Gator Lightweight Molded 6U Rack Case (GR-6S)

Have used them for several gigs already and have no complaints. Far lighter and more compact than my previous cases and a good value for the money. I bought two and the only small complaint I have is that they don’t “lock” really well. They will slide off each other easily, especially on an angle (I use them on an amp stand set high), so I use some clamps. But I think a little weather stripping in the grooves of the underside of the top one will fix that. Just remember to loosen all the screws on the rack rails to align things when you put your first piece of gear in there and all will be well afterwards. They are not aligned from the factory and I think that throws people off from the reviews I’ve read around the net. But all in all it works well and has improved my weekly gear hauling woes quite a bit.

I ordered this rack to replace an SKB roto-molded 8-space unit with wheels and a handle I recently ordered and promptly returned. While that was a nice unit, it was simply too large and too heavy to carry around a couple times a week. I would have gone SKB because I’ve had great experiences with them in the past. However, after getting that last SKB rack, I wanted to get the smallest and lightest rack I could find to mount my guitar equipment.

First off, this is a shallow rack (14.5″ from the front rail to the rear panel), but not as shallow as the shallow SKB units (11″). This is great, as I have a Furman PL-Plus C, which would not have been an option for their shallow-mount cases. Point: Gator.

The overall construction of the case is as expected. It’ll be durable enough to carry around your equipment, but something probably wouldn’t survive a 6 foot fall. Other reviewers commented having plastic shavings inside the rack? Not the case here. It also comes with a bag of screws with rubber washers (nice), which I didn’t really need as I already have a ton of these, but a nice touch nonetheless.

Carrying it is a breeze. Because it’s lightweight and shallow, carrying a full rack (unless you have heavy tube pre/power amps) is completely manageable. The handles feel nice and durable, but I’m only hauling about 30 lbs. of equipment.

So here’s the bad stuff:

The rack’s aluminum borders on the outside of the rack runs to the inside of the case, and is punched with holes for the rack (it’s a single piece of metal). However, the actual rail is a secondary piece that requires screws to be in place to keep it in that sits behind this piece. It’s not a huge deal, but if you aren’t paying attention, all your rack equipment will be mounted sideways. I almost returned it when I realized everything was sideways, as I thought this was a huge quality control issue, until I realized it could be fixed by loosening the screws, pushing the equipment in the desired direction, and rescrewing while holding it in place. It’s a bit irritating, but that should only ever happen once with this case.

Also, while this unit boasts front and rear rails (which it has), I found that one of the four rails was very poorly drilled. I actually cannot put screws in about 75% of the positions on one of the rear rails because there is no threading. Thankfully, the only thing I have to mount on the back was a 1U patchbay, and after rotating the bad rail, I was able to install it successfully. You might also notice the rails look like a drunk 17 year old drilled the holes. Once equipment is in place, it’s fine, but its a little off-putting at first. You could always upgrade the rails if you so desire, but if you can get everything mounted, it doesn’t really matter.

So because of the issues with the rails, this only gets 4 stars. I’m happy with my purchase, but I’m not happy with the quality control of this unit. Thankfully, for how I will be using this, it doesn’t affect me, but your mileage may vary.

Bought this for my digital mixer. Rock solid and looks great!

I have several gator products including other rack cases. I’m not at all impressed with these. I bought two of them to stack.

First issue is the threaded part of the case is just a metal strip that you have to use to “sandwich” your device to the case. It is NOT attached to the case at all. Which means if you have a 6U device that needs to go in this, it will be very difficult unless you use a second person with hands small enough to hold the strip in place form the rear, or you secure it in place somehow. You cannot use the screws that hold them in place during shipping as they use space needed to utilize the whole 6U. If this were the only issue, I’d rate them much higher.

Second issue is the gasket on the front and rear panels were falling out. I have to glue them in place. We’ll see how long that lasts as the covers will be taken on and off over and over.

Third issue is they do not stack very well. There are protrusions on top and bottom that line up. The top of one case is supposed to fit in the bottom of the other case, but they barely make contact. I’ll likely have to bungee them together so the one on top doesn’t just slide off.

Fourth issue is the washers sent with the mounting screws are very thin plastic. The screw will cut through it easily when tightening.

Even though I was able to mount the gear, I am still contemplating sending them back as they are not stable when stacked.

El rack Gator es un excelente rack en calidad precio trae consigo los tornillos con una goma protectora lo que facilita el ensamblaje inmediato de tus equipos periféricos

Case is great – really great way to rack our wireless microphone receivers