An in‐lab x‐ray spectrometer is described which is capable of rapid acquisition of x‐ray absorption fine structure data for either extended x‐ray absorption fine structure measurements (EXAFS), or x‐ray absorption near edge structure studies (XANES). Intensities in excess of 107photons/s in an ∼10 eV bandpass near 9 keV have been obtained using only a conventional sealed, fixed anode x‐ray tube operating at 1.5 kW. The spectrometer utilizes a focusing Johansson cut and bent single crystal as the monochromator and scans continuously from 8≲2&thgr;≲160 degrees with only a single stepping motor driven movement. For 3dmetal absorption edges, resolutions of ∼10eV are obtained in first order with a Ge(111) crystal and ∼1 eV in third order allowing in‐lab acquisition of both EXAFS and XANES data of synchrotron‐like quality.