Ahead Armor Compact Hardware Bag
90
GEAR REVIEW
T
here’s a feeling that’s been
spreading throughout the drum
community for some time:
loading and unloading your gear
is offi cially the worst part of the night.
In recent times, more and more drum
companies have been putting out smaller,
more portable kits to meet the demands of
modern jobbing drummers. Hardware brands
such as DW, Tama, Ludwig and Pearl have all
followed suit by reverting to lightweight
stands harking back to yesteryear, visually,
but with the greater adjustment and stability
we’ve come to expect from modern gear. In
short, many of us drummers are looking for
ways to lighten our load.
As the frequent 2am dash from the car to
the front door will attest, however, there’s
one main culprit in our set-ups that creates
the bottleneck. The elephant in the
hatchback, if you will: the hardware bag.
Commonly, these coffi ns are big enough to
house all of our stands, along with pedals,
clamps and a stool too. Although putting all
of your metal in one hulking, great big
casket means fewer trips, it’s almost always
a back breaker. Ahead’s latest Armor
hardware bag aims to fi x this, simply by
being smaller.
Build
The bag features Ahead’s DX-Core system – two
layers of padding to help maintain rigidity and
absorb shock (keeping your gear protected
inside), wrapped in a double-stitched,
600-denier polyester outer as well as using a
Sherpa fl eece lining inside to help cushion
everything. Measuring 32" in length, it cuts
down the ‘standard’ wheeled hardware bag
size by a few inches, but this means that you
can comfortably get it in the smallest of boot
spaces, without having to fold your stands up
completely every time.
Hands On
In practice, the Armor Compact Hardware bag
is ideally suited to smaller, lightweight stands,
£114 Finding things are getting a bit heavy? Ahead is
taking a stand against back-breaking load-ins
AHEAD
ARMOR COMPACT
HARDWARE BAG
however, we were able to fi t our medium/
heavy duty hi-hat stand, two boom stands,
snare stand and a bass drum pedal in without
feeling too cramped. Plus the front pocket
allows some extra space for clamps and spares.
If, (like us) you fi nd yourself regularly cursing
the sheer weight of your hardware, two smaller
bags like the Compact are far easier to manage
than one heavier one. And with a street price
of around £99, that’s not an unreachable
solution either.
TYPE
Compact hardware bag
DIMENSIONS
32"x10"x8"
(813x254x203mm)
MATERIAL
Polyester outer,
double-layered foam,
Sherpa fl eece lining
CONTACT
BR Distribution
01207 282806
www.brdistribution.
co.uk
www.aheadarmorcases.
com
Essential spec
VERDICT: Smaller hardware bags
aren’t a new thing, but Ahead’s Armor
series doesn’t confuse ‘compact’ with
‘cheap’. It’s well made and feels like
it’ll last. It might even make you enjoy
loading your gear!
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
RATING
SIZE
Being compact, this is a
great solution for light-load
gigs where you need a
smaller set-up
PORTABILITY
Using two smaller bags could
replace your main hardware bag
and make loading of bigger
hardware collections more
manageable
| AUGUST 2017 WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM
WORDS: STUART WILLIAMS
RHY270.gear_Ahead.indd 90 15/06/2017 12:11