Posted by Christian on April 17, 2003 at 20:58:07:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: gigbags posted by Rick Denney on April 17, 2003 at 17:59:01:
I also own both a cordura Reunion Blues bag and a ProTec bag.
I've the the Reunion Blues bag for ~10 years and the ProTec for about 6 or 7.
The Reunion Blues bag's padding is denser but thinner, the ProTec padding is softer but thicker. That's almost a wash to me, except the ProTec has plastic pieces inside "protecting" the "bottom" of the horn where you would sit the bag down and another holding the shape of the bell. The reunion blues bag doesn't have these. Fewer dents have occurred in the protec bag (zero in my case) vs the RB. The Cordura on the ProTec bag seems tougher to me. The thicker but softer padding seems to sustain bumps into doorways and car doors better than the thinner and denser stuff in the RB bag.
The ProTec definitely has the best set of pockets, but the backpack strap placement sucks. Every thing i need other than the tuba fits in those pockets. I'm short (maybe 5 foot 8) and i can't use the backpack straps without adjusting them as small as they go (even then, they're not comfortable, just useable), but the shoulder strap works fine. The RB bag's pocket is too small to be of any use so you lose a free hand to hold doors open, but its backpack straps are nice.
ProTec bags come in two sizes. The smaller of the two bags is the one I have for my 4/4 Rudi. The bag is a bit long for the horn and the 18 inch bell just fits. I roll up a small blanket below the bottom bow and cram it in there to make up the space. The extra padding down there is quite welcome. RB bags come in tons of sizes. RB bags can be made to fit your horn. The ProTecs seem to be made to fit the Miraphone 188/186 and the Miraphone 190 (?) sized instruments (this is just a guess, those Miraphones are pretty tall).
Perhaps the ProTec bags are less "classy", but i feel that it's a better bag overall.
I prefer my ProTec bag to my RB. Given the choice, i'll take the ProTec bag if the horn in question will fit in one.
Hope this helps,
Christian Klein