Moderators justcrash Posted January 9, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 9, 2008 i just pay those {censored}s to do it. no problems on my end then. i just shipped my sovtek across the country and got great feedback on the packing. looks like the jackass did a his job at the ups store, and some kid had a hell of a christmas.Why is the guy at the UPS store a jackass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 496dart Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 After you apply a bunch of packing tape , go back and wrap the box 4 or 5 times on all side with STRAPPING tape . This tape is much, much stronger than regular tape. It takes a knife to cut it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CARRguitar Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 i just received an amp today where the sender didn't follow ANY of those rules. it was shipped with a thin layer of bubble wrap across the face, none around the back. it was put into a U-HAUL box on end,with some peanuts on the bottom, some on the front (amp face) side and on top. there were a few peanuts on the back side of the amp. it was shipped with the tubes in place so it rode for 3000 miles with just a thin layer of cardboard and the metal grill to protect the tubes. amazingly, there doesn't look like there is any damage to the OUTSIDE of the amp. i'll find out a little later tonight when i turn it on if there is any internal damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NoodleFace Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Good post man. Generally I think most vets here know how to ship amps, especially the guys I've received them from. And I usually follow these guidelines, I also like to use foam in the rest of the box if I have any lying around as I find it holds the amp more snug than other materials. One thing I also like to do in case of water damage to the box is wrap the amp in a couple garbage bags so no water leaks in. Most of the time when I trade an amp I'm not worried about what I sent, but worried about the new guys that are sending around amps and might not know. So far so good here though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scottcrud Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Here's how I ship a amp: pull the power tubes and wrap and box them. If the amp has a foot switch I wrap it as well. I put the tubes and pedal if they will fit insider the amphead and wad up newspaper or bubble wrap so nothing moves around in the head shell. Next, I put the head in a hefty leaf bag and tape it so it's snug. Then I bubble wrap the amp with about 3 inches of bubble wrap. I normally try and double box. Then I'll use sheets of 3 inch foam to line the outer box, but first I go to Home Depot and buy a couple sheets of half inch masonite. I cut the masonite to match the inside of the box, sort of a box in a box. Then put the 3 inch foam to make a shell inside the box. Then place the amp or box with amp inside my box/masonite/foam lined box. Then I tape the hell out of the box with Heavey duty packing tape. Then I shrink wrap the hell out of the box and tape it again. That's what I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 17 Tubes Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Good tips!I have found the WORST offense to be the "found an old box in the dumpster" thing. A brand new fresh box will do wonders for you packing. Also...protective corners are crucial. The other crucial aspect: If you aren't brave enough to drop the packed box from 4 feet...it might not be packed well enough. If you aren't brave enough to actually do it...just imagine it, and go from there. On a side note....if you have good packing....why not leave the tubes in there...all nestled and cozy INSIDE the amp? I have shipped and received a number of amps with tubes safely installed inside....but then nthe amps were alwsy packed well too. I think that one is six of on, half dozen of the other...but I'm not a pro amp builder/shipper either so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NoodleFace Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 Good tips! I have found the WORST offense to be the "found an old box in the dumpster" thing. A brand new fresh box will do wonders for you packing. Also...protective corners are crucial. The other crucial aspect: If you aren't brave enough to drop the packed box from 4 feet...it might not be packed well enough. If you aren't brave enough to actually do it...just imagine it, and go from there. On a side note....if you have good packing....why not leave the tubes in there...all nestled and cozy INSIDE the amp? I have shipped and received a number of amps with tubes safely installed inside....but then nthe amps were alwsy packed well too. I think that one is six of on, half dozen of the other...but I'm not a pro amp builder/shipper either so... I haven't had a problem with tubes at all, however if a buyer specifically asks me to wrap them up then I do. Also about the 4 feet thing... last week at fedex the woman at the counter just pulled my box and let it fall off the counter because it was "too heavy". I cringed really.