Ultimate Support V-Stand Pro Keyboard Stand Reviews

First of all, there is no stand I know of that is more portable than this one. It comes with a bag which you can sling over your shoulder. If you are going to be sitting at your instrument (and you fear an X stand inadvertent collapse for whatever reason :)), and portability is a big deal for you, then this is the tried-and-true option right here. Love it. Sets up quickly, breaks down nicely, folds, and back in the bag.

EVERY stand has positives and negatives when evaluated on multiple points; durability, stability when set up, speed of set up/tear down, portability form factor and weight, audience appeal, accommodation of pedals, cable management, mechanical and visual compatibility with the keyboard used, stage footprint, and maybe a wild card of "elegance" or level of design all factor into the final verdict. As a player starting out in the 70's with keyboards with their own integrated support system (Rhodes with screw-in detachable legs, wood cabinet B3, acoustic piano, Farfisa organ with its fold-in legs), I've moved through nearly every sort of portable stand as they were introduced, to now settling on preferring Omega in the studio and V stands on the road. I play sitting, and note some reviewers' concerns regarding seated height; the earlier generation of V stands I bought around 2008 did indeed have a removable set of steel plates that allowed the angle of the arms to be set wider for seating or more narrow for standing, and I still use those stands to keeps some older keyboards set up for recording (they're also less stable than the newer generation when a lighter keyboard is used; for the first generation, the heavier the keyboard, the more stable it is). This newer generation of V stand lacks the wider angle out of the box, but I've frequently customized equipment through the years, and about twenty minutes of filing the shoulder at the base of the arms produced the angle I wanted for playing seated when using the arms extended to the number 2 height position. My travel keyboards now are Nord Stage 3 88 and sometimes Stage 3 Compact, and the stand works well and looks professional with either; its pedal management is also great for me (it "corrals" the pedals), as I like using left to right a rotor speed toggle pedal, a control pedal, an organ swell (with those two positioned for access/use by either foot), a sustain pedal, and an up/down program change pedal; as pictured below with both the 88 and the Compact, pedal placement works well and the stand looks nice with either size keyboard. Also, it's very compact when folded down for transport, making it easy to pack (or to find room to carry a spare along with spare pedals and cables). I get lots of compliments on how the stand looks, but I like it best for how well it works in all aspects of gigging.

Has great stability and it's easy to setup and take down.

This stand has several improvements over the same model from 10 years ago. Mostly they have to do with safety and stability. This stand is well built, safe and easily adjusts for different players. We are pleased!

I use this stand to support my Nord Electro2 61-key keyboard. Setup is speedy, height adjustment is easy, the base configuration prevents pedals from drifting away, and the design makes for comfortable use while seated or standing . Sturdy for any size and weight keyboard. Comes with nice bag and integrated shoulder strap.

Only complaint - it's a lot heavier than is needed for the weight of a 61-key keyboard and the 18 lb stand weight gets old pretty quickly when lugging to the gig or rehearsal. I would love to see an aluminum version available with the same general design.

simplistically Great …. the only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because the stand had that "smell of rubber" (the best way I can describe it) which is slowly disappearing

As a professional USS user for 25 years, my opinion is that this stand is no compromise. I play an 88 note, fully weighted board on this and it is rock solid for any playing style. I was skeptical as I set it up. but, once a board is on this stand, it doesn't move. The only negative is that once a keyboard is on this stand, there is some rational movement (as if rotating the keyboard on its center axis), but it is minimal and not part of normal playing. I am looking forward to using this live soon!

The stand is very portable, rugged, and innovative. The stand is rock steady and it comes out of a nice bag and sets up in two minutes. Right now I am thinking about getting the second tier to accommodate two keyboards. Cord management is nice too and height adjustment is ingenious and easy to do. Well thought out

Part of why we purchased this stand without considering other options was the enthusiastic salesperson said you could lower the stand to where you could sit on the floor and play your keyboard. I asked him to demonstrate, and he knelt on the floor, which is not sitting. I thought it would be low enough for me to sit and it is not. However, I find I like to stand up at least part of the time. Also, the bench I purchased allows me to sit tippy toe and play with a comfortable wrist position. It was unnecessary to make such a claim and I could have made and more informed decision if he had not exaggerated.

The stand is very strong and folds flat into the included carrying bag. These were important issues coming from a Z stand that was always banging around on other cases and scratching them in the trailer. The only complaint our keyboardist has is the fact it's difficult to mount an iPad holder. Ultimate Support doesn't offer a dedicated iPad mount for this stand. She is currently using a K&M iPad holder with an On-Stage arm in a factory drilled hole, but its tricky and not a perfect fit since the top arm can't be pushed pack and locked when using this set up. The bolt in the center of the keyboard arm prevents using expanding holders that worked with the Z stands. Other than than, it would have been 5 stars given the heavy duty construction, quality, and finish.

This stand is clever, quick, folds down amazingly. What it is not, is a beast stand for super heavy 88 key units. For anything less than 88 keys and not much over 15" front to back thickness I'd have given it a 5 star rating. It just leaves you a tad unsettled with a super expensive giant keyboard atop it, as each side hangs way over the edges of the support arms. Because of this it has a pretty good sway when you get pounding. Amazing and A+ for smaller boards, regardless of weight. It is strong! For big and heavy get a Z.

I was told by ultimate that they don't manufacture the spare parts for this stand, so "ultimately," when the wonky folding apparatus on the bottom leg shears off because of its questionable design, you are left with an unusable and rather heavy hunk of metal inside a cheap bag. I liked it fine before it broke, because it's one of the few stands out there that is tall enough for me. But the fact that I can't buy the part from them to repair plus changes to Ultimate's formerly great warranty policy has got me doubting that I'll ever buy anything from them again.

