I saw a really cool case by Pelican today. It looked great, was very well built, and was filled with foam, perforated into 1/2" cubes that you could pick out by hand to make form fitted slots for your gear. Check them out.

Pelican cases are great. I'd actually suggest either putting your mic boxes in a Pelican or getting custom foam cut for one of their cases. The pick and pluck foam is great when it is new, but it tends to degrade and fall apart over time. With the sensitivity of capsules, I'd be careful in those cases.

The nice thing about them is they have a lifetime guarantee. If it breaks, they'll replace it for free.

--Ben

Well, for my guns (which are worth a lot more than my audio gear) I go with SKB and Pelican. And I have never had a problem at the airports with locked SKB cases full of my babies that go BOOM! I don't think you need to declare audio gear though. But who knows these days!

IMHO.

And some of the big web retailers run swet deals on the SKB stuff.

(loading his .357 Magnum with Speer Gold Dots)

DUCK!!! :D

Let me clarify...

Duck as in "duck your head"... Not the sidechain compressor thing!

roguescout wrote: Well, for my guns that go BOOM! (loading his .357 Magnum with Speer Gold Dots)
DUCK!!! :D

:shock: Dont Shoot :shock:
Wait til he gets a little closer :twisted: hehehe

Awesome guys! I will def. check 'em out
Oh yeah, and how do I get that "custom cutout" on the foam?
Thanks again guys!

I get my foam cut by a local upholstery shop. They have provided me with the "camera case foam" to use as well. They cut it with a hot wire.
I second the Pelican case idea...they are awesome. And in case you haven't heard, Gator cases are crappy. Personally, I use an old Anvil flight case for an Alembic bass. I pulled the old foam, cleaned it out and put in "fresh" foam. Then I had that covered with cordouroy to prevent the foam from flaking off into the interior. Then in go the mics ( in their cases/boxes/vynl bags). Has more airline stickers than a stewardess, and isn't nearly as fragile!
PEACE..

roguescout wrote: I have never had a problem at the airports with locked SKB cases full of my babies that go BOOM! I don't think you need to declare audio gear though. But who knows these days!

:D

A friend of mine, returning from a mic buying expedition, was stopped by airport security in London after they x-rayed his carry-on bag. They thought he was carrying some variety of sex toy, and asked him to remove it from his bag for further inspection. I never thought to ask him what kind of mic he was carrying.....

John Stafford

Must be a shotgun mic; it's ribbed, for her pleasure.

:lol:

Maybe a long bodied U47, in which case I'd be curious about the nocturnal habits of the security guard!

If they were REALLY kinky, it might have been an Earthworks QTC1...

BTW - I second the Pelikan stuff - first rate and impossible to break!

QTC1

I almost said that, but decided the shotun was better. Cheers!

Ohhhh! So that is what that fourth pattern is!

Cardioid, omni, figure 8 and DILDO!!!

BWAH HA HA HA HA!! :D

I have made several cases out of hand-gun cases which I found at Wal-Mart. You may have to look elsewhere as the quality has dropped on considerably. I still use them all but the plastic, sliding lock cases with the eagle on them were very rugged and the foam was dense and easy to cut with a razor blade.

I also made Preamp cases from good quality boxes from Home Depot and Lowes for about $24 per but again, there are many crappy shiney tool boxes out there. Check out how the locks work, how well they close and how heavy they are are.

I have used hard shell rilfe cases for an M-Audio controller and a Steinberg base. Perfect and cheap. It's not as snazzy but you could probaly fit 20-25 mics in a rifle case.

That hot wire technique sounds like they scoop out the form. That sounds great but not having a wire or knowing the temperature needed, very nice custom forms could be made on those early Wal-mart gun cases because the foam was fairly dense and came in 3 layers. You leave the top layer alone. Outline the mic shape a tad smaller than the actual mic (foam will tend to be a bit larger than the cut and the mic will sit snug if the form is undersized), cut the middle layer foam with a new razor blade right through to utting board and place back over bottom piece which acts as the base. Try one continuous motion with the foam compressed as opposed to sawing back and forth which will come out jagged.

I've made some cases from the foam that comes pre-cut in small squares. They've also held up pretty good with careful handling. If you can incorporate any factory foam that's ideal. Avalon ships their pres in cardboard boxes but the foam is very dense and may be able to be placed in a Pelican case.