How do you transport your mics?

[Pep]

Thanks everyone. Sounds like I can ditch the hardcase.

Not so quick. The SM58 is virtually indestructible and the ball screens are available everywhere. Not so much with the e905. I carry 6 mics and they all in the little zippered bags the came in. I don’t know how many cables you carry but I carry quite a few. I bought a Pig-Hog Cable Organizer bag and use it for cables, mic, IEM receivers, batteries, etc. Ky two wireless receivers go in the front zippered pocket, inside two smaller pockets.
I’ve never had a problem with anything. This the size I have but smaller ones are available.

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[DJWhitJr]

Not so quick. The SM58 is virtually indestructible and the ball screens are available everywhere. Not so much with the e905. I carry 6 mics and they all in the little zippered bags the came in. I don’t know how many cables you carry but I carry quite a few. I bought a Pig-Hog Cable Organizer bag and use it for cables, mic, IEM receivers, batteries, etc. Ky two wireless receivers go in the front zippered pocket, inside two smaller pockets.
I’ve never had a problem with anything. This the size I have but smaller ones are available.

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

www.amazon.com

View attachment 7184388View attachment 7184389

I’ve looked at those bags before. I like the design but more than I want to spend. I use a 14 gal storage box made by Plano. Plano
It’s $20 and holds 3 power strips, 2-3 extension cords, 4 IEC cables and 16 XLRs. It also serves as a table to place my mixer rack and laptop on.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

The foam case is probably overkill, but it's good to have a specific spot for everything and you can know in an instant if you have everything. So, thumbs up from me. I'd probably do similar.

 

[Ostie]

Always kept my 57s and 58s in the zippered bag they came in, and transported them in my gig bag. I’ve never had a failure in 45 years of gigging. I’ve never heard of anybody that had a failure, and I’ve seen some old, nasty Shure mics that smell like beer and had a layer of duct tape adhesive on them.

I used to have a very old SM57 that apparently had some trait that made them very desirable to engineers.. I can’t remember what it was, but sone engineer that owned a studio paid me a LOT of money for that old, beat up thing.

I had some old Beyer Dynamic ribbon mics that sounded great but were very fragile, too fragile for the road but were great studio mics. One of them broke and I had to have it repaired. I never used it for gigs, but it still broke. So I took it in and got it repaired. The repair tech offered to buy them, and I sold all four of them.

 

[Pings Bass]

I like hard cases for everything, but I'm old fashioned and learned from the road and working for a sound company. For weekend warriors it doesn't really matter I guess, and for inexpensive and rugged Shure mics it's probably cheaper in the long run to take your chances.

 

[ezstep]

6-unit Gator mic case. My SM58 must be about 25 years old, still kicking away. I have other mics ranging from Beta 57's to Beta 58's to SM87. But once, cry once. Fifteen years later you still have the case and still use it.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Mostly I see them transported in the bank deposit type of pouches.

 

[vvvmmm]

I've never had a problem with anything. This the size I have but smaller ones are available.

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

Amazon.com: Pig Hog PHCOB Cable Organizer Bag : Electronics

www.amazon.com

Alla the stuff I cut (after the "?") is tracking info; the actual link itself is:
https://www.amazon.com/Pig-Hog-Cable-Organizer-Bag/dp/B096LD4P9L/ref=sr_1_1_pp

I like to carry my '58 in my shorts, Spinal Tap style.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Pistol case that looks like the mic cases.
Just foam - no cutouts. 2 layers.

 

[Wasnex]

I have worked with several cover bands that used the 12 mic SKB. This sort of case makes less sense when everyone is expected to provide their own mic(s). Looks like the model has been revised and no longer includes a lid compartment .

Sometimes additional/larger mics were carried in another case, such as an Anvil briefcase.

 

[S-Bigbottom]

Pillow case

PILLOW FIGHT!!!

 

[Hurricane Jimmie]

So Anyway, I've got an SM 57 from 1981 that still works and a Beta 58 that's at least 10 years old. I always carried them in the Shure pouch they came with.

A couple of years ago I bought 3 Behringer vocal mics for $45 (total) for rehearsal. They came with a case that's unused since they won't leave the basement.

 

[Mike Caldwell]

Decades old vocal mics may still work but it may worth taking a look at the capsule they can get scary after years of stuff that spits out of you mouth!
The grill foam should be washed or replaced as well every so often.

I wipe the grills off with alcohol wipes after use, I was doing that well before 2020!

 

[dvdtlsn]

If everyone brings their own mic, then they can't all get stolen at once as easily (I have seen it happen). Mine goes in the gig bag. They (e.g. 58beta) are generally durable enough for that.

 

[logdrum]

Shures are tough . However , the only thig it cannot survive is a pissed off UPS driver

 

[PCR]

Home Depot Husky Tool Bag

I use the 18 in Husky Tool Bags. They are awesome. Cheap, protective and super heavy duty.

The 18 in bags have interior pockets that are perfect for mics.
It still has room for my XR18, wireless router, and other knick-knacks.

 

[Jason Stock]

For many of you, it may be overkill, but we have always had a proper rack/road case for our mixer and old lead sled power amps and a hard briefcase style box for our mics. As I have upgraded my PA system, to powered speakers, I kept the rack/road case. Now in the road case is our XR18, Router, wireless IEM and several rack drawers. A rack drawer with foam I cut myself holds all the vocal mics, guitar mics, overheads and a couple of back ups. Drum mics in a different case. A drawer holding all the clips and extra stuff and a drawer holding all our IEM gear.
Had the road case so might as well use it, and seeing as the old power amps and eq's are no longer there. It works great. (please note - for almost every gig I do, I bring my own PA)

 

[DJWhitJr]

For many of you, it may be overkill, but we have always had a proper rack/road case for our mixer and old lead sled power amps and a hard briefcase style box for our mics. As I have upgraded my PA system, to powered speakers, I kept the rack/road case. Now in the road case is our XR18, Router, wireless IEM and several rack drawers. A rack drawer with foam I cut myself holds all the vocal mics, guitar mics, overheads and a couple of back ups. Drum mics in a different case. A drawer holding all the clips and extra stuff and a drawer holding all our IEM gear.
Had the road case so might as well use it, and seeing as the old power amps and eq's are no longer there. It works great. (please note - for almost every gig I do, I bring my own PA)

I have 1 empty space left in my rack, but a 1U drawer doesn’t hold much. In hindsight I wish I would have got a rack 1 U bigger.

 

[Jason Stock]

Yeah, I have a 1 unit drawer in the rack, it holds a surface, some sharpies, an extra drum key (trust me) and some business cards.

 

[aglide]

At this point, I've been focusing on trying to make setup and teardown go quicker. I got kind of tired of the time it takes to pack and unpack "bags within bags", so lately I've been creating these "custom" cases using Makita Macpac containers lined with "Kaizen foam", which is a layered foam that you can cut shapes in with an exacto knife, and then peel off layer by layer.

These cases are not super heavy duty and are kind of flimsy, but with the foam and general durability of live stage mics, I'm thinking this will work out. I just put these together so I haven't taken them to gigs yet, but I'm optimistic.

The cases are about $30 from Amazon, and I bought the Kaizen foam in person at a place called Rockler Woodworking. They're generally used to line slide out trays in toolboxes. It cost me about $60 for enough foam to build 5 of these boxes. I used strategically placed 3M command strips from a $15 pack to attach the foam to the lids of the cases.

The cool thing is they clip together for transport. They also sell 3 larger variations of these cases that are progressively deeper. The steps to clip and unclip them together do add some time, but I think it's a good compromise between other tedious methods and providing protection and ease of transport.