Buying a road case for an amp

bryan_kilco

Member
Nov 22, 2007
4,618
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Poconos, PA
Does anyone have any recommendations on a website where I can find a good quality road case for my head? Mesa Mark IV, specifically.

Ebay was meh. All I can find are the cases for the combo amps and "light duty" cases with thin 1/8" linings.
 
This is a somewhat local place near me (in north Georgia) and the guy that runs it is the drummer for Confederate Railroad. I got to talk to him, seems like a legit fellow. If your going to be touring around, I would be leery of getting anything but something that was custom. Most of that premade stuff seems really cheap.

http://www.roadhawgcases.com/
 
Thanks, kind sir.

Anything I found on EBay was "custom" built but was basically made for the Mark IV short head and for a price tag between $150-200, I'd want a bit more heavy-duty design.

Not exactly going to be touring yet, but gigging again at least a few times a month. We don't have a van or trailer yet, so we load our gear into a few cars (totally sucks) and I get really worried that my $1,400 discontinued head will get damaged by someone carelessly loading/unloading it.
 
I've spoken to the Roadhawg guy, he does seem legit. Also a place near my house here in the ATL called AVS that I have a PIMP custom rack - I used to have a crazy Spinal Tap live rig with a Bogner Uberschall and a Marshall Valvestate, G-Major, Wireless, Pedals, Ground Control, etc....they built me a really nice rack that held both heads and an 8-space rack. Still have it but it's collecting dust, haha.....
 
Thanks a lot guys!

I'm on the fence right now about just a case for my head, or a sweet short-rack on casters with the head and rack units combined.
 
Ok, slight necro bump.

I want to get a rack that will fit my head as well as my rack units.

The ones I've seen have the thick foam inside.

Basically, I want to go totally live-in rack and live-in cab.

Can I buy a rack with like an access hole in the rear for speaker cable/footswitch, etc? Or is it best to just remove the entire backing cover?

I imagine ventilation is also important, owning a tube amp. And it seems the racks I like sort of snuggly fit the head inside.
 
Definitely get the all-in-one version, you won't regret it. It's heavy, but all you have to do is take the lids off, plug in the speaker cable to your cab, and you're set up. Pimp. I just got 2 made by Georgia Case Company, then wired it all up with George Ls. When you do it that way, you can bind all the cables together, attach them to the sides of the rack, put a light in there, etc and end up with a really neat & clean install. our last tour we had our heads without any case, and we had small 4-space racks, and setup was always a pain. We're a support act and don't have a lot of time to set up or load out. And the heads had some near-misses in the trailer as well....

It'll end up being about 2/3 the size of a 4x12 cab, and a few inches thicker because of the 2 lids (you want both lids or else you won't be able to get access to the back to wire it up or troubleshoot if something comes loose at a show).
 
Ok, slight necro bump.

I want to get a rack that will fit my head as well as my rack units.

The ones I've seen have the thick foam inside.

Basically, I want to go totally live-in rack and live-in cab.

Can I buy a rack with like an access hole in the rear for speaker cable/footswitch, etc? Or is it best to just remove the entire backing cover?

I imagine ventilation is also important, owning a tube amp. And it seems the racks I like sort of snuggly fit the head inside.

Kyle Odell had one for sale a while back. You may want to check with him.