If you have read about my Festiverbant rig, you will have seen that I am using a modest 4U Gator case for my small rack. This isn’t a bad product at all but, despite its advantage of being very lightweight and easy to carry, it isn’t the most robust rackcase solution and, after a year or so of pretty hard use, the rubber sealing gaskets around the front and rear removable panels are already falling apart and no longer sit correctly in their grooves.
So, having decided to expand my rack rig in order to accommodate a rack wah and some outboard pedals to compliment the G-Major, it’s time to get a new rack case.
My initial enthusiasm for a SKB 10U shock rack was soon dampened by the fact that they are incredibly expensive in Europe – I mean, not just expensive but out of this world expensive.
As lovely as they look, I just can’t justify spending this amount of money. An additional negative is that the fully shock-mounted steel frame, and substantial ABS case, results in a very heavy piece of kit (a whopping 24.65kgs) – which sort of negates a little the supposed advantages of ABS plastic construction. Having said that, a 10U wooden case will weigh around 35kgs…
The traditional wooden flight case with shock mounts, as seen in the main image above, is probably the option I will go for – even though the weight difference in comparison to the SKB is 10 kilos or so. Another advantage is that I can specify a slightly shallower rack than usual (say 18 inches) which will save a little weight and floorspace.
The final decision I need to make is whether to go 8U or 10U. Clearly, it makes sense to buy sufficient rack space to deal with future expansion, though I only need 6U immediately:
- Furman Power Conditioner
- Line 6 G90 Relay wireless
- TC Electronic G-Major 2
- 2U rack shelf for wah and a couple of pedals
- RJM Rack Gizmo (or equivalent)
- Rack Tuner
That’s a total of 7U, so I think I’ve answered my own question – I need 10U!
Look out for my follow-up to this article once I’ve got hold of the rack case.
Ade Phazy's Guitar Blog 