Blue Pop pop filter With Blue Yeti

In my reviewing role at The-Gadgeteer.com I received a Blue Yeti to review. I really like this microphone, you can read the review on that site. It is a great USB microphone, and they recently released a new Pro version with more features.

I used the mic for a while, and started looking for a pop filter. If you are not familiar with what a pop filter is, it is a screen you put in front of a mic to prevent “pops”. A pop occurs when you are speaking, and essentially blow air into the mic. The pop filter prevents this.

In looking at options, I immediately gravitated to Blue’s own Pop pop filter. However, it is not cheap. The retail price is $79. So I went to Amazon where I received good news and bad news. The good news is that you can get it for under $30 (price fluctuates, I bought it for $27) but the bad news is the reviews were not good.

Most folks liked how the filter worked, but had issues installing it on a Yeti. There are some pretty involved customizations ranging from drilling the Pop’s bracket, to drilling a hole in the Yeti stand.

I was not a fan of any that, but before I moved on I figured I would check with Blue. So I asked @BlueMicrophones on twitter and received a reply that it worked fine, with a picture of it.

So bolstered by this recommendation, and photographic evidence, I purchased the Pop from Amazon. I plan on doing a full review of the filter (with audio samples) for The Gadgeteer, but since that may be a while (I have other things in my queue on that site) I wanted to just focus on fit.

Installing the filter is a breeze. Here is a side view of the filter mounted on the Yeti:

The only issue with this method, is that it does somewhat restrict how far back the mic can tilt. Here it is at maximum tiltage (is that a word?):

I honestly do not see this as being a big issue. I can’t imagine wanting to tilt it any farther. Not sure why this escaped the reviewers on Amazon, though some pictures showing how to install it would have been nice. There is almost no documentation. Now, for pro audio folks, that is probably not necessary, but for rubes (like me) it would help.

It’s not perfect. They obviously thought through the design to prevent damaging your equipment. Here is a close-up of the mounting bracket. Notice the plastic end of the screw and the pad in the bracket.

Unfortunately the pad does not extend all the way to the edge. The rail you mount the filter on the Yeti is curved:

As a result you get some metal-on-metal action on the edge of the bracket. I am not ruling out that the damage was due to over-zealous tightening on my part, but it did leave a mark, well, actually 2 marks:

Not a huge deal, but I would caution restraint in tightening.

There were also comments that the gooseneck did not hold up the filter well. I had absolutely no issue with that. The only thing I can think of there is that they were moving it, causing the screw on the bracket to loosen, and failing to re-tighten the screw. It’s just a matter of physics that when you essentially rotate the connector on the bracket, it can loosen. So use two hands, tighten, and you should have no issues.

I am very happy with the purchase, the filter works great, and I had no issues installing it. If you have a Yeti I can whole-heartedly recommend this accessory.

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Tagged as: audio, gadget