Among Germany’s best venues for rock concerts and alternative music, Batschkapp Frankfurt has adopted Martin Audio for its stage monitoring with LE200 monitors.

Founded in 1976, The Batschkapp moved to a new, larger location at the end of 2013, where concerts from rock to hip-hop take place almost daily. The technology in the Batschkapp, therefore, has to be particularly robust to withstand the constant strain, and also has to be suitable for a wide mix of music genres in terms of sound.

‘Almost half of our bands and musicians still play with classical floor monitors’, explains Batschkapp Technical Director, Andi Kerl. ‘In order to keep the transport effort low, many productions nowadays rely on the in-house loudspeakers on location. Therefore, our monitors must also have a high rider acceptance.’

The Batschkapp had been using wedges from Martin Audio as stage monitors for more than 20 years, and the venue wanted to retain the same reference sound of the previous monitors but at the same time be able to continue using their existing power amplifiers – ‘which is no problem for Martin Audio,’ says Audio-Technica and Wolfgang ‘Schabbach’ Neumann from Schabbach Enterprises, with whom Batschkapp has been working for many years, and who advised the club on site. ‘Our recommendation, therefore, was for 12 LE200 monitors, which also have the advantage of Coaxial Differential Dispersion design.’

‘The monitors sound clear and warm, just as we are accustomed to from Martin Audio,’ Kerl reports after the first few weeks’ use. ‘They are reliable and very forgiving when the level, EQ or even the temperature changes. They are also much lighter and flatter than their predecessors and have an improved, steeper dispersion angle. The connectors recessed in the side handles and the non-slip rubber feet are also welcome improvements.’

The Batschkapp will also benefit from a small modification to the monitors to increase the mechanical stability so that guitarists, bass players or singers can climb on them without any problems – the grille was reinforced with two additional ribs and the LE200:Batschkapp-Edition was born.

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