Soft Case Query

The good news is that it looks like I'll be playing a regular restaurant/lounge gig in a trio backing a lady jazz singer.

The not so good news is that although I've got a decent hardware case, I sold the SKB hard drum cases I'd had for years along with my vintage Ludwig kit last year, so I've got nothing to transport my drums in except my F150 pick-up, and at the very least they'll need protection from that.

The venue is local, within 5 minutes of where I live, as is just about everything in this town. But it's also up a flight of stairs, and I'll be doing my own carrying, setting up, and breaking down. So I'm looking for soft cases that I can easily handle alone.

Gator has a 5 piece fusion bag set that I can get for about $110. Humes & Berg, which I respect substantially more, has what they call their 5 piece Galaxy fusion set that I can pick up for $125. But H & B also have the same sizes in what I presume is their slightly higher quality Tuxedo line. Best I can do on that set would be $175 online.

Anyone know the difference in effectiveness between the Galaxy and Tuxedo lines? Or if Gator's got both those beat in terms of protection as well as price?

Thanks for any insights y'all can give.

I have Galaxy bags for 3 of my kits.
I have been using the bags for about 3 years without an issue with any one of them.
I move one of my kits weekly with the bags. I tug and drag the drums around without a worry about dammage or failure.
They are a good, inexpensive, hard working bag for the drummer that transports his own drums to practice and club gigs, etc.
I have banged them into door frames and dropped drums on stairs without any dammage. All of the normal transport banging around has been done.

First off congratulations!

I would buy the H & B Tuxedo, its and extra $65 but they are going to be a lot more reliable then the Gator bags. Can you put a price on your kits protection? you are also going up stairs every gig.

A worker at my local music shop said Gator have had some problems lately with their glue or something. I don't know how true that is but it doesn't sound good!

If I couldn't get SKB hard cases I would be looking at the Protection Racket soft cases next.

Tuxedo no question. In addition to providing ultimate protection, they last a long time. My drum teacher is still hauling his drum in a set of Tuxedos from 30 years ago. And his drums and cases are still holding up.

Hissig Gompen said:

If I couldn't get SKB hard cases I would be looking at the Protection Racket soft cases next.

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+1!!!!

I figured soft cases were soft cases, but when I sold my PBP FXR's, I sold the Kaces brand bags with them. When I bought my Pearl Sessions to replace the PDP's, they came with Protection Racket cases: Absolute worlds apart! Everything from shell thickness, liner quality, and zipper quality make the Protection Racket cases the best thing going.

I use all Beato Pro I bags, and they seemingly last forever. They are Tolex, which is much nicer. I guess they are pricey, in comparison, but they are perfect bags.

I got some Humes & Berg cases from a garage sale where the guy was a drummer and was selling a bunch of old gear. I got a 14" (snare), 16", 13" bags, all lined and all zippers working properly for $40. I paid $50 alone for a BEATO bass drum bag. The Humes & Berg are a bit pricey, but they are really nice soft cases.

PR eat your heart out:



I was in the running for PR's but since I found these case im going to get me a set of these.


Still the best (and a lot cheaper) are the Gewa SPS cases with soft in and outside:




Downside is that they are quite heavy.

I just got a 6-piece set of the new Kaces HD line. I can tell you they are very nice. Let's put it this way, I was very skeptical because I've always been a hard case guy, but wanted something lighter for local gigs with my new kit. I happen to have over-sized fiberboard cases, my plan was to stick soft cases in them for more roadworthy protection than what I expected bags to provide.

Boy, was I surprised at how nice these Kaces HD bags are. Although I haven't seen the Humes and Berg bags in person, from what I saw in the demo video of the Tuxedo, it looks like they are not as well-constructed as the Kaces bags. If you look closely at the video demo of the H&B snare bag, you can see that the sides collapse very easily when empty, indicating a lack of padding thick enough to provide support.

I was actually looking for the Protection Racket bags after hearing all the hype, which is why I expected to need to use my fiberboard cases in conjunction with soft bags, because I notice that even the highly revered Protection Racket bags sag somewhat, as well. At the time I didn't know the Kaces bags would not, and since I couldn't even find Protection Racket bags local to me, which bothered me since the company is in England, so it might be a real PITA if I ever had a problem, So, I really thought I was settling for second best with the Kaces. I can tell you now that Kaces bags don't sag one bit when empty, not even the big ol' 24x18 kick drum bag I got does. In fact, I can actually stack the other bags on top of it, without the sides sagging. Fortunately, due to the sizes I got, all but one of them "nest" inside one another, which makes for very convenient storage.

