Posting amps?

ThePrettyDamned

Just as an offshoot of the posting amps abroad thread, I think it would be useful to have a "how to" on packaging amps for postage, be it head or combo.

Because frankly, I've no idea! I posted a head abroad to Spain and it went well, but it was a mooer little monster, not a heavy great big kt88 monster!

Any tips? Just thought it would be a nice resource to have searchable on here.

meltedbuzzbox

I had an posted to me recently. The packaging was very very good. 

However TNT still managed to break the amp. It was dropped so hard the speakers had become unmounted. 

Somethings you cant guard against. 

ThePrettyDamned

Well, that's rubbish. Blimey, is it worth removing speakers and wrapping them and storing them in the amp? I suspect that has its own risks...

When will couriers be liable for their actions?

Gagaryn

It's true that there is little you can do to protect an amp from damage in the event that it dropped from any kind of height - the mass of magnet n the back of a speaker would be enough to jolt it from the baffle board. When I post amps I put them in the centre of a much bigger double walled box - centred by lots of little boxes - like lego!

Dave_Mc

They don't fit through most letterboxes...

Sorry >:D<

Regarding the "dropped from a height", once the *delivery driver* dropped an amp I'd ordered in my hallway from a great height. I mean, seriously. Right in front of us. It actually deseated the valves, luckily enough no other damage, but it still meant I had to troubleshoot the thing instead of getting to play it.

xSkarloey

Dave_Mc said:

They don't fit through most letterboxes...

Sorry >:D<

Regarding the "dropped from a height", once the *delivery driver* dropped an amp I'd ordered in my hallway from a great height. I mean, seriously. Right in front of us. It actually deseated the valves, luckily enough no other damage, but it still meant I had to troubleshoot the thing instead of getting to play it.

So instead of writing "not checked" underneath the bit where you sign your name, you wrote "driver dropped it from waist height" there I assume? 

I've only ever sold one amp on ebay, but it was a large enough combo. What I did was got hold of a suitable box (I live near our council's local 'recycling centre', i.e. dump so that was easy enough. I ended up with a large heavy duty carton someone had left. I wrapped it in plenty of bubble wrap inside the box, and made sure that any gaps were filled with those bags of air that people sometimes use. 

This combo also had a spring reverb, so I made sure I unscrewed and unplugged this and wrapped it separately so it wouldn't get shaken and knocked if the box was dropped (I've had springs go before due to careless handling so that was a lesson learned). 

The last couple of amps I've bought new were well packaged, and I keep the packaging in the loft, should I ever decide to part with them or move house again. 

Dave_Mc

) Probably signed it "uninspected", as usual. I think my dad signed for it, I was upstairs and didn't realise the courier had turned up. I heard (from upstairs) the bang of it being dropped, though. ) EDIT: IIRC my dad said it wasn't so much "dropped" as "thrown". )

ThePrettyDamned

Oh my god, I'd probably cry if they dropped something of mine. Or threw it.

BLEH!

Dave_Mc

LOL

When it appeared to be DOA I wasn't best pleased. It's one thing something bad happening along the way which is sort of no-one's fault, but that was just facepalm material and utterly pointless. "Falling at the last hurdle" (or maybe better yet, "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory") springs to mind.

Heartfeltdawn

Packaging amps rule 1 for me: 

Never leave the sodding valves in. 

Ever. 

I've picked so many shards out of amps I've bought. Sigh. The most unfortunate was a Black Cat Cub II. The reverb tank had come loose, the amp had seemingly travelled upside down. When I opened it up, it rained glass upon me. 

Bygone_Tones

Use strong double ply cardboard, but the thing most people usually overlook is to include plenty of padding between the item and the cardboard to cushion it against impacts. Cardboard only = broken amp.

For cushioning use scrunched paper, large bubblewrap, polystyrene. Whatever works for you. So long as you use enough of it, it should work.

When packing ask yourself if it would survive being dropped from 6ft.