For decades every keyboard in my arsenal rested upon either an Ultimate Sipport A frame, column or x stand.
On the road stuff happens, replacement parts have always been in stock, reasonably priced and at times under warranty.
Then came the Z stand.
Great design, very playable and easy to transport.
Apparently there were several designs and parts are no longer available
My V stand an exotic pile of aluminum scrap metal with Ultimate Support logo.

Left side strut is difficult to raise and lower. I have to use a knife or screwdriver to open the locking mechanism. Where are the locking pins for the support arms? didn't see those in the packing. Too bad you can't add a second tier.

Pros: Good height range, compact, good materials, fairly quick setup, carry bag included, good looking on stage.

Cons: Poor width range, heavy, expensive, base is in the way of feet and pedals, surprisingly wobbly.

The stand gave off an extremely foul odor that forced my wife and I to have to air out the room overnight. I truly liked the design of this product, however, with the horrible odor that wasn't going to go away any time soon, and the sticker on the box that stated that there were materials used in the production of this product that cause cancer, I had no choice but to return the product.

I bought ULTIMATE V-STAND PRO and received it just before 4 hrs. And returning it immediately. A product without workmanship. Locking pin particularly for horizontal bars, I could not insert it even after trying hard to align holes for 2 hours. There are two holes for different position set up but both positions I could not insert locking pin !!
Unfinished Chinese product without workmanship. I can not waste my time on stage for aligning Locking Pins to set up the stand. It should be easy and smooth assembly so that it can be set up in minutes....!!
Even Vertical Bars also keep on moving towards inside after inserting locking pins in the base...
Unfortunately, I have to return the second tier extensions too which I ordered along with this as they are useless now !!!
Wasted Time !!!!!

This stand would have been great except they used cheap plastic parts here and there. Mine arrived with broken pieces inside the wrapping. I liked the idea it had its own carry case but I fear even if I had replaced it, the same cheap plastic parts would eventually break.

I'm a jazz pianist who also plays some pop/rock/worship stuff. So depending on the gig, I may need to sit, or to stand. That's really all a keyboard stand is asked to accomplish—hold the keyboard at the right height. Well this can't do that. I have a Roland FP-90 and a Yamaha CP 300. Both of those (pretty standard pro boards) will be too to play in a natural seated position. When either of these boards are placed on this stand in the lowest setting, the key tops are higher than 30 inches off the floor. That doesn't seem like much, but over the course of a three or four hour jazz gig, an unnatural playing position will cause back pain the following day. For comparison, I have a Yamaha U1 upright piano. The tops of the keys are 28 inches off the floor.

So it looks super cool, seems really well made. I loved it, then I tried it.

Bought two Ultimate Support Apex Pro stands almost two years ago. Fortunately Sweetwater is way cooler that US and when first one chassis swallowed a leg irretrievably after a gig (shout out to 45Grave), then the other cracked the arms casing and swallowed one of the big arms.

Now the first one that broke has seen some weekly (to semi-monthly) use since I joined a band in April and had largely been in a closet before then. That"s the one that swallowed the middle leg. After a gig the leg just fell in as I was tearing down and just kept going.

I had a gig the next weekend and used the other stand (which till then hadn"t been touched since I set it up in my home studio) while I shipped the first one back for credit against a V stand.

The Apex is cumbersome and awkward to handle, but it feels like it"s built like a tank.

A surprisingly fragile tank. This gig (no wait it was rehearsal) the barely used Apex, when I slid a rack arm into its slot swallowed the arm like the chassis swallowed the leg. Only unlike the leg, there"s an obvious crack in the casing for the arms. Again, barely used. 2nd stand. Out of US"s warranty, but fortunately not Sweetwater"s.

I got the 2nd tier arms that I literally screamed myself hoarse putting together as it is at best a purgatorial experience. Imagine IKEA, but made of the heaviest lead alloy possible and even more impossible to fit together without self injury. Versace isn"t so overdesigned. US, here"s a clue, if you"re gonna charge so much, ship them pre-assembled. Putting together my console table wasn"t so stressful. And as overdesigned as they are, they"re not especially well thought out or even built. The tilt mechanism lock sucks. But more on that later

So I took the V stand to one rehearsal and as I arrived to set it up I noticed (this had to have happened in transit, as it was folded up and in its little fabric gig bag, and was perfectly intact going in, and set on top of everything in my suv, not being treated roughly or threatened by anything more extreme than a wide turn at 15 mph) that one of the metal plates bolted to the bottom part that tilts out to secure the right main support leg had completely cracked through. The stand didn"t stand so much as lean more than that tower in Pisa. It was a stressful rehearsal.

So Aaron, literally the best, shipped me a new one...

The second V stand seems to be stable, but so did the others. The locking pins on this one work better (though having two tethered and two untethered and asking to get lost seems just stupidly moronic).

But after one gig (not even a rehearsal) at which it performed as expected, when I came to set it up in my studio at home (as I"m down to one working stand, or was), one of the tier arms would not tighten the tilt properly and my Prophet 6 fell twice, once all the way to the floor.

Then, as I tried to make sure of the grip, the (rather thick) tightening screw (and I mean an industrial-thick screw) just twisted in half, snapping off and making the tier arm useless.

My Prophet is still on the floor.

So I"m done with Ultimate Support stands, and pricy stands. I"m sending the Vstand and the arms back and I"m combing the local pawn shops for cheap X stands. Don"t bother buying an expensive keyboard stand from anyone. Four out of four failures...

That is literally unforgivable. These products are not worth any of your money.