SKB Cases--Shockmount or no shockmount?

[morebutter]

You remote people would know better than anybody.. I'm going to take my gear on a plane trip--converters, compressors, pres--hi-end stuff. Is shockmount overkill? Or better safe than sorry? I'm trying to keep the weight and bulk down so I'm leaning towards no shockmount.


Are there other cases you'd recommend? SKB seem to be the lightest thats why I'm leaning towards them.

[mpdonahue]

To be honest, the big issue is not to shock mount or not, but rather how the gear is actually mounted in the rack. The shock mounting in SKB cases does virtually nothing to actually protect the gear from vibration. It is typically far to rigid.
Everybody thinks that just because the device in question has holes for rack mounting that it is designed to be bounced around by Fedex in an SKB case. This could not be further from the truth. You have no idea how many Tascam DA-88's I saw hanging from their front panel connected by only the cables. The bigger issue is rear mounting. What will make a rack of gear arrive in the same condition it left is if the gear is mounted both front and rear so there is no stress put on the wimpy front panel screws (Normally a couple of cheap 4/40 screws).
We actually find that gear is much better served in cases with cut foam inserts rather than rack mounted cases. Go out and buy a couple of Pelican cases and use the pick and pluck foam to safely cushion the equipment.
All the best,
-mark

[Legacy]

If after Mark's excellent advice you still are going for shock cases the Gator shock racks are much smaller and lighter than the SKBs (MUCH).

-Silas

[edwinhurwitz]

I don't know if Gator has gotten more reliable, but I have found them to not quite as nice as SKB (the latches get loose and then come undone by themselves) and their customer service has been poor to non existent vs the excellent service I have gotten from SKB (free new latches all around for a used case!).

Edwin

[mrsteaks]

Little story, might sway the opinion on shock mount vs non shock mount. Back "in da day", 1975 to be exact, I had an amp rack unload itself from the back of a truck into the middle of an intersection. It fell four or five feet from the back of a moving truck onto the pavement (the door came open on the truck). The rack was one of the old metal jobbies and it had several Crown DC300A's and a D150 in it. If you remember the DC300A's the power transformer was suspended from the middle of the back of the chassis. Heavy, too! Well, long story longer, we went to recover the rack, expecting total carnage, and too our surprise, NO DAMAGE (to speak of). The rack had pieces of plywood front and back that slid into channels to protect the fronts and backs of the gear, and - here's what really saved us - we had wedged wood under those heavy power transformers from the bottom of the rack between each of the amps, and that had (IMO) kept the load off of the rack screws on the front panels.

Moral - no difference in rigid or shock mounted, it's all in how the equipment is installed.

~~~~Mark S.
Pretty Good Recordings

[morebutter]

Thanks for the tips and info. I guess I'm going to see what becomes available locally on craigslist. I will surely pay attention to the mounting no matter what case I get.

Great story Mark S.! Reminds me of when I put my cellphone through a full wash cycle, dried it off and it still worked. I love surprises like that.. Renews your faith in electronics.

[travisgarrison]

Originally Posted by edwinhurwitz

I don't know if Gator has gotten more reliable, but I have found them to not quite as nice as SKB (the latches get loose and then come undone by themselves)

Strange thing - my experience is entirely the opposite. My Gator cases stay latched, while one of my two SKB cases keeps unlatching itself. But the Gator cases really don't seem too strong to me. Try pushing down on their tops and watch them bend... I'm willing to pay more money to protect my gear nowadays.