ATA flight case question

Naut.Sirius · Post by **Naut.Sirius** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:52 am

Hi all,

I'm a laptop based musician and have the assortment of small items that one tends to gather (read: I've sold off all of the big stuff and narrowed my gear down for portability). I'm going to be moving out of the US to SE Asia in 2 months and as per have to think about ATA flight cases for the first time. As portability and being able to both manage and keep an eye on all of my gear is a priority, I'd like to get it all into one flight case, preferably with a lock on it, wheels and a handle to pull behind me in the airport etc. What I'm wondering is, is there anything like this out there already? Or am I going to have to have something custom made? And of course the cheaper the better as I'm going to be living off of a finite amount of cash at first.

The gear I'd like it fit into the case:

Nord Modular
Behringer BCF 2000
Behringer BCR 2000
Mackie 1202 VLZ
Lacie D2 hard drive
Lacie DVD r drive
Powerbook
Audio, midi, and power cables for the above items

any ideas?

forge · Post by **forge** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 5:22 am

Naut.Sirius wrote: preferably with a lock on it,

if you're going anywhere near Bali, make damn sure you have a lock on it!

I wouldnt fancy becoming someone's accidental mule and getting hanged or spending the rest of my life in an indonesian prison

MrYellow · Post by **MrYellow** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:01 am

Maybe your best bet is a DJ coffin case where everything can be layed out
when opened, rather then all stacked up inside a 19".

-Ben

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:09 am

I have a similar rig, albeit with two laptops.

I've decided that it's worth the investment to have a molded case made, complete with locks, handles and big-ass rollerskate wheels at one end, so I can lug it around myself. It'll reduce my setup time from about 20 minutes to 1, which is worth a bit of dough for me...

freshdrumma · Post by **freshdrumma** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:04 am

i use a kind of militrary trolly case by peli case www.pelicase.com has flyighted a lot las year without any problem, is not a rack anyway, or you can look at the roto case by skb, thosr are regular plastic rack with trolly

Naut.Sirius · Post by **Naut.Sirius** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:21 am

forge wrote:
Naut.Sirius wrote: preferably with a lock on it,
if you're going anywhere near Bali, make damn sure you have a lock on it!

I wouldnt fancy becoming someone's accidental mule and getting hanged or spending the rest of my life in an indonesian prison

!! Scary thought! I don't know anything about Indonesian prisons but I've read many horrible things about the prisons in Thailand. A good book is "4,000 Days : My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison".

Did you have something bad happen to you in Bali?

Naut.Sirius · Post by **Naut.Sirius** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:22 am

MrYellow wrote:Maybe your best bet is a DJ coffin case where everything can be layed out
when opened, rather then all stacked up inside a 19".

-Ben

Good idea but I don't think it'll work for my needs.

Naut.Sirius · Post by **Naut.Sirius** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:23 am

Machinate wrote:I have a similar rig, albeit with two laptops.

I've decided that it's worth the investment to have a molded case made, complete with locks, handles and big-ass rollerskate wheels at one end, so I can lug it around myself. It'll reduce my setup time from about 20 minutes to 1, which is worth a bit of dough for me...

Sounds perfect, who did you have make it for you?

Naut.Sirius · Post by **Naut.Sirius** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:26 am

freshdrumma wrote:i use a kind of militrary trolly case by peli case www.pelicase.com has flyighted a lot las year without any problem, is not a rack anyway, or you can look at the roto case by skb, thosr are regular plastic rack with trolly

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to check them both out as soon as I get home from work in the morning.

M. Bréqs · Post by **M. Bréqs** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:53 pm

I sincerely recommend Big Deal Custom Cases.

http://www.bigdealcases.com/

These guys make rock solid shit. I've bought three cases from them over the last 10 or 12 years... That's three not because the first two wore out, but because I changed my gear over the years.

I just plead with you to not get "ATA Style" flight cases. They are not certified by the ATA unless they say "ATA certified" flight cases. "ATA style" is just marketing bullshit and means nothing.

Don't buy SKB, don't buy Gator, and don't buy Odyssey cases - they're all pigshit quality. Flimsy plastic, or if they use aluminum in their cases it's cheap and thin aluminum.

Pelican cases are good, I don't have any experience with them, but I do know that the Canadian military packs their electronics and computers in Pelican cases when they deploy. However, the disadvantage is that you have to fit your gear to their sizes. You can also find Hardig Storm Cases which are comparable products.

With a custom flight case, you can get one that holds your stuff right inside it ready to play - pop the lid, plug in the power, and away you go. You give the makers your list of gear, the dimensions, where the connections are, and what connects to what; then they can even put in cable channels for you.

Heartily recommended. Big Deal cases aren't light or cheap, but they are fucking rock solid.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:11 pm

Naut.Sirius wrote:
Machinate wrote:I have a similar rig, albeit with two laptops.

I've decided that it's worth the investment to have a molded case made, complete with locks, handles and big-ass rollerskate wheels at one end, so I can lug it around myself. It'll reduce my setup time from about 20 minutes to 1, which is worth a bit of dough for me...
Sounds perfect, who did you have make it for you?

The builders will most likely be Duch Cases, right here in Denmark. They come highly recommended. In this case (no pun intended!) I can't simply give them a list of what I want racked - I'll have to do a full setup of the rig in their workshop, in order to get the layout right.

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:19 pm

Naut.Sirius wrote:
freshdrumma wrote:i use a kind of militrary trolly case by peli case www.pelicase.com has flyighted a lot las year without any problem, is not a rack anyway, or you can look at the roto case by skb, thosr are regular plastic rack with trolly
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm going to check them both out as soon as I get home from work in the morning.

I'm with M Breqs on this one. SKB + Gator are okay if you only need a cheap solution. They are cheaply made and should not be put in the cargo of an airplane.

One of the most famous companies for this stuff in the US is Calzone:

http://www.calzonecase.com

Contact them about custom builds. Pelican cases are nice because they are tough + waterproof + pretty lightwieght. But, all of the Pelican cases I have delt with do not seem ATA certified. For ATA certification the box has to withstand a tremendous amount of weight + pressure. It would also be a good idea to have the rack internally shockmounted so the gear still works when it comes out of cargo. The durable box and shockmounting all adds greatly to the overall weight of the unit. The terms "lightweight" and "ATA Certified" are never used together. Be prepared to lug!

ATA flight case question

ATA flight case question

Re: ATA flight case question

Re: ATA flight case question