Price Paid: 170 (CDN)
Ease of Use: 7
Very Easy to use, except for those annoying removable rails that make lining up gear next to impossible.
I recently bought a 6 Space Gator Case as I wanted to try something other than SKB. I found SKB prices were going up, so why not? It took about a week to get this case to get from the distributor to the music store. Well, I picked it up, brought it home, and proceeded to put my rack gear into it. Well the first thing I didn’t like was the fact that instead of using SKB style clip in nuts, they have pre-drilled holes that seemed to be immovable(luckily you can remove them. These hole-strips fit behind the larger holes instead of the replaceable clip in nuts. O.k., so since I put I space between each piece of gear(to avoid rackrash and too much heat non-dissapation), the holes were not matching up to my gear ear holes(you know what I mean). Stupid! At least they could drill the holes evenly so that you can put your gear anywhere you want. Luckily, these stupid all-in-one crappy nut-strips can be removed easily. I had some extra SKB clips and they fit perfectly. Because you can move around the SKB clips, you can make your gear fit where you want it to. If the Gator strips were not removable, the case would go directly back to the store.
Sound Quality: N/A
Hmmm. No sound quality unless you want to use it as an accoustic drum.
Reliability: 5
So the second thing I don’t like about the case is the fact that instead of the butterfly latches being attached to the removable covers, they are attached to the case. The reason that this is idiotic is that as these butterfly latches on the case are in the way and have the potential to damage close by gear if one of the butterfly latches swings out from the case. At least when the butterfly latches are attached to the removable covers, the covers then are put to the side and are out of the way anyways. I don’t know if this is a design flaw or a screw-up from the factory. I checked the Gator site but because the pics are so low rez on the site, I couldn’t tell if the butterfly latches are attached to the case or case covers. If this is a screw up then good-bye Gator and hello SKB. If this is how they are designed then I’ll live with it. Doh!
Customer Support: 9
I phoned them and I got someone right away who actually knew what he was talking about.
Overall Rating: 7
I don’t mean to be such a picky bastard but I just hate stupid design flaws considering all Gator had to do was follow SKB’s designs better than Gator did. Of course, Gator is a copy of SKB.
Now for what Gator did right: Gator rack cases are affordable. SKB is getting out of the reach of most musicians. Secondly, the Gator cases are more flexable than the SKB cases, thus Gator cases are more resistant to cracking. There probably is a higher concentration of rubber in the plastic composite that is used to make Gator cases.
Basically, I am happy with the case. If I had it over to do again, I would have spent the extra money for an SKB as I know what to expect with them. I may end up getting an SKB if this odd placement for the butterfly latches is a factory screw-up. We will see.
So, before I submit this review(I am typing it on word right now as my internet is temporarily down), I am going to phone Gator themselves as well as a different music store in a different city to find out exactly where the butterfly latches are supposed to be.
Who knows, maybe Gator wanted to be different and to make sure SKB lids would not be compatible with Gator lids and vise-versa. I don’t know.
****The next day
So I found out and guess what? I phoned Gator Cases and asked them about where the butterfly latches should be. They said the butterfly latches are attached to the case. This is the opposite of SKB’s design. I still have to do more research so I think I will still phone a store in Edmonton that carries Gator cases and have them check.
I phoned Long And MacWade in Edmonton and the salesman confirmed for me where the butterfly latches are secured: on the body of the case.
I find this so odd as some of Gators rack cases(the ones with the power conditioner, the shock mount cases and the mixer/DJ case), from the only high rez pictures I could find on the net, have the butterfly latches on the covers and not the bodies of the Gator cases. Why the inconsistency? Are these Gator cases a bad batch from China? Do they decide where the butterfly latch should go dependant on what model they are selling? Hmmm. I wish they would remain consistant, because if you need to replace your case’s cover. Will they send you the right cover for your case or will you be stuck with a cover and a case with butterfly latches. At least SKB is consistent with where they put the butterfly latches and the other latches.
I am happy with this case and I guess for the price, I can’t complain too much. I just wish that the butterfly latches were on the removable covers and not on the actual body of the case for the regular rackmount case from Gator.
Now the big question is, would I buy one of their cases again. For myself, if I could do it over again, I would spend the extra money and get an SKB as I absolutely hate where they attached the butterfly clips. But if you don’t care where the butterfly clips are attached then the Gator case is a good deal.
So if you are on a budget and can’t justify spending heaps of cash on a SKB case then Gator is the closest thing you’ll get for the money. If you have a larger budget to play with then go with the SKB case as they are an industry standard and the resale value is higher(more people have heard of them).
Now, I just want to say that I am writing this review as a musician and not a pedal maker. This review is my personal opinion and not neccessarily the view of my company.
Submitted by Charles Gray at 12/02/2003 21:54
