Shipping heavy amps abroad

custom1981

fuck you Ban me 

ICBM

I don't agree that damage is more likely in a flightcase - quite the opposite. The inertia of the internal components is exactly the same as if the amp is not cased, and if anything the softer foam lining in the flightcase might reduce it. I see exactly the same type of inertial damage with boxed amps as flightcased ones, probably more so.

The amp is also much less likely to suffer a split cabinet caused by landing on one corner and the box twisting because it isn't rigid.

Danny1969

You can ship an amp to Belfast on a pallet for about £90 ... not much chance of damage then 

custom1981

fuck you ban me

I

ICBM

custom1981 said:

Im not talking about the wooden cabinet the amp is in but the actual amp chassis itself transformers ETC

the more weight the greater the impact... 

So am I. The inertia of the internal components is exactly the same regardless of the weight of the overall package, and hence the force they exert on their mountings is the same. This is simple physics regardless of what any amp company says - the mass of the components does not change. (I studied physics at university by the way, I do know what I'm talking about.)

And the wooden cabinet is definitely more at risk is the amp is not in a flightcase.

custom1981

Of course you are right ... I mean what do people like Mesa Boogie and Marshall and Diezel know compared to you ...

I bow down to your university education 

ICBM

Go and do some reading about Newton's Laws of Motion.

By the way, you should have covered that at school.

custom1981

Whatever , 

ICBM

How typical.

Perhaps you should bother learning something before you start telling someone else who has that they're wrong.

Bygone_Tones

Oh and as said, it will be expensive.  I remember shipping an empty Marshall 1960a 4x12 to France, which still weighs a load and with good packing around it is very large.  The cost was something like £115, what I was more surprised about was the fact they buyer was fine with the cost, the desire to get what you want really outweighs the high costs for a fair few people.  Although admiteddly I'm one of them sometimes on stuff I've bought before.  I've also shipped amp heads to Germany before, twice, and the cost for those came to something like £50 each time.

At the end of the day if you decide to send a heavy large valuable item, I would always pack as best as you could with the most protection rather than being careless, even if something gets broken, if it has been packed well the couriers chances of trying to defend themselves are made pretty much redundant, although that has already been said countless times before here.

What website are you using? Those quotes are insane.

A Marshall 4x12 should only cost about £65 to France. With £10 or so for your packing materials. Still only £75. I would expect to pay about £19 for an amp head to Germany.

Couriers go by the volumetric weight, not the actual weight. So keeping your dimensions as tight as possible will strip significant £££ off your courier quotes.

You should be able to get a 4x12 with ample packing materials packed tightly into a box sized 80 x 80 x 40 cm. The 'volumetric weight' of this is about 52Kg. So there is no need to actually weigh it, so long as you are confident it is under 52Kg. It will be the same price with or without speakers inside.

But if you are going to use a massively oversized box then expect to pay mega high courier costs.

It also pays to shop around for quotes on a few different websites rather than sticking to one website that is your favourite (let me guess, interparcel or parcel2go) that you use all the time for everything. Different websites have different rates depending on the destination country and the size and weight of the item.

eg parcelmonkey are very cheap for large items staying within UK, and transglobalexpress are usually cheapest for large items going overseas, especially to USA.

digitalscream

ADMIN NOTICE: Delete offensive post from @custom1981.

TTony

in response to @digitalscream's intervention above, custom1981 offered his sexual favours if we would oblige his request to be removed from further participation in the forum.

We're happy to oblige, although I don't think the offer of favours has been taken up.

TTony

(Yes, he's been banned)

ICBM

TTony said:

(Yes, he's been banned)

Seems a little harsh.

TTony

ICBM said:

TTony said:

(Yes, he's been banned)

Seems a little harsh.

When you don't see all the content of his posts and PMs, perhaps.

But when someone replies to an admin request, via PM, to edit one of their posts (that contained threats of violence and personal insult and had been flagged by members), with "F**k you, ban me" (without the asterisks), it didn't really leave us much option.

ICBM

Ah, OK. I didn't see anything that warranted a complaint, and I wouldn't like it if some of us are thought to be 'more equal' than others. I take it there was more to it than that.

guitarfishbay

Threatening violence over postage and packaging advice... Some people eh!

Deijavoo

I read the comments in a meeting and couldn't respond. I nearly screamed with laughter though. 

What an absolute clown, why did he get so het up? 

ChrisMusic

Ok then, so congratulations on your quick sale and sorting out the shipping.

How did you end up packing your Mk5 ?

Shame about the tantrum outburst earlier in the discussion, I guess he was having a bad day, sounds like personal problems to me, unusual behaviour for the forum, luckily.  Maybe he just needs a bit of a cuddle and some time out. (genuine concern)

However anyone who has been on the receiving end of a good and tightly wound up bit of PMT will know this only too well (no, not PMT the store).  A friend of mine had regular knife throwing lessons.  I grew up with a menopausal psychopath of a step-mother, so this mini-episode was just like a Sunday Skool outing  

We lost some advice on packaging technique using 2x20mm layers of a material similar to that used as shock insulation in rack mounting backline, then boxing that as I recall and then another 2x20mm layer and final box for shipping.  The product name was lost in the red mist that ensued, (I think it may have been something like Plasticote?), as was the rather useful eBay link to a supplier.

It may be worth mentioning your eventual shipper, and costs too.  In case anyone searches for similar advice in this discussion.

Deijavoo

I'll post the packaging pics a wee bit later...

well tomorrow actually as I'm off on the sauce all day in 5 mins!

:-)