I got the bags through Drummer Superstore. Although there previously was no "package" that included all the sizes I needed, Greg, the owner, worked with the manufacturer to come up with a package set for my 6 drums. Below is what I got. In case you have large isolation mounts like me, on the left are my drum sizes and on the right are the bags I needed to accommodate the obtrusive isolation mounts on my Mapex Saturn.

18x22 - 18x24
16x16 - 16x18
14x14 - 16x16
10x12 - 11x13
8x10 - 10x12
7x8 - 8x10

$280 shipped. And, I sure am glad I did the deal with them. Family-owned, all drummers, and they went through the trouble of figuring out exactly which size bags I needed. If I had just tried buying bags on my own, I surely would've ended up with a nightmare of exchange shipping for the right sizes. ;-)

Knowing what I now know about the Kaces bags, I wouldn't waste my money on the Humes and Berg bags. Although I consider them a close runner-up, I wouldn't buy Protection Racket bags, either, because they are imported from England, and the Kaces are made right here in California. Hope this helps.

Ended up getting what seemed to be the best value via Beato Pro. What they call a "fusion set" of bags plus a large wheeled hardware bag and a cymbal bag.

I'm still waiting for delivery (from 3 different sources) but will write a review when I've got something to say.

Actually, that may be farther down the road than I thought when I started this thread. Had my first experience playing with the lady jazz singer last night, and it was a disaster. I'll probably post about it after I recover a little.

Oh, my wife thinks I should show ya'll what I did for drum bags in the meantime. Please don't take this the wrong way:



Holds 2 toms, a stick bag, even has a compartment for a little tambourine. Had this made 25 years ago, during a kind of Golden Age. I could never afford it now!

HipshotPercussion said:

Ended up getting what seemed to be the best value via Beato Pro. What they call a "fusion set" of bags plus a large wheeled hardware bag and a cymbal bag.

I'm still waiting for delivery (from 3 different sources) but will write a review when I've got something to say.

Actually, that may be farther down the road than I thought when I started this thread. Had my first experience playing with the lady jazz singer last night, and it was a disaster. I'll probably post about it after I recover a little.

Oh, my wife thinks I should show ya'll what I did for drum bags in the meantime. Please don't take this the wrong way:

Holds 2 toms, a stick bag, even has a compartment for a little tambourine. Had this made 25 years ago, during a kind of Golden Age. I could never afford it now!

Click to expand...

Oh no! Hope you mean BEATO PRO ONE, if its just BEATO PRO (pic below), you're going to be sorry, they're the cheapest bags I've ever experienced.

I own a set and I can tell you they lasted about month before they ripped, zippers broke etc. They're now regulated to 'storage only' and barely abel to do that even. Just the other day i pull the set out that they were holding and Im not kidding here, two zipper pulls just broke in my hand. These zippers were already non functional, had broken long ago, but I just touched them and they broke, literally, what was left of them anyway! Never had that happen b/f.

My advice is refuse the package when it arrives... seriously, that way you don't have to pay shipping back (if you do). Honestly, don't even open them, they're complete garbage. If you want pics. I'll post them for you. Would not recommend BEATO PRO bags to anyone.

Les Ismore said:

Oh no! Hope you mean BEATO PRO ONE, if its just BEATO PRO (pic below), you're going to be sorry, they're the cheapest bags I've ever experienced.

I own a set and I can tell you they lasted about month before they ripped, zippers broke etc. They're now regulated to 'storage only' and barely abel to do that even. Just the other day i pull the set out that they were holding and Im not kidding here, two zipper pulls just broke in my hand. These zippers were already non functional, had broken long ago, but I just touched them and they broke, literally, what was left of them anyway! Never had that happen b/f.

My advice is refuse the package when it arrives... seriously, that way you don't have to pay shipping back (if you do). Honestly, don't even open them, they're complete garbage. If you want pics. I'll post them for you. Would not recommend BEATO PRO bags to anyone.

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Thanks Les. I misspoke when I said "fusion set." That's one I looked at but didn't buy. It's Beato Pro 1 on everything.

http://tinyurl.com/6jwcff4
http://tinyurl.com/6c6ogkj
http://tinyurl.com/6bmct3k

FWIW: Can't tell you how many times I've replaced the zippers on the silly Vuitton bag. It's really a piece of garbage but always has had this strange effect on, well, women. Was quite a comfort when I was between wives....

The cases came Friday, in time for me to do some weekend shlepping.

Bottom line: They're big enough, padded enough, easy to work with. No complaints.

Having these eases my mind, but not in the way I'd originally thought it would. I'm using them for my oldest, least expensive kit, and it turns out that what makes me feel best about them isn't as much my feeling that the drums are protected as it is my awareness that the car I'm driving them around in is. No paint-dinging hardware to side panel contact. And since it's a new car (and my wife's), this is a hugely wonderful thing.

My thanks to everyone for your input.