Finding a suitable flightcase rack

[Oolong]

Having seriously thought about making my own rack flightcases for the very first time (see separate discussion thread) I ended up finding out that I could buy a similar rack made by RoadReady cases for even less than the plywood and hardware alone would cost me. So the choice was easy :)

 

But now I need a second rack, this time with the option for adding a mixer on top, like this:

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4281/rtl17x122bjr8.jpg http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/7467/rtl17x121bwq2.jpg

 

That particular case is an RTL-series case made by Holmberg cases in Sweden, but is very expensive.

 

RoadReady do make a few "slant" cases, such as this 16U type, but unfortunately the top-rack is fixed and there's a door at the rear which probably makes it harder to access connectors etc. than an "open" one where the entire rear end is removable because it's a lid.

 

What I'm looking for is something like the Holmberg case (with a front and rear lid in addition to a top lid which is "sandwiched" in between the two, and an adjustable ratchet type rack for a mixer, but at a fair price, and of course good quality.

Any suggestions?

[Dj Dunc]

AFAIK thomann do a few variations from 8U to 20U

[smalljoshua]

This One is a nice size I own one and I like it.

 

All these are what you appear to want.

 

Josh

[tokm]

Just to add a bit of variety to the thomann'ness. Here's some by flight case warehouse :) >> clicky

 

Would personally recommend these ones. >> Clicky no2

 

Just bought two for small gig/conference all in one sound rack jobbies... or at least, that's how I justified buying them for my hire stock :) Cases seem well built, use the good old industry standard hex board (which IIRC the thomann ones don't :o) all the fixings are penn fab, so quality assured all round.

 

HTH,

 

Tom

[MarkPAman]

Flightcase Warehouse made me an oversize one of those, with 16U front to back for the mixer. I am very happy with it. :)

[Oolong]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

From what I can see, the Thomann racks with adjustable tilt-tops don't come with a removable rear lid like the one in my photo. One exception might be the "Thon triple door live rack 12HE/R" which Smalljoshua mentioned. The picture doesn't exactly give away too many details.

It seems they have a 15U rack as well, which is probably more suitable for me (I might as well get it as high as possible).

 

The ones from Flightcase warehouse seem very nice. Their 16U console mixer rack seems to be what I need. I see they even have an 18U version. Not sure if that's too much (making the rack very heavy) or not.

Those racks look almost perfect except for a couple of things:

 

1) I would like the rack rails in the front to go all the way up

2) I don't particularly like the "hexaboard" design. I more in favour for the usual smooth plastic covered (?) plywood. (What is hexaboard anyway? Does it make a rack stronger than plywood?)

 

I'll contact them to ask if they can provide the same rack with the above specs and if they deliver outside of the UK.

[tokm]

I would like the rack rails in the front to go all the way up

The reason why they don't do it all the way up to the tops obvious.. if your using the top mixer part, the depth of any gear in the top would make putting anything other than a blank in the top-most part of the front racking, impossible. Thought as MarkPAman said, they do, do customisations, so you could probably get the racking all the way to the top no problem.

 

I don't particularly like the "hexaboard" design. I more in favour for the usual smooth plastic covered (?) plywood. (What is hexaboard anyway? Does it make a rack stronger than plywood?)

Very much so, plys by no means weak, but hexaboard seems much tougher/impact damage resistant than ply. I've seen many a cheap plywood case crack when its been loaded onto a truck/van and something next to the case has caught it. Hexboard.. doesn't give two hoots! There's a reason it costs more & why people spec it for full spec road/touring cases. Again though, if you really want ply, they might do a custom (or possibly from stock), case.

 

Actually IIRC, Terralec do something at the sizes your after from ply, expect cheap/shoddy build quality from any cases you get from them

 

Delivery outside UK might be possible, depends what country your in though. You'll probably pay through the nose on shipping though.

 

HTH,

 

Tom

[Oolong]

The reason why I want the rack rails to go all the way up is for versatility.

I might need to reconfigure the rack some day where I won't be using a mixer on the top, so if the rails go all the way up I can take full advantage of the height.

 

I've tried contacting both Citronic/Skytronic and Flightcase Warehouse. The former seems to have a problem with their email address (as do their local resellers for some strange reason!), so I'm forgetting about them.

Flightcase warehouse seems like a professional company and replied to my email, but stated the same as you; that postage will probably be extremely high. They can fit the rack rails all the way up, but unfortunately they only use hexaboards, so no "normal" ply boards.

 

I had a look at Terralec's site where I found a couple of top-mountable mixer racks.

However, I don't know if the mixer's angle is adjustable, nor does it allow for a very high mixer (most similar racks have room for a 10U mixer while this Terralec's only have 8U), and again there's no removable rear-panel, but a door.

I must see very picky ;) , but then again I know exactly what I need for my setup :)

 

Next, on my never-ending search I came across this 18U rack by FlightLine.

According to the (sparse) information it does allow for the mixer's angle to be adjusted, and the picture does indeed seem to indicate a completely removable rear panel, just like what I'm looking for. Here's a photo:

 

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6704/mr180smqa2.jpg

 

But I haven't found the manufacturer's website (it doesn't seem to be stageline.com because there's no reference to any flight cases there) and Google isn't very cooperative.

So once again I'm hoping someone here might know more, or even have such a rack themselves.

[Yorkie]

IMG Stage Line is one of Monacor International's brands: http://www.monacor.com/

[Oolong]

You're right! :)

Seems like Monacor has two such racks: a 16U version and an 18U version, and they do indeed have removable rear-lids. There's no mention of adjustable top-rails though. It might be possible to modify the rack myself to allow for this.... maybe.

 

Lucky for me Monacor seems to have a dealer where I am as well, so I'm going to try contacting them, but I'd like to hear if any of you have any experience with Monacor racks, and especially if anyone have been using this particular rack?