built-in cable.

As you can see I got it tied up here and this is built-in and comes with this so that's included in a $50 price.

So it's got these springs to sort of offset the weight of the microphone. You can see it's kind of pulling up on here and it's got knobs you can tighten up this bar here so that you can get it where you want it and it'll stay there.

So this guy comes apart pretty fast it goes together pretty fast it's just got a little pull insert here Gator on all these Gator has provided a really nice deep clamp.

Okay, and next we've got the Gator BM 2000 stand, this little guy does not have the knobs as you can see and it comes with a little Allen wrench to tighten up.

It’s kind of weird, not super huge fan of it but it does work. Now the cool thing about this guy if you are doing a podcast or recording artist that travels and you need to have some kind of a desktop stand this guy packs super tight.

So you can see how skinny that is and this actually comes with some little strappies that you can secure this with and you could you could pack this in a suitcase really easy. It's going to be safe it'd be pretty hard to damage this in transit.

The BM2000 doesn't have to be for travel but it really travels well. To sum it up this is Gators mid-level boom desktop stand that travels well.

So next we've got the flagship Professional Microphone Boom Arm which is the BM 3000 deluxe model. This version is the broadcast quality version of the podcast mic stands from Gator.

If you’re doing broadcast radio of any kind, if you're going to do you know something serious or you're gonna have clients at your studio or you just want to be more professional and have something that works super good that you're not going to be fiddling with all the time, this is a great mic stand.

It’s gonna swing out of the way super easy you know when you don't need it and then when you need to do some recording just swing it back in.

These are only 130 bucks so it's hard for me to you know really make much of a comparison together to these other mic stands honestly. This is so much better. If you got them if you got the cash you want something nice, this is the one to get for sure.

It's got Springs in here all along the way and these are sort of they're really well placed like as I was going through and tightening up these knobs to kind of get this thing where I wanted it I could feel all the springs kind of they're not really they're not fighting me they're just kind of helping keep it in place and they're still lifting up a pretty decent heavy microphone.

I've got a four fourteen in here this will take a very heavy microphone it's in the specs I don't remember what it is but it's pretty dang heavy.

This AKG 414 is average and like a RE20 Microphone or something like that it'll take it no problem and it will keep it in place. 

So all of these stands are you know a decent fit they're reasonably priced for podcasting applications but this is by far my favorite and a much much higher quality piece of gear than the other two.

I’m kinda in love with this thing! So on the one other thing I want to mention on all these microphone bom stands, there is one of these little mounts so you can switch out the mount if you'd like to permanently affix it to your desk or table you know in your studio or at your workspace.

One little thing I wanted to show you on the 3000 is that you've got this cable that is built-in just like the BM1000. However the BM2000 does not have a cable and it's more of a  travel model but it has its own benefits  The BM2000, it's pretty dang sturdy for ninety bucks but it does not have a cable. Both of the other BM1000 and BM3000 do have nice XLR Microphone cables included.

The other thing about the 3000 you’ve got a much nicer clamp you can kind of see how much more substantial it is here. This is the 3000 clamp here and you’ve got a little more clearance I don't know if you can see it there but you've got a little bit more clearance and some nice felt pads.

This way you don't scratch up your desk with the metal face. On the BM3000 the clamp has a nice piece of felt on the underside of the clamp. So if you have a really nice desk or something you're worried about the underside of your desk (which not many people are ever gonna see) you’ll be covered and no damage will likely occur.

The BM2000 clamp has a nice rubber piece here so that's cool and it works but it's not as professional as the 3000 and this is probably going to last you a little longer.

Alright, we've got this thing in place, man so this is the best by far the BM3000.  I've got it set up with the AKG 414 Microphone and I'm gonna put this bad boy in place and start using this thing.

This stand stays in place and does what it's told and it supports even a really heavy microphone. In summary, the BM1000 is a really great price point but it's not a super high-quality boom stand you know, it's okay but I liked the BM2000 a bit more as it was fairly sturdy but it doesn't come with the cable like the 1000 does.

So you got to have your own cable which you probably have, but this 2000 travels really well and it's pretty sturdy so it can go in a suitcase. The only drawback on the damn Allen wrench, I don't like it very much.

However…the Gator BM 3000 I'm in love with and is by far a much nicer boom stand.

If you have any questions or if you want to buy one of these bad boys go to HollywoodDJ.com and pick one up for yourself. I highly recommend checking out the BM 3000, it's the one that I'm using in my podcast studio right now. Until next time, this is Travis from Hollywood DJ signing off.