Hercules DS440B In-Bell Clarinet Stand

My wife chose this as a “surprise pre approved birthday present” and she reports it works very nicely and packs away in her clarinet case without taking up and extra room. Seems well made and designed and wife is happy which is the most important thing!

This stand works perfectly; folds up and fits inside the bell of my Edgware clarinet with no protrusion. Sturdy enough in construction. Other reviews mention that it can get stuck in the bell so when you pick it up to play you find the stand poking out the end. This has not happened to me and I can only assume if you treat your clarinet a bit heavy-handedly and almost drop your beloved instrument onto the stand it may get wedged. If you treasure your clarinet then you will be very happy with this stand.

I chose the Hercules stand as being one of the known makes for instrument support. I'm not a full time clarinetist but do have to switch between my Bb clarinet and A clarinet in rehearsals. I was looking for a portable solution for this and the in-bell storage seemed a good idea. The stand is easy to put together - it basically pulls our like an umbrella. Mt main criticism is that the yellow bell clicks into the bell of the A Clarinet and is a little bit harder (only a little) to lift the clarinet away from the stand compared with the Bb. Both of my clarinets are Yamaha 650's so this may be a specific to the dimensions/design of this clarinet. I have the Version 2 stand (which has small slits in the yellow holder.Note that the stand is not supplied with a velvet bag. Also this model is also sold by a highly reputable woodwind specialist shop, which would be less likely to sell it is was not appropriate,

Arrived very promptly from the supplier. Seems quite sturdy and packs away neatly. A little stiff and fiddly to deploy at first until you get the hang of it: the instructions could be clearer. I do not have the problem of it sticking to the inside of the instrument that some reviewers have.

Sturdy, excellent cushioning where necessary. Small travel size doesn't compromise weight resistance. Smart design with ''securing clicks'' folded or unfolded.

Bought for my granddaughter. She loves it especially as it folds and fits into the end of the clarinet.

I'd firstly like to state that I'm a full time professional clarinetist so as a result of this my stand got used all day everyday.I've been using one of these for about 6 months and it finally gave up this morning. The yellow top got stuck in the clarinet and ripped off as I took the stand out of the bell. I had to find a metal rod to poke down the lower joint as it was quite wedged in. As sad as it is I've actually spent about 2 months waiting for this exact thing to happen as I knew it would.I wouldn't recommend it and here's why:Pros:Feels well built. Very solid.Looks great.Fits in the bell so it's portable.It's stable when a clarinet is on it.The velvet legs are a nice touch.Cons:The velvet is cheap and where the bell rests on it it wears away to nothing very quickly.The velvet is nice but if, like me, you do a gig outside on a stage e.g. proms in the park and you get any mud or dirt on it it's ruined and just stays brown.The legs aren't great. You open up the 'wings' and then extend the legs out by pulling on them until they kinda click and stay extended. Unfortunately the bit that keeps them extended wears out and before you know it one leg pops in a bit causing the stand to become unstable and your lovely expensive clarinet falls to the floor (luckily that never happened to me but there was one close occasion...). The reason for the legs retracting are in the next points.The afore mentioned yellow top is a tight fit in a clarinet (though tight is better than loose). As I say it ripped off in my clarinet! But what's REALLY REALLY annoying is because the top is a tight fit very frequently when you take the clarinet off the stand, the stand quite literally comes with the clarinet. It dangles off the end of your bell and the only way to get it off is to sharply pull it out of the bell or my personal favorite and that's putting a foot on one of the legs and pinning the stand down while yanking the clarinet free. As a result of this the extendable legs usually retract back in as a result of the force and when you next need to use it you have to pick it up and manually pull the legs out again. Also going back to an earlier point if your shoes are muddy as a result of a gig/rehearsal outside you will inevitably get mud on the velvet as a result.The yellow top also makes the stand 'noisy'. The yellow top can make a popping noise when you lift up the clarinet as a result of the tight fit and also the top is on a spring and that too can make a noise when you lift it up. On the concert platform or in a recording studio this isn't good.I've always liked a stand that is easy to move on stage i.e. when the clarinet is on the stand and you want to slide the clarinet and stand out of the way of something/someone. The black tips on the legs are very grippy (which is a good thing) but so much so that you can't slide the clarinet and stand anywhere without having to physically pick them up as the afore mentioned legs retract annoyingly again if you don't.Standing on or knocking it will also result in the legs occasionally retracting back in.Obviously on a concert platform it is not profesional to be faffing around with your stand.This might seem like I'm being unfair but all of these cons happen VERY frequently for me and it's obvious I do not have a faulty product. That's just how the product is.It has not been built with a profesional in mind. It's as if the stand is trying to be too clever for itself.For a student who goes to a rehearsal once a week it's fine but for someone who will be using it everyday I definitely would not recommend it.I had one of these (in a professional environment) for six years and it was great Pack-A-Stand Ultra Compact Clarinet StandI'll probably be going back to it now. This was my first Hercules product and I'm disappointed.Edit: Just to clarify with the extendable legs. They never retract back in if the stand just sits there with a clarinet on it. It's all the faffing about with the rest of it that causes the legs to retract.Edit 2:Hercules have since updated this product and put slits in the yellow top to stop it getting stuck in the bell. The extending legs mechanism has also been improved.The spring still makes an obvious noise when picking up your clarinet though.I'd give it 4 stars now though I'm keeping the review at 3 as it is not clear which version of stand you are purchasing.Please bear in mind I don't know if the model you receive from Amazon will be version 1 or the updated 2. Version 2 has slits in the yellow top. V1 does not.

I read several reviews, some not very favorable but since I already had the flute version, which I rated well I decided to buy one for my clarinet. I was NOT dissapointed at all and in fact bought one for a friend. I recommend it fully.