Mission 9 arrives!

Our Mission 9 case from Monorocket arrived today and it's a looker! Three rows of 88HP (you can push it to 90HP, I'm told), a solid 3 amp power supply and covered in beautiful "Fender Smooth Brown" tolex. With a matching lid. I've spent about as much time oogling it as I have playing it.



I've planned out the rest of the system as best I can (though with new modules coming out at their current pace it's more of an educated guess than a plan), and have blocked out spaces in the case for the final pieces.

The rack's rails use sliding nuts, which are not my favorite (I prefer my old Schroff's threaded strip solution), but it's hardly an issue. It just means a few extra minutes in mounting everything, and a little additional head-scratching in leaving accurate spaces for things-to-come. I was lucky: the modules I'm saving for now are the same size as ones I already own, so I could use them for measurements. But if I was saving space for something odd, like a Triple Wavefolder or a UEG, it would be a bit trickier. I'm not faulting Monorocket for this-- simply a matter of preference on my end. On a related note, my case came complete with an abundance of screws, which fit the nuts perfectly. Nothing like having shinny new screws to go with a beautiful new case. A nice touch.

Before ordering, I'd read some concerns on the forums about the shallowness of the Mission cases. I'm happy to report that our Z3000, which has the deepest PCB in our system, sits comfortably in the Mission 9 with a full "thumb's length" of distance between its bottom and the distro board (see below). In total, the Mission 9 has 4" of usable depth, from faceplate to header.


I'd also read about the ultra-bright blue LEDs on their new bus boards. They are, indeed, ultra-bright. I may have to try Felix's old "nail polish" trick on them (fast forward to 2:17 in this video), though they do make the case seem "alive inside" in a way that dimmer LEDs wouldn't.

Steve from Monorocket was great to deal with-- I fully recommend ordering from him, and plan on doing so again when we outgrow today's arrival. Mission 9 cases are the best deal going in the format, and he's moving production away from custom cases into a standard issue-- black tolex, hardware-- in order to meet demand and eliminate the one problem customers have had with his work: availability. Monorocket cases came with high praise, which is completely deserved. Big thanks to Shawn at Analogue Haven for making it happen, too.