Seeking bag for MixPre, H1, and G3

[Tom Morrow]

I'm looking for a small sound bag to hold my MixPre, a Sennheiser G3 wireless receiver (and transmitter when not in use), and a Zoom H1 recorder.

Most of the mixer bags I've seen are designed for relatively large mixers, and my biggest concern is that they would be topheavy and likely to fall over with the small MixPre in them. The mixer pockets are typically so deep that a foam spacer is needed to keep the MixPre up towards the top for control access and visibility. I want something that I can set on the floor under the camera tripod and still be able to see the meters, facing up towards me.

The Petrol PS607 Deca Mixer Bag, one of my top choices so far, has a pocket 6.7 inches high, more than 2 inches taller than the 4.4 inch MixPre.

I suppose I could put an NP battery under the MixPre to weight it down, but I was hoping to avoid the expense and just use rechargeable AA batteries for the rare times when there is no power available.

Anyone found a good sound bag with a low-height mixer pocket?

[Tom Morrow]

A couple more candidates: Portabrace MX-24 mini PortaBrace - Product Detail:MX-24 MINI looks like the most compact bag, but doesn't have many features nor does it look like it offers cable routing from the mixer pocket to the accessory pocket.

The Kata Koala-4 Kata KOALA-4. Waistpacks Shoulder Bags (Kata Bags) is now my top contender. 4.9" interior height is about the smallest to be found, and it looks to have lots of useful features including cable routing. But it seems to be overall a bit bigger than I need.

[John Raadgeep]

Just check camRade bags at B&H or Adorama.

cheers,
John

[Steve Oakley]

petrol provides all sorts of dividers and extras that are super nice to solve the problem. they supply both a bottom bridge support and a foam support to keep your mixer closer to the top of the bag. they also provide velcro strips for the pockets.

before you get too small a bag, consider that you're needs will most likely grow. my bag a PEGZ-1 is too small now, although it seems good when I got it a couple years ago. I've got more wireless, a recorder, and I'd like to add the mixer to it.

also with the petrol bags you can store your headphones in the front compartment and leave them there, you snake the wire thru the bag to the mixer head phone jack.

[Tom Morrow]

Thanks Steve, that's good feedback. The Petrol Deca is now what I'm leaning towards now, again. Frankly the styling doesn't look as professional as the other bags, but I can put aside my vanity for functionality :-)

I've already got enough adapters and cables that I could easily run out of space with the Koala trying to be ready for anything, but if I know what connections I'm going to make beforehand the Koala would be perfect, small enough that I could carry it and a camera bag to hold my 60d for run and gun or tourist style interviewing people on the street and such.

Someone else mentioned the Think Tank bags to me, which are designed to hold both audio and camera equipment, kind of a cool idea. And they rock lots of cable management ports. But they are so high vertically that a mixer would either get lost at the bottom or make it topheavy, so I'm ruling them out.

John- The camRade bags don't do anything for me; they seem underengineered and don't excel in any area. To each his own.

[Tom Morrow]

I'm realizing one big consideration for me is wanting a way to put the h1 recorder at the top of the bag with the display up so that I can read levels and access the controls without digging through the bag. It looks like the Petrol with its dual rectangualr pockets might be able to do that for me; perhaps I could put my Rode PinMic case under the H1 to keep it towards the top. Then the MixPre goes in the other pocket.

I also realized today that I'm going to need access to the phantom and limiter switches on the side of the MixPre every now and then, so a wider pocket where I wouldn't have to lift the MixPre out to see the settings of those switches would not be a bad thing.

[Tom Morrow]

I ended up getting the Petrol 607 deca bag. Overall, I think it's the perfect size; not enough room for anything extra, but plenty of room to keep my MixPre, H1, and G3 connected and safe. The H1 nestles vertically next to the Mixpre with just its head sticking out, and with still enough room that I can make XLR cable connections without removing the mixer completely from the bag. The other pocket is taken up with the spare Senn G3 receiver when not in use, and my Rode PinMic case.

The wire routing options are truly spectacular in this bag, although that's also my one complaint: There's no way to completely close up the sides, so I don't feel good about leaving spare cables and adapters in the substantial extra space under the devices. There's so much space I could almost store a shotgun mic with blimp under there in a pinch, but no way to secure it, so I'd worry about it getting crushed or falling out at inopportune moments. I think I'm going to need to figure out some sort of inner bag to hold accessories underneath the electronics.

One lesson I learned is that it's a required luxury to have a pocket big enough to hold headphones, and my mdrv6's fit perfectly in the big exterior pocket. I'm glad I didn't get the smaller koala bag.

[Andy Balla]

Good to know it works for you. I'm looking at the same bag. I'm running a three channel mixer with NP-1 battery power, a shotgun and a pair of wireless, and a Zoom H4n. I'd like to add a battery distribution box (like the Battery Bud) to power my wireless receivers and Zoom from the NP-1 as well. Seem like there would be room for all of that?

[Tom Morrow]

Yep, that will definitely all fit, although access might be a bit difficult.

Yesterday I took my bag out for some real world testing The one thing that I wish this bag had is more zippered storage. I almost lost a lav while putting the bag on, so now I'm going to use a piece of the included velcro to go over the top of the lavs and hold them in place. Also to be honest I left behind a shotgun microphone because I laid it down when I was changing to another mic, because there was not enough room in my bag with the excess xlr and a water bottle tucked under the mixer compartment. So I was already wishing for more space in some sense. At the same time my sound bag weighed and was more bulky than my DSLR with microphone, and in that sense it seemed too big. I suppose it's going to take me a bit of experience before I decide what's important to me.

[Ed Quinto]

could you post a picture with everything loaded in the bag?