Flight case quality Options

[Simon Lewis]

Hi y'all,

Can anyone venture an opinion as to how Thomann flightcases (particularly their cable trunks) rate in the global pecking order of cases? Functional but a few pennies scrimped like a Buster Case, middling to good like FCW, or better like a Five Star ?

Curious...

Simon

PS the above are my rough opinions and aren't meant to denigrate those companies ;-)

This post has been edited by Simon Lewis: 31 May 2007, 10:52 PM

[J Pearce]

A friend has a small trunk from thomann, and while I wouldn't expect it to survive international touring, it seems fine for once a week type gigging.

Decent catches, the lid lines up with the bottom well. No complaints from me.

[paulears]

I had a twin case from Thomann for some 250W washlights - easily as good as the Martin case, and it had a great little cubby hole door on the side where you could pop in the bonds rthat you always seemed to forget without lifting the big lid. The colour was a very dark brown - not sure why. I've got a couple of 4U lightweight racks and they seem pretty good. I have also had some of their other racks - easily the same as the ones I uusually get from the flightcase warehouse.

[Chappie]

The colour was a very dark brown - not sure why.

If the case has a diamond board pattern then most are very dark brown these days. The number of companies that can supply black diamond board has dried up somewhat in recent years and even when flightcase companies quote black diamond board, many are not if you look carefully.

[paulears]

No not diamond board, but some kind of tough laminate, I suspect - from a distance almost wood colour, but obviously no grain. Tough enough to stand on the top in the middle with hardly no deformation at all.

[Shez]

I've got a 12U live rack of theirs. It's a deep red/brown kind of colour; construction is plywood (not sure how thick). Well made - everything lines up perfectly. Not sure how the finish would stand up to pro touring but mine is still pretty much as new after a year of occasional use.

[pritch]

Only experience I've got with them is my toolbox, but it seems well made and sturdy. Like Paulears, I decided to stand on mine (just to see what would happen) and it didn't seem to mind.

[musht]

Thomann`s cases seem to be made in couple of different materials depending on range. Smaller cases specially ones available in colours are some sort of fibreboard panel, keeps the weight down.

Bigger boxes are mainly ply though couple of them may be fibreboard, takes some comparing of descriptions.
Cable trunks are 7mm ply and finish looks like a thick laquer sprayed straight onto the ply, sort of reddish brown finish as mentioned, dividers are removable.Casters seem ok and 2 are braked. Cables can go in baskets but with judicious use of foam give quite a lot else an easier trip.

[Rob_Beech]

I have a fair few cases of various sizes from thomann and I can't fault them at all. Really good value. I have 3 or 4 medium sized boxes I use for cables etc and they've lasted well so far with medium to heavy use. the bad point on that particular box is the catches, they tend to fail quite quickly especially when you try to slide the box between 2 others very hard and smash the catches off.

I also have a couple of smaller standard boxes which don't see much use but they seem to be built well. I have a few racks varying from 3u to 16u some are the cheaper range but seem to be ok, but the 2 largest ones I have are the "pro" range and IMO they are built just as well as any other. Of course, for those there is an increase in price.

All in all I'd put them as a very good case manufacturer.

[StevieR]

We've tried a few different manufacturers - e.g. Flightcase Warehouse, Amptown and a local outfit named the Justin Case Co. The one I'm most happy with has to be 5-Star. IF you take a look at their prices for standard racks and trunks, their prices are quite reasonable and the quality is top notch. They are also very good on the custom work although this is at the higher prices as you would expect.

Steve

[SlideShow]

I have also had a lot of different boxes over the years and the big names are exactly that for a reason.
I agree that custom stuff is always expensive. If you are just looking for cable trunks off the shelf, then I personally would put AmpTown at the top of the Pecking List. Cost wise they aren't too bad around the 250-300 mark depending on the sizes you choose. The quality and finish are superb...and will no doubt outlast what is inside them.

[Rob_Beech]

Whilst I have not paid attention to the 5 star cable trunks, I've found with a couple of desk flightcases the handles and catches can be nearly but not quite in an ideal place. Twice I have had a series 5 and not been able to transport it very easily due to IMO and the opinion of the rest of the crew the handles being in awkward places. I realise these are custom built but it wasn't my board of course.

Rob

[musht]

Interesting long look at flight case construction and standards here:

http://www.starcase.com/starfactsleadpage.html

Horses for courses think, if you need ATA 300 standard for the world tour sure the client will be happy to pay for it, if budget a bit tighter a rigid box, that weighs less than its contents, is always better than gaffered cardboard ;-)

This post has been edited by musht: 5 Jun 2007, 12:34 AM

[jexjexjex]

My 2p worth...

My 19" racks came from FCW. My only complaint then was that I couldn't spec the colour I wanted- but we are talking a few years ago now and I know that's changed.

I've no complaints about the build quality, but to be fair, my 12U & 24 U ubits aren't gigged week in-week out. What I will say is that the 24U item has survived "falling over". The bod that was shifting it didn't have a good grip and the handle slipped from his grasp.

Case survived as did the dimmers - no damage.

The other "important" cases that I have are for my pair of 200 series desks.

These came from Amptown and the quality is brilliant. They're not the all-out touring spec, but are effectively one stp down from that (7mm ply instead of 10mm type of thing). Good quality fittings and finishes. Excellent customer service too.

I was going to buy those cases from 5 star, but the sales guy couldn't have cared less. Maybe it's because I didn't buy 20 cases at once - don't know.

4 years ago they said they'd come back to me with a price for a case to sit my 200 Series 24-48 desk. I'm still waiting!

[Matt Riley]

We've got quite a selection of flitecases. The 5 star ones we've got are OK, but pricey. The ultrasonics ones which we've just bought are really good, and cheap. We've not had much luck with the AC lighting ones however. They serve as production cases in a venue, and have only moved about 20m in their life, but look absolutely knackered.