Gator GR-4L

Let?s get the problem out of the way first. Out of the box, this case was unusable. The rail system used by Gator for this case seems to comprise a front rail, secured to the case itself, and a slim rail behind it to grip the threads of the screws and hold them tight. The back rails in this item seemed to be secured to the front rail with nothing more than a light tacky coating - imagine the glue on a post-it note. Once I tried to secure my amp in the case, both back rails fell off and wouldn?t reattach, making it impossible to hold the amp in place without it simply sliding forward. It took a constructive 20 minutes with some strong tape before I could even install my amp in the case. Not good enough, Gator, not by a long shot.

Once that problem was solved, the case is strong and solid, offering plenty of protection to whatever you put into it. The front and back doors both come with locks, which is a nice touch, and the butterfly clasps look sturdy. The recesses for the side handles don?t leave a lot of room for my hand, but I?m a big guy so that might explain it. It shouldn?t cause any problems for Trump!

I have a couple of Gator cases that I bought to save some money compared to SKB. The Gators are OK, but they are not perfect.
The handles and the "cut outs" for your hands are too small for many (most?) grown up men. I do not have very big hands, but it still get my hads squeezed hard when I lift one of these racks as soon as it has some kgs of equipment inside.

The other annoying thing is that the latches and hinges are placed in the opposite way, compared to most other gear I have seen. The movable parts are not on the lids, but on the case itself. This means that if you use the case for a bass amp, the case will vibrate and rattle if you but it on top of a speaker cab. The rattle is very audible if you play at lower SPL, like for jazz, folk or singer/songwriter style.

If you are on a budget, I recommend to look at Thomann's own brand of cases. I have one of those, too, and it is very similar to the SKB design, but not as high quality.

Setting up a mobile recording rig, I needed a flight case to protect about a thousand euros worth of kit. I needed it to be light, strong, reasonably weather proof and I needed to be able to access the front panel controls and rear panel connections.
I also needed to secure my kit so that it did not rattle around in transit.

This looked like a perfect fit for my needs, and I was delighted to find out it is just that.

The front and back lids pop on and off easily yet are solid and secure when the sprung catches are engaged. the integrated handle makes carrying the case a breeze. The threaded rack strip and included bolts meant that I could set it all up in under five minutes, best of all, my setup time at gigs is a USB lead, a pair of mains leads and some mic and line leads and I'm ready to record.

Do yourself a favour and rack your kit up. So long as it is not a power-amp then this flight case is fantastic value and will make life easier.

I purchased this rack case around 2 years ago to house my Fractal Audio Axe FX II and Matrix Power Amp.
I have never had any problems with it whatsoever and it has left the house over 100 times and has bounced around in my car etc.
It is long enough so that I can fit my 8 way power strip in there and cleanly store all my plugs and cables.

The plastic on the top and bottom is quite flexible, so that when you rest hand on it it clearly bends inwards, which makes it appear as though it might not be as sturdy as it could be, but it has never cracked.

The latches are still tight and lock well, and the handle has given me no issues.

Overall I have no complaints whatsoever, and have happily recommended this to a friend who is similarly happy with his.

Great quality rack case.

I'm using this to house a 4u rack power amp that is crazy heavy, and so far the weight has not caused any problems.

This case has also currently got 2 other rack cases on top of it, a 10U and an 8U and this has also caused no sagging or other problems.

The catches are decent quality and feel like they'll hold up to continued use, which can't be said for some of the cheaper rack cases.

Also important to note, the case comes a pack of rack bolts and plastic washers. There is nothing in the product listing either on Thomann or the Gator website to confirm this, so I wasn't sure prior to purchasing whether they would be included.

Being a US brand, Gator use an imperial size bolt which is a pain to source in Europe. Worth bearing in mind if you think you'll need replacements later on.

The supplied plastic washers are poor quality, but decent nylon washers can ce bought for pennies.

Its worth considering using "Hum frees" as a substitute.