Hands On: Gruv Gear Club Bag, Sliiv, and Bento Boxes

We all take gear on the go. Whether you’re simply carrying your laptop around, putting together a mobile studio, taking gear to a gig, jam, or session, or traveling around the world, you want your gear to arrive safely and ready for action. Gruv Gear makes a variety of carefully designed, durable, and versatile solutions for taking your gear with you, from instrument gig bags to backpacks to organization accessories. Several of us here in the Sweetwater Content Creation department had a chance to put Gruv Gear Club Bags, Sliivs, and Bento Boxes through the wringer over several months of daily use. I used one for transporting my portable composing/editing/mixing rig locally as well as across the country. Content creators/session musicians Don Carr and Nick D’Virgilio each put one to work for sessions at Sweetwater Studios and for local gigs. Kelly Lynch, our Creative Director, used one for cross-country and local video shoots. We used Club Bags, Sliivs, and Full and Half Bento Boxes.

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STANDALONE BAG

The Club Bag is a backpack with comfortable, adjustable, padded, “Air Mesh” straps and padding where the bag rests against your back. The straps can be linked with an adjustable chest support strap, which makes wearing the Club Bag for longer walks — a hike across the Chicago or Atlanta airports, for example — even more stable and comfortable. Nick adds, “The back of the Club Bag is padded, which makes it comfortable to carry across big airports.” Don said, “It’s way roomier than I expected from looking at it. It has a sleek, easy-to-carry look and feel.”

One thing I really like about the Club Bag is that it’s rigid enough to stand on its own; you don’t have to lean it against something to keep it upright. As Kelly said, “The Club Bag doesn’t compress or fold in on itself, so it always maintains its shape and protects what’s inside.” Don agreed: “I like that it stands up and retains its form. That keeps things from hiding in bottom corners. It also makes the side-access, bottom shelf compartment really work properly. If the bag collapsed when it was empty, you couldn’t slide things out of the bottom or even really find them without digging. It also allows for more options for stacking things inside the bottom compartments because nothing ever comes crashing down on anything else when you remove it.”

SUBDIVISIONS & SLIIVS

What Don is referring to is the way in which the Club Bag is subdivided. There are several padded compartments. First, you have a top-access area in the back that’s perfect for sliding in your laptop or iPad. There’s a second pocket inside this compartment, which makes the Club Bag perfect for transporting both my Macbook Pro laptop and my CME Xkey keyboard at the same time. Nick said, “It works great as a regular computer backpack when I’m traveling. I also use it to take my computer and other gear to gigs.”

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If you use a Sliiv to hold your laptop, the Gruv Gear “ScanFly” feature makes it simple to quickly insert and firmly lock in your computer. But it’s fast and easy to pull out your laptop at airport security or if you need quick access to the laptop. Don says, “The laptop Sliiv is nice and makes it easy to remove your computer — great for getting through airport security.” The padded Sliiv is also awesome as a standalone sleeve for taking just your laptop on the go.

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There’s a large, box-like compartment that is accessible from the top/front. This works great for larger items. (Gruv Gear calls it a “glove box.”) I used it for an audio interface, full-size headphones, power supplies, and bulky cables. Little straps and pockets make it easy to secure smaller items and cables. According to Don, “The large top compartment always has plenty of my stuff in it and this weekend I added a paperback book and my rolled-up raincoat.” The “floor” of this compartment is removable if you want to convert the entire inside of the Club Bag into a larger space.

There is a flat compartment on the lower front of the bag that works well for papers, flat items, smaller tablets, and so on — a cool space for a couple of sets of spare guitar or bass strings or airplane tickets or a passport. I also found it was plenty big enough for a compact hard drive and USB and Thunderbolt cables.

I used the two external side pockets for my wallet, keys, and cell phone. Kelly said, “I initially choose the Club Bag because of the easy-access pockets on each side for camera bodies, lenses, and other gear, which you can reach while you’re wearing the Club Bag — without taking the backpack off.” Don added, “The side pockets are phone-sized, but since they have flaps and are secure I put my work badge and studio keys in there for quick access.”

SIDE POCKETS & BENTO BOXES

Zippers open up the area behind those side pockets (Gruv Gear calls it “locker door access”), giving you access from either side of the Club Bag to a larger compartment in the bottom, which can be subdivided with a removable shelf. This is where the Bento Boxes — small zipper cases with see-through tops — come into play. There’s room in the Club Bag compartment to slide in and stack several Bento Boxes. The Bentos come in four sizes: “Half,” (referring to half of the Club Bag’s width) in either tall or slim depth; and “Full,” (referring to the full width of the Club Bag) in tall or slim depth. Don says, “I’ve got pens, pencils, flashlight, capos, tuner, sunglasses, phone charger, nail clippers, gum, thumb drives, just a ton of stuff in there. It all stays organized and easy to find, especially with the Bento boxes.”

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In my case, I’ve got a Half/Slim Bento Box that holds my iLok, a USB thumb drive, several computer adapters, a headphone adapter, and other small items. A Full/Slim Bento holds a variety of guitar tools — wire cutter, small screwdrivers, spare picks, a clip-on tuner, earplugs, and more. I can fit both Bentos into my Club Bag and still have room in the bottom compartment for my Macbook Pro power supply, a guitar cable (I use a George L’s for this because it’s so thin and lightweight), and even mic cables and microphones on occasion.

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Nick uses his for a variety of small items. “The Bento Boxes are for all of my little cables, drum keys, tuners, and many other things. They’re very convenient and keep me organized.”

TIME TO GO

For me, the Club Bag has been a perfect on-the-go solution. I can get my complete mobile studio rig into one bag. I often write music in PreSonus Studio One, Propellerhead Reason, Ableton Live, NI Maschine software, and other apps, and edit and mix multitrack audio projects in Avid Pro Tools in coffee shops, the Sweetwater Downbeat Diner, airports, and hotel rooms. The Club Bag conveniently holds all I need to get my work done, and keeps it all easy to access and organized. What I like is that there’s room for taking along my compact keyboard, and — since I love the Universal Audio UAD-2 plug-ins for mixing — room in the “glove box” for my Apollo Twin audio interface. If I add a guitar in a gig bag or a mic or two, I can be laying down tracks wherever I find myself. Sometimes I even throw my Genelec 8010As either into my suitcase or work them into the Club Bag so I can monitor through real speakers instead of headphones!

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Nick uses his Club Bag for a variety of mobile gear needs. “I really like my Gruv Gear bag a lot. I use it for all kinds of things. It is very strong and well put together. I love the heavy-duty fabric. It’s a great bag and I highly recommend it.” Don agreed that the Club Bag is durable and particularly called out the “comfortable and sturdy handles and straps and rugged zippers.” Kelly called the Club Bag, “Ideally sized for travel and use in the field.”

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If you’re looking for a compact but roomy, well-thought-out, and durable solution for getting your gear to the gig, jam, or session, then you definitely want to check out the Gruv Gear Club Bag. I also recommend that you consider outfitting it with a Sliiv and an assortment of Bento Boxes — we all loved how the Bento Boxes kept our small items organized and easy to find. They’re a great idea! I sometimes pull out a Bento and carry it as a separate case or throw it in a suitcase for small travel necessities or a toiletry bag!

Believe it or not, I’m actually considering getting a couple more Club Bags; I’d love to dedicate one to my mobile studio, one to my electric guitar gigs, and one for acoustic guitar gigs. I figure I can just leave them loaded up and grab whichever I need for the job at hand. Now that’s organization!

Special thanks to Don Carr, Kelly Lynch, and Nick D’Virgilio for their contributions to this review.

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