Bag Weight... how heavy is your bag?

[pscottm]

Ditching analog connections where possible cuts down quite a bit, use AES if you can.  Half the number of wires wires and connectors (plus connectors are small too).  Also Protogear bags, not unlike the older Portabrace or Kortwich bags save alot of weight compared to say Orca or Ktek bags.  Protogear is custom though, and not cheap, but will force you to really think about what you really need to carry.  I love mine, made for Sonosax recorder and  8-ch of wireless all running AES and much lighter than same gear w analog connections in a ktek or orca bag.  Only one XLR connector in the whole setup (cabled boom).   

[Matt Geldof]

There is some good advice here. I use the stingray harness with my 664 and mix pre 6 setup. It is pretty good, but no substitute for eating healthy and exercise. With that said, there is not much you can do about taking care of your knee's / hips, if you are on your feet all day with a bag that is too heavy. The 'work smart' part is propping the bag on my extended pelican case handle or hiring a boom operator/A2 whenever possible. Having a backpack with some of the stuff that would be in your main bag, can help balance things out. Keep a rolling surface with you to place your bag on, even if just the aforementioned pelican case. Fortunately equipment is only getting lighter and more reliable, so at least there is that.

[Nate C]

On 11/16/2022 at 9:20 AM, JonG said:

I find that the popular bags today with rigid frames are a big culprit in bag weight. Which is why for a long time I chose to use the PortaBrace bag that came with my 633. However, it was really annoying because the left side of the mixer would always sag down into the bag, making mixing difficult with the small faders. Then I saw another mixer using a Condor bag that he had modified, and that ended up being my preferred bag until this day. Its weighs virtually nothing and is less than $30:

 

Condor Deployment Bag (Black, 12... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003W96GG8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

You’ll have to cut off the top zipper, and cut through the main compartment to the side compartments but it works out quite nicely. I keep a comtek tx on one side, a Lectro tx on the other, and an eSmart battery in the front. I used a 633 with two rx and an Audioroot power distro in a dashboard in the main area which fit quite snug. 
 

Moving to the 833, I have the same setup but with two rx in the SL-2, and the power distro has been moved to the front pouch with the battery. The whole thing is light and compact, and I don’t need to struggle with a harness anymore, a strap is just fine. 
 

 

Jon. Great to see a non Nova user using the Condor bag. I made up mine as a stop gap until something better came on the market. Almost 3 years later and I'm still perfectly happy with it.

 

[JonG]

10 hours ago, Nate C said:

Jon. Great to see a non Nova user using the Condor bag. I made up mine as a stop gap until something better came on the market. Almost 3 years later and I'm still perfectly happy with it.

 

Yeah I put this rig together initially in 2019, and still using it. Until the bag manufacturers get on board with this style of bag and stop only catering to people with a death wish for their back, I’ll be sticking with it!

[gabelinkiewicz]

On 11/15/2022 at 2:20 PM, JonG said:

I find that the popular bags today with rigid frames are a big culprit in bag weight. Which is why for a long time I chose to use the PortaBrace bag that came with my 633. However, it was really annoying because the left side of the mixer would always sag down into the bag, making mixing difficult with the small faders. Then I saw another mixer using a Condor bag that he had modified, and that ended up being my preferred bag until this day. Its weighs virtually nothing and is less than $30:

 

Condor Deployment Bag (Black, 12... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003W96GG8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

You’ll have to cut off the top zipper, and cut through the main compartment to the side compartments but it works out quite nicely. I keep a comtek tx on one side, a Lectro tx on the other, and an eSmart battery in the front. I used a 633 with two rx and an Audioroot power distro in a dashboard in the main area which fit quite snug. 
 

Moving to the 833, I have the same setup but with two rx in the SL-2, and the power distro has been moved to the front pouch with the battery. The whole thing is light and compact, and I don’t need to struggle with a harness anymore, a strap is just fine. 
 

 

Really liking this setup. What antennas are you using? And how you liking them with your wideband wisy?

[JonG]

9 hours ago, gabelinkiewicz said:

Really liking this setup. What antennas are you using? And how you liking them with your wideband wisy?

I’m just using some Shure 1/2 wave rubber duckies. They’re BNC, had to get adapters. They’re adequate for what I need. If I need more range I could hook up some fins and get range for days. Honestly, this system is absolutely fantastic. The fact that there are no cables involved, means that re routing one channel to any track without digging around and unplugging things in my bag is amazing. I can’t believe it took this many generations of machines to get that function back.