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Cases for Class D amps?

dave19er

dave19er

May 19, 2007
67
134
#1
Hey folks! I was wondering what y'all use as cases for your small, class D amps? Back in the day, I had knobs/pots get sheared off of a couple of my bass amps. They weren't in a case of any kind. This made me pretty paranoid about making sure that amps that left the house had protection. I got gig bags (Studio Slips, which are amazing) for the guitar amps, because the amps all have a lip or something to protect the knobs. And my Ampeg bass head I put in a Gator plastic rack case.

I recently got a Trickfish Bullhead .5k head and really vacillated about what I should get for protection for it. My first thought was a gig bag style case, but then I was a little concerned that, bouncing around in the back of my car with heavy cabs, knobs/pot shafts might still get bent, even in a thick gig bag.

So, I ended up getting a Pelican case for the head. Lots of protection, even if it negates some of the light-weight advantage of a class D head.

Anyway - do most of you just use a soft case or throw the head in your gig bag? Anyone use hard cases? (The Trickfish is a bit too big for tossing in bass's gig bag pocket.)

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#5
I found and picked up this handy dandy little hard case for $5.99 at a local Goodwill-type store a few months before i even decided to get my Shuttle ... fits in there perfectly, along with some cords, tuner, & whatnot :thumbsup: There's no brand name on it, and i don't even think if it was made for musical equipment ... just a lucky find.

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(Cat not included :smug: )
 
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#9
I bought a drum accessory case! It was only $14 and the dimensions were perfect so I took a chance on it and I am glad I did. VERY well made. You can find great deals on mixer bags that work perfect for micro amps, but dont sell well so they go on sale a lot.

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#11
If you put the metal case that protects the electronics of your amp in a case to protect it what's to prevent that case from getting all scratched up? Better put that expensive case in another case. But what about protecting that case? Better surround it in bubble wrap and packing tape. And a cardboard box. And another box.

I just buy small amps that come with roll bars on the front so the knobs are protected. You can clip a shoulder strap to them and not have to worry about hitting the knobs on anything.
 
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#12
Yeah! My dad's Acoustic Image amp is like that.

seanm said:
I protect my class-d amp in a combo amp. No, I am not being snarky. My iamp500 bolts into the iamp500C, but is removable to be used as a normal head. There are other combo amps that allow this.

Before that I used a padded gig bag that could also hold other stuff.
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#13
#15
I have 2 Aguilar TH500 amps and I have the Aguilar carry bags for both.
Never had any issues but I transport my gear myself.
I can't see getting a case than weighs as much or more than the amp, defeats the purpose of a class D amp in my opinion.

I know some people will say their gear goes in a big trailer/truck and need the protection. I don't do that anymore.
If I did , I would have kept my big heavy amp & rack and not got the class D amps...
 
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#16
Yeah. This is what I struggled with. However, the Pelican case that I got only weighs about 7 or 8 pounds. As the amp itself is about 6 pounds, I'm looking at 14. Still heavier than if it were in a gig bag, but a helluva lot lighter than the 50 pound amp I was schlepping. It seemed a decent compromise.

Plus, in the Pelican case, the amp will survive being banged around during transport. Or the apocalypse.

BassmusM6674 said:
I have 2 Aguilar TH500 amps and I have the Aguilar carry bags for both.
Never had any issues but I transport my gear myself.
I can't see getting a case than weighs as much or more than the amp, defeats the purpose of a class D amp in my opinion.

I know some people will say their gear goes in a big trailer/truck and need the protection. I don't do that anymore.
If I did , I would have kept my big heavy amp & rack and not got the class D amps...
Click to expand...
 
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#17
I bought a laptop bag/man purse looking thing for my TH500, does good for what I need it for, would probably get something sturdier if I toured or someone else handled my gear... only thing I don't like is I move all my settings putting it in and out which doesn't actually matter much.
 
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#18
BassmusM6674 said:
...I can't see getting a case than weighs as much or more than the amp, defeats the purpose of a class D amp in my opinion.

I know some people will say their gear goes in a big trailer/truck and need the protection. I don't do that anymore.
If I did , I would have kept my big heavy amp & rack and not got the class D amps...
Click to expand...

dave19er said:
Yeah. This is what I struggled with. However, the Pelican case that I got only weighs about 7 or 8 pounds. As the amp itself is about 6 pounds, I'm looking at 14. Still heavier than if it were in a gig bag, but a helluva lot lighter than the 50 pound amp I was schlepping. It seemed a decent compromise.

Plus, in the Pelican case, the amp will survive being banged around during transport. Or the apocalypse.
Click to expand...
When I had my Walter Woods Super it spent most of its time in a 4 space SKB rack. The whole thing was quite light, and easy to set my rig up with. There was even room in the back of the rack for my gig bag, making the schlep even easier.

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#19
Yeah. The case moves my knobs if I'm not paying attention when I put the amp in or take it out. If I'm really careful, I can manage to not dork them up, but then that takes longer than just pulling the amp out and moving the knobs back to where I want them. Maybe I should get some of those knob cover things like I have on my stove that prevent the kids/dogs from accidentally turning the stove on.

toomanyslurpees said:
I bought a laptop bag/man purse looking thing for my TH500, does good for what I need it for, would probably get something sturdier if I toured or someone else handled my gear... only thing I don't like is I move all my settings putting it in and out which doesn't actually matter much.
Click to expand...
 

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