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Originally Posted by vroc38  ...but worth every penny. Both the Slimbag and the Dubbag are so well designed, and work like a champ with G&Ls. I saw a Slimbag on CL locally for $50 - should have grabbed it and flipped it. |
...or kept it.
I went thru this process of finding a soft, secure carrier that would work for both local and airline duty -- I was originally considering the SKB Bass Safe. However, while it looked great for getting your bass thru a flight, it appeared to have a bunch of drawbacks once you get there -- difficult to carry, etc, although one person recommended putting the bass in a gigbag inside the safe, so you have a soft bag for carrying when you don't need the safe. That only partly solves the problem, since you still have to deal with the BassSafe it like a piece of luggage (and, its giving your bass no protection if you're not using it); that's where I felt the SlimBag was superior in that it works well as a gigbag type carrier also. I use it regularly for local gigs as well.
Since the SlimBag looks like a soft bag, the airlines' agents don't pay much attention to it, where they frequently will make you check a hard case. But, if you do have to check it, there's plenty of reinforcement and padding -- including a neck support and the end bumpers are engineered to prevent the end strap pin from getting banged if the bag is dropped on the butt end. (Yes, that happened to me a few years ago on a flight to Austin. I foolishly was flying with a bass in a soft gigbag & they made me gate check it.)
A couple other points -- The bag has a couple carrying/grab handles, a shoulder strap that you can set for left/right shoulder carrying, and backpack type straps hidden away in a zippered compartment. They clearly worked on getting the balance of the case right when carrying a bass, because it carries well. There's also a closer hang strap & outside hook on the case for sticking it in a closet.
I think the DubBag with 2 basses would be a bit heavy, although I've been tempted to get one of those for a European tour next spring.
The main downside I found is that its difficult to access the big outer pocket's contents without laying the case down. And, if you don't carefully check to ensure that pocket is zipped back up, you could walk off with the outer pocket unzipped and stuff might get lost. I never did that, but I could imagine doing some thing like that when I'm in a hurry to get packed & going. But, those are pretty minor, I'd say.
hth...seriously, I'm not trying to sell you one, just telling you the things I would want to know about the product before I buy.
