Just over a year ago, Hot As A Pepper ditched our Allen & Heath mixing console and snake in favor of moving into this century and going digital AND wireless. Find the original post HERE.
In short, we opted for the Mackie DL-1608 mixer that uses an iPad for a control surface, and interfaces with iPad/s wirelessly to allow mixing from anywhere in the venue without the need for a snake creating a health and safety hazard to guests (or the console taking up a valuable seat in the venue).
This has worked out wonderfully for us! We can save our settings once dialed in and though we don’t like to do so, we can opt to not do a sound check and know that everything is close.
But, that mixer has a LOT of potential failure points. You could drop it while moving it, or lose or break the external power supply, wifi access point or its power supply or network cable, etc. Then there are the pots on the top, 16 of them that can get bumped so the setting is not the same or they could even be damaged as they protrude from the case.
We’ve been carrying the thing around from place to place, treating it with kid gloves and praying we didn’t leave the power supply or a cable behind at a gig or at the practice studio, and then carefully readjusting each of the trim pots after we setup and before we powered it up.
I searched for an adequate road case, but there are none. Even the Mackie soft case doesn’t address most of the items on our wishlist… I found one company/guy who was making a suitable case at one point, though they are no longer doing so. However, the photos of that case were all the inspiration it took for me to find someone to build something similar for us!
That’s when I contacted Jason at Red Dirt Cases down in Texas (contact information at the bottom). I sent photos of our mixer, photos of the other case I found, measured our mixer and sent the dimensions as provided by Mackie over to him. We had several email discussions about how the mixer could be supported securely, where the power supply and the wireless access point could be mounted case, how the mixer cools and what type of case I actually wanted (carpet vs traditional, etc).
Today that case arrived, and I could not be happier. It fits like a glove… LIKE A GLOVE! I don’t think I would change a thing at all about it!
It will come out of the vehicle, be placed on top of my bass rig, the lid removed, and one single power plug connected to the AC, then mics, instruments, monitors and mains connected, and we’re done. All the settings on those pots should be where I left them.
The power supply and our wireless access point are UNDER the mixer.The mixer sits on strips of higher density foam.
If you have a Mackie DL-1608 or the DL806, then you need to get that thing protected if you take it out on the road. Red Dirt Cases now have the dimensions and could provide you with a duplicate, or modify it to suit your needs.
Sure, there are a load of road case dealers and manufacturers out there. I went with Red Dirt Cases after finding them in an internet search and reading reviews, however, what sold me was the eagerness of Jason to get this right for me.. The whole process was painless and he shared photos of the build as he progressed.
I’ll use them for other upcoming projects too because:
- The build quality is outstanding.
- The hardware is not going to fail on me like budget cases I have had.
- The price is fair.
- Communication was GREAT
You can find Red Dirt Cases here:
http://www.reddirtcases.com/
1-877-724-2531
If you are in the Greenville / Upstate SC area and catch our band out, I’ll be happy to show it to you in person at a gig or even at my office, just let me know. – John
Here are some photos:
