Battle of the Booms: Rode PSA1 vs. Blue Compass vs. Gator Frameworks

oh i made a wish and today i've got more boom arms to check out [Music] and it's probably no surprise that the boom arm that i got the most questions about was the blue compass so i bought a compass specifically to check out for myself because i have never used one before and my original plan was just to compare these two because these are some of the two most popular choices around i got a pretty ridiculous care package from buzz sprout where i host my podcast and that included a gator frameworks tube style boom arm which i had never heard of before so after watching this video we're gonna see if the direction points you towards the compass if the psa1 is the road you want to go down or if the gator frameworks is the one that works for you and makes you say you got a gator sometime later i'm going to give you two spoilers just right off the bat first these are all terrific boom arms there's a huge difference between the 100 and up price range versus the like 13 one that i did in the last video a 13 boom arm is just trying its best to just be a boom arm in this price range at the higher end level you not only have really good boom arms but they each offer some specific innovations like there's room to try new things and to offer new features not just struggle to meet the minimum requirements and the second spoiler is that i just recommend the rode psa one if you just want to know which one do i get get the psa one i'm also super biased the rode psa1 first rode into my life in 2014 and now i personally own two of them and i've ordered about 15 of them for my job throughout the years and i've never had any issues with a single one of them you can see right now these all have rode pod mics on them which is a very heavy microphone and the rode psa1 just right out of the box wherever you put it it will just stay there no matter how high no matter how low it's just the easiest one to use it feels really good to move around it's just it's just so well made if you do need to ever tighten it up there's just two little three actually little tension screws right here and that is it that's basically everything you need to know about the psa one it's amazing but chances are if you're watching this video you might already be familiar with the psa one and you're wondering about some of these other things so let's look at them and the blue compass really blew me away by how cool it looked as soon as i took it out of the box it has become incredibly popular over the past few years and it's not uncommon at all to see this on video podcasts because it does have an awesome design and it looks really good on camera just like i do and that's probably why you're seeing it on camera a lot more often this is a tube style boom arm so everything is internal it just feels very solid it's all made out of metal except for the little adjustment knobs the stand is super sturdy and the springs are incredibly strong it's pretty versatile in terms of poses that you can position it in it's very very well built and it has this really cool feature right up here it has these little plastic clips that you can just pop open it says that you should be able to do it with your fingernail but i like almost rip my fingernails off doing it which is terrible so i'm using a tiny screwdriver and then instead of having to worry about how to route your cable you can just clip your xlr or your usb cable depending on which microphone you're using right into the arm itself and then you've got a really nice clean setup so the only place that the cables visible is down at the end and then right here at the hinge otherwise it's all internal i get a lot of questions about these colored cables so i'll put a link in the description they're cool they're colorful i like that about them the quality is fine so they're not like the most amazing cables in the world but they look great on camera and that is helpful when you're using something like the rode psa1 where you need to attach the cable externally now i'm gonna be really honest with you with how popular the compass is i was expecting to get it and just kind of think it was the best boom arm ever but there are actually a couple things i don't like about it namely it's just so strong that there's nothing i can do to alleviate this amount of tension right here and i know you're probably thinking tom you're wrong as usual you can adjust the tension don't you know anything how dumb can you be and you're right i can be dumb but also you can't adjust the tension there are these little friction knobs here to adjust things but once they get turned tight they become kind of useless they don't really make that much of a difference this one is as tight as it will go and as you can see i still can't keep the arm low they're also very plasticky and it feels like if you really like turned it down it would break unfortunately on the bottom of the compass there is a little tension screw so right here you can turn this screw right to add tension or left to relieve tension on the springs so if you're using a really lightweight microphone they tell you to turn it left so that way there will be less tension and the microphone will will stay weighted if you are using a heavy microphone then you can turn it right and add more tension but the problem and i'll show you this so right now i'm having a problem with the microphone springing up which would mean there's too much tension so i can loosen this and i'm just doing an example right now i have spent like an hour trying to experiment with this and i can get it to the point where this is about as little tension as there is and it still is going to pop up but also now if i extend it out it's going to droop so then to prevent that droop i need to tighten this to add in more tension pay attention to how much tension you add so now if i add enough tension where it's not gonna droop it's also gonna pop up no matter how tight i have this here so that's kind of frustrating the instructions tell you to keep it so it's balanced at a 90 degree angle which it does no problem and then yes if you just kind of want to do that very traditional pose right here it's very very easy if you want to keep it low and extended out where all the weight is at the end that's easy too but if you want to keep it kind of like this and low it doesn't really work you have to kind of push it back and then out but then it's not necessarily in the right spot but here's the difference if i bring in the rode psa1 just no matter where i position this no matter how far out no matter how close no matter where i can just it's an interesting sound i can just position this exactly where i need it and it's just gonna stay there so much of this just depends on your setup you know how many of these are you gonna have how much room are you gonna have how much reach do you need if you're gonna be really close to it you might find yourself kind of struggling a little bit if you're going to be further away you're going to end up putting more weight on it which will make it easier to to position where you want so for me the fact that i had to spend so much time adjusting the tension kind of caused some tension between me and this boom arm especially because i couldn't even get it exactly the way that i wanted where again just straight out of the box the psa1 delivers exactly what i was looking for with no other adjustments and that brings us to our third boom arm here and the gator frameworks might reframe how you think a boom arm should work because it has some pretty cool features this is basically in a lot of ways a hybrid between the compass and the psa1 because it has the tube style and the metal kind of modernish design of the compass but it has the positioning flexibility of the psa1 so i haven't had to adjust any tension or anything and this thing will just kind of stay wherever i put it it has these giant knobs right here in the same positions where the compass has its knobs but these ones actually work really well so you just tighten it down and you're all set the whole thing is made out of metal but these hinges are a really hard plastic and the