MrLeadFoot
Silver Member
All the racks I currently have are of the carpeted variety, but wanted some opinions from those who have experience with both carpeted and ATA/Flight cases. I have 12-space, 8-space, 7-space, 6-space and 2-space racks. I currently spread my band's PA mixers, amps and effects across the 12-space and 6-space racks to help ease transport, in terms of weight and packing flexibility. I group the items practically. For example, I have the main mixer, effects, compressor, crossover and an e-drum module in the 12-space rack. I have two power amps in the 6-space rack (because I do not have a 4-space rack).
The initial reasons I went carpeted to begin with were:
I'd like to further lighten the load, as well as lower the overall stacked height, if possible. Since I only have two amps in the 6-space rack, the empty 2RUs adds unnecessary height, so I thought I would just get another 2-space rack and spread the two amps out over the two 2-space racks. While that would lighten the load of two amps in one rack, it would not shorten the stacked height by much, because when you stack two 2-space racks on top of each other, the top of the rack on the bottom and the bottom of the rack on the top add to the height, if you can picture that. While going with a 4-space rack would shorten the stacked height, carpeted racks are relatively heavy, so that probably won't result in an appreciable lightening of the load.
So, now I'm wondering if transitioning over to ATA/Flight style cases might be better, because I would think that since they are made of slightly thinner wood they'd not only be lighter, the overall stack height would be shorter, too. If I am wrong here, I'd sure like to know. I'm also concerned that moving to ATA/Flight case styles might compromise stacking stability (especially with different footprint sizes), provide less protection due to thinner construction, and be riskier to other equipment because of all the metal typically lining the edges of ATA/Flight style cases. In fact, I think a combo of carpeted and ATA/Flight cases might even be worse for stacking stability.
Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions and/or out-of-the-box thinking would be appreciated.
The initial reasons I went carpeted to begin with were:
- When stacked, regardless of different footprint sizes, they never slide, being that they pretty much stick to each other.
- Carpeted racks are made of thicker wood, so items are well protected from impact.
- Protection from each other, and other value items like my drums when packing them in vehicles during transport. Being made of wood and carpeted, if you bump them into other things, it's not a like hard metal edges hitting things.
I'd like to further lighten the load, as well as lower the overall stacked height, if possible. Since I only have two amps in the 6-space rack, the empty 2RUs adds unnecessary height, so I thought I would just get another 2-space rack and spread the two amps out over the two 2-space racks. While that would lighten the load of two amps in one rack, it would not shorten the stacked height by much, because when you stack two 2-space racks on top of each other, the top of the rack on the bottom and the bottom of the rack on the top add to the height, if you can picture that. While going with a 4-space rack would shorten the stacked height, carpeted racks are relatively heavy, so that probably won't result in an appreciable lightening of the load.
So, now I'm wondering if transitioning over to ATA/Flight style cases might be better, because I would think that since they are made of slightly thinner wood they'd not only be lighter, the overall stack height would be shorter, too. If I am wrong here, I'd sure like to know. I'm also concerned that moving to ATA/Flight case styles might compromise stacking stability (especially with different footprint sizes), provide less protection due to thinner construction, and be riskier to other equipment because of all the metal typically lining the edges of ATA/Flight style cases. In fact, I think a combo of carpeted and ATA/Flight cases might even be worse for stacking stability.
Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions and/or out-of-the-box thinking would be appreciated.