SE Electronics: Boom Mic Stand

I've always wanted one of those hi-tech, heavy duty mic stands with the hella' long booms that you see at the AES shows in the boutique audio type booths. But, when I see the price tag of several thousand dollars I quickly give up on the idea. However, at the last NAMM show, I saw the SE boom stand and it was priced at only $299-$399 list depending on the size. They were nice enough to send one to me for review and I'm very favorably impressed with it. First off it's sturdy, super stable, lightweight, and will reach to within a few feet of my 16 foot studio ceiling. Fully extended it is 13 feet high. It comes with a heavy-duty nylon bag you can fill with lead or sand for even more stability. If you are fortunate enough to work in a studio with higher ceilings or just want a stand that can put any mic, no matter how heavy, over any drum set, no matter how big, you need one of these stands. I have a few minor gripes with this stand, but none of them would keep me from buying it. The wheel assembly does not attach to the stand in a very secure fashion, but I don't really like mic stands with wheels so this didn't bug me. Assembling the stand would have been easier with some instructions but we figured it out. This was an error on SE's part: these stands are supposed to ship assembled, so make sure to get one from a dealer that's already assembled and save yourself some hassle. Also, the counterweight lock screw broke almost immediately but the boom works fine with the counterweight not locked down. While I'm sure the boutique $2000 mic stands are sturdier, I'd much rather buy two of these and have an extra $1200 bucks for more microphones. (www.seemics.com)