knobs are hard plastic doesn't feel like they're going to break or anything but it's just something to be aware of it also has a feature that you might be noticing that could either make or break whether or not this will work for you and that is an internally routed xlr cable so it comes with a pretty long actually here's the cable itself a pretty long xlr cable that's a good quality it sounds great it works great and it's routed up inside here so you don't need to attach anything you don't need to route anything through a channel you just plug it into your microphone and you're all set and the other end has plenty of length to reach your mixer or your recorder the downside of course would be if you want to use this with a usb microphone because it only comes with an xlr connector so that would mean you would connect your usb microphone you would still need to externally wrap it around here and then you would just have this thing sort of hanging out here and also if something were to happen to this cable if it were to break or get damaged then you have to take it apart somehow and replace the cable which would be a big pain in the butt i wouldn't expect this cable to fail for at least a really long time you know take care of your cables they're gonna last this one's protected inside the boom arm but that is something to be aware of if this works for you if you're using an xlr microphone this gives you a really clean setup where you're never gonna have to worry about cables at all but there is one incredibly weak spot with this boom arm which is disappointing considering it costs 130 dollars and that is the clamp that attaches it to the desk and once the arm is in there it feels pretty good and if you just kind of keep an eye on it make sure you know every so often you check that it's still mounted securely i think you'll be fine it also comes with padding on both the top and the bottom to protect your table which is super cool but if you notice with both the compass and the road their mounts position the actual weight of the boom arm on the table whereas the gator frameworks positions the main weight of the boom arm off the edge of the table so what that means is no matter how tight you have that clamped on there as you're moving this around even if you're being gentle it's going to kind of naturally wiggle itself loose a little bit and that is very frustrating now there is a solution if for some reason you happen to have a road clamp maybe you're not using a psa1 anymore somehow you managed to break one this arm works perfectly with it and it actually looks pretty good and then you solve all of the problems but depending on your setup if you already have some of these if you've already got holes drilled into your table or your counter and you don't even use these clamps you just mount the arm directly into your recording table then that wouldn't be a problem at all but it's something to really be aware of because this is it's kind of a weak design it's like a really beefier version of what the cheap boom arms come with probably after that somewhat biased explanation you might be able to see why i just prefer the psa one and this is the one i recommend it's a hundred bucks you're all set kind of never have to worry about your boom arm again however there are a couple downsides one the design is pretty old school and retro i like that so it doesn't bother me at all i love the design of it but some people like the more modern look which both of these the compass and the frameworks they look really cool and look great on camera so if you just have that visual preference and this one might not work for you the other thing that i've never liked about the psa1 is actually this little attachment here where the microphone connects to it it has these two metal knobs and to tighten it or loosen it you kind of have to turn them opposite directions at the same time which is awkward if you're also then trying to position the microphone and turn two knobs it's always been annoying to use it's not a big deal it's not like it's gonna break or anything it's just always been kind of annoying to me and the other thing to be aware of is because this is a scissor style boom arm that does give you the possibility of pinching your fingers trust me i've done it there are very strong springs in here and that really hurts and of course you can avoid that just by being more careful than me but it happens and if you're recording a lot with people who maybe aren't used to using arms like this maybe have guests on your show or something they could easily pinch themselves on accident and more than likely also if you have kids and you have one of these set up at home they might want to play with it move it around and then accidentally pinch themselves in it and it really really hurts i have found especially this back section is where i have pinched myself the most because sometimes just not paying attention just trying to move it out of the way you accidentally grab it wrong and then you pinch your fingers not fun since both of the other boom arms are tube style it's impossible to pinch your fingers which is awesome to give credit where credit is due the blue compass is a really great boom arm my biggest gripe is just with the way you have to adjust the tension of course a lot of that's going to depend on how you want to position it and of course how heavy the microphone you're using with it is the pod mic is like the heaviest mic i've ever used and it still has these issues the internal cable routing is really cool the overall build quality is fantastic the mount that goes on the table is really great the visual appeal of this if you want that sleek modern look this thing is awesome so there is a lot to like about it just the tension and the adjustments are kind of weird and these turning knobs that just sort of feel a little too thin and a little too flimsy bother me since you are providing your own cable with the blue compass you can use usb or xlr microphones with it it doesn't matter kind of just the same as the psa one and then finally the gator frameworks which if you're using an xlr microphone and you like the tube style this is probably the best choice its tension and position abilities are adjusted pretty much perfectly just like the psa1 but it still has that modern tube design of the blue compass it does have a big logo on the side so that may or may not be a problem for you depending on how you position it the internal xlr cable can be a really cool thing if you're using an xlr mic but if you're not using the xlr mic it kind of rules out this boom arm altogether and the stand the clamp that mounts to the table just the fact that it's kind of an annoying thing you have to worry about at all that does bother me a lot if you have a different way of mounting it like i said earlier then this could be the perfect boom arm for you so in the world of boom arms when all is said and done what i think all three of these prove is that you really do get what you pay for and down in the 10 20 price range yes you can 100 get something that works and you can do great stuff with it but once you invest a little more money you're not only going to get an overall better product but you're also going to get something that might add in some cool more versatile features and you're going to get something too that's going to last you a really long time but again i am 100 biased and partial to the rode psa one still after this i gotta say i didn't make a big deal about this in my last video but every time i use another boom arm no matter how nice it is and i come back to this one i'm just always like noticeably shocked by how easy and nice it is to use so for me this is going to continue to be my boom arm of choice but just because it's right for me does not mean it's right for you so i hope this kind of provided some clear guidance on that if you want to know more though about podcasting gear i've got an entire playlist filled with videos all about podcasting gear you hear

Channel: Tom Buck

Views: 164,906

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Id: 1V4LgEQwcSo

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 07 2021