Mono M80

[tobiewharton]

I bought a Mono M80 recently and I'm not very impressed with it. It's not as solid as I expected, there are plastic strap clips, the neck cradle is too soft, the handle doesn't feel as stout as I'd like and it's not the most comfortable to carry on the back. Storage is well designed and plentiful and I bought the Tick bag 2.0 with it to expand further. 

 

I moved on a Fusion Urban when times were tight and sorely regret it. That was a brilliant bit of kit; no corners cut at all and just so reassuringly tough. Storage was excellent too although the option to expand storage in a similar way to the Tick for the Mono is far more expensive. The Fusions seem to be hard to come by these days. 

 

Interested to hear other views/comparisons/preferences.

[BigRedX]

I've had a Mono M80 for over 10 years now, the plastic bits are still as robust as when I bought it and the handle despite being in almost constant use when carrying it has yet to even come close to looking as though it will fail.

 

However I completely agree with you about the lack of comfort when wearing on your back. Mine constantly slaps against the backs of my legs to the point where it is unbearable for anything other than carrying from the car/van into the venue. This lack of comfort does appear to be linked to the person's size/build as there are plenty of others on here who don't appear to have a problem with it. For this alone the M80 fails as gig bag for me because the whole point of a gig bag is that I can use it to carry my bass when I walk to rehearsals. On the other hand there is no denying the protection it offers. The semi-rigid nature of the case means that it can be squeezed into spaces in fully packed cars where a standard hard case would never fit. Also mine was instrumental in protecting my bass when a heavy speaker cab fell on it. The mono case absorbed the impact and saved both the bass and the cab. A more conventional hard case would have probably shattered resulting in damage the bass and cab as well.

 

I don't know what the current state of the competition in the semi-rigid case market is, but when I bought my Mono it was by far the smallest and lightest option. Some of the others were larger and heavier than a Hiscox hard case. Hopefully there is now some more serious competition in this area.

Edited September 26, 2023 by BigRedX

[Lozz196]

I love my M80s but I’ve never worn them on my back, I just use them as a regular case, just one which is slightly smaller & lighter so more convenient.

[StingRayBoy42]

I like my Protec Contego.

Comfy to wear, a decent amount of storage and pretty sturdy.

Not had a speaker fall on it yet though!

[LeftyJ]

On 25/09/2023 at 12:03, BigRedX said:

Mine constantly slaps against the backs of my legs to the point where it is unbearable for anything other than carrying from the car/van into the venue. This lack of comfort does appear to be linked to the person's size/build as there are plenty of others on here who don't appear to have a problem with it.

To be fair, that sounds like something that can be solved with adjusting the length of the straps?

I'm 1,96 metres tall (and chunky too) so it's easy for me to talk: mine doesn't get anywhere near my legs when I carry it on my back. But I'm sure carrying it higher up your back would solve your issue?

 

I agree it's not the most comfortable to wear, but it's not bad either. My most comfortable one is probably my old Ritter (the bass version of this).

[BigRedX]

Unless the design has changed since I bought mine, while you can change the length of the strap, that doesn't make any difference to how uncomfortable it is for me to wear for any length of time. I have mine as tight as possible so that I can still get my arms in, but simply because of the distance between the top and bottom anchor points there is still too much play in them to hold the bag securely against my back and it hangs too low. What really needs to be changed is the point at which the straps are anchored at the top of the bag. For me if they were moved down to just above the back pocket opening, that would lift the whole bag up on my back so the lower part doesn't slap against the backs of my legs when walking and it would be possible the properly tighten the straps like a rucksack.

[NJE]

I have had mine 10 years and it’s probably the best but of kit I have bought. No zips, clips, seams or anything have broken and I will be honest I really haven’t taken care of it. It is starting to look a little scruffy and some of the piping looks rough now, but it’s been amazing.

 

I don’t know if the design has been updated, but no issue with the neck cradle on mine, it does the job and despite being loaded into vans, dropped and knocked over, all my basses have been perfectly protected in it.
 

I only ever use one strap and carry it on one shoulder a bit like a golf club bag, and leave the other strap tucked I. The back pocket. 

[tobiewharton]

Cheers all - good to hear that durability seems better than it first appears. Will check out the Protec too.

[LeftyJ]

On 26/09/2023 at 16:05, BigRedX said:

Unless the design has changed since I bought mine, while you can change the length of the strap, that doesn't make any difference to how uncomfortable it is for me to wear for any length of time. I have mine as tight as possible so that I can still get my arms in, but simply because of the distance between the top and bottom anchor points there is still too much play in them to hold the bag securely against my back and it hangs too low. What really needs to be changed is the point at which the straps are anchored at the top of the bag. For me if they were moved down to just above the back pocket opening, that would lift the whole bag up on my back so the lower part doesn't slap against the backs of my legs when walking and it would be possible the properly tighten the straps like a rucksack.

I had to come back to this, because I forgot to mention I don't own the bass version but use the guitar version for my headless basses. Might be an important detail, and quite a deciding factor in how low (or high) the bag hangs on my back 

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, LeftyJ said:

I had to come back to this, because I forgot to mention I don't own the bass version but use the guitar version for my headless basses. Might be an important detail, and quite a deciding factor in how low (or high) the bag hangs on my back 

 

It probably is. The distance between the top and bottom strap anchoring points is over 600mm on the bass version of this bag. I suspect that the bag is like many items designed primarily for the guitar and repurposed for larger instruments that repurposing doesn't always turn out to be very successful. It would be trivial to move the top anchor points lower down which would eliminate the leg slapping on shorter people and also allow the anchor points to more widely spaced which would also help with the comfort. However that would mean when worn, the top of the bag would be about another 200mm higher which will have implications for getting through doorways without taking the bag off your back.

[Richard R]

 

This is mine, with a 35" bass in. It sits high, so doesn't bash my legs but I have to seriously duck through doorways. It has well padded pockets on the front for pedals and the like, and a padded laptop sleeve too. I do walk to practice these days, about .8 mile, and it's comfy enough. I also now play a 5 string that is a bit heavier than the 4 in the photos. 

 

There's a thread somewhere on cases with waist straps, but I can't find it.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Richard R
Typos