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scottcrud Posted January 9, 2008 Members Share Posted January 9, 2008 The problem with leaving your tubes in is all the jolts and bumps and drops. Next time you get amp amp shipped to you with tubes in it, pull them and hold them up to your ear and shake them, see if anything is rattling around, if there's rattle chances are that tube is no good or won't be for long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mhenson42 Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 The problem with leaving your tubes in is all the jolts and bumps and drops. Next time you get amp amp shipped to you with tubes in it, pull them and hold them up to your ear and shake them, see if anything is rattling around, if there's rattle chances are that tube is no good or won't be for long. It seems to me that the tubes would experience the same jolts, bumps and drops regardless of whether they were pulled or not. Most amps are shipped with them in by the manufacturers. I pull them if they slide out easy. If they are tight, I leave them in. No question it is safest to pull them and wrap them though. The amp I just shipped has things that hold both the pre and power tubes in place - so I didn't pull them as there is little risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JamesPeters Posted January 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 Tubes will suffer less of the jolts if they're inside the headshell but wrapped in bubble wrap instead of sitting in the sockets. The amp head itself is rigid and if it gets any impact, it transfers straight to the tubes. Having the tubes packed within makes it less likely they'll get that sort of jolt, and since they're the most fragile thing about the amp by far it's worth the extra minute or two it takes to do this. New tubes fail too often as it is; I'm not going to push my luck. They don't cost $1 each after all.Oh and in the case of this amp, since it was slammed around so hard the guide pins snapped off inside the amp as the tubes bent over. Glass also went inside. So even with good retainers, nothing is stopping the tubes from going sideways in a strong impact, which could break off the guide pins. I heard there is a clause that if you ship through UPS or FedEx and it isn't in the original box or prepared by them, then the insurance bought for the shipping will be null and void. Thus if it gets damaged the insurance won't even cover it. Anyone else here this clause? Cole Well the "UPS Store" isn't UPS; they're third-party operators with franchises that hand packages off to UPS. If they pack it and do a poor job--such as the case of this amp I had to repair yesterday/today--it's a case of UPS trying to cover their asses as well as that of the UPS Store, or it becomes the worst case of "he said/she said" you can imagine since there's a third party in the middle. If you take a package to the actual UPS depot and they pack it for you (which I don't even know if that's an option), that I might trust. But some dork at the UPS Store who throws a $2000, 40 lb amp in the middle of a flimsy box with 6" of space all around and just shoots a bunch of peanuts into it...you know that's not the kind of thing UPS would stand behind in terms of a packing job. And even if they did, then it's a matter of an insurance claim, and about what they think the actual replacement value of the item is; you can insure the amp for $10,000 but they're never going to give you that no matter how much it's their fault the amp is damaged or missing. Getting to the point of an insurance claim is something you don't want to do.So it still makes the most sense to pack the amp to the best of your ability, and rely more on your packing job than insurance or the word of some UPS Store employee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Procreatur Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 Why is the guy at the UPS store a jackass? if you'd dealt with him, you'd know he is a jackass. decent businessman, but still a jack ass. i brought a speaker to ship to him, in it's original box, with the proper support for the basket that it came in from weber. he removed it, set the speaker in a box, and proceeded to fill it with packing peanuts. if you know what pulling packing peanuts from the inside of a speaker frame is like then you would understand that this guy is pure jack ass. i also had the tubes packed and shipped seperately, FWIW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve f Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 If you're going to be shipping more than one amp, go ahead and get a 24" wide roll of bubble wrap with the large bubbles from ULINE. The styrofoam peanuts are ok if you're going to double box and you use them to surround the smaller box. The trick is you have to use a lot of them and keep shaking the boxes to get them to settle. It's expensive and time consuming to box up amps and other heavy electronics, and most people don't want to bother. I worry a lot more on ebay transactions about getting damaged goods from someone who won't pack correctly than from getting scammed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JamesPeters Posted January 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 Also, it is well to note that it is not always the fault of the shipper when an amp shows up damaged. Sometimes UPS (or whoever) simply throws the thing around and {censored}s it up. They could throw my amp boxes around quite a lot, intentionally or otherwise, and cause no damage to the amps. I plan around this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fr0sty Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 Here's a bump, because of the amp I received yesterday that looked destroyed...I was going to ask what horrible tragedy prompted this post. Now we know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JamesPeters Posted January 10, 2008 Author Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 I was going to ask what horrible tragedy prompted this post. Now we know The UPS Store has packed amps horribly for a few people shipping amps to me. It was going to happen eventually (an amp being smashed) and I figured sooner than later. I was right. Fortunately the cosmetic damage of this amp was such that I could repair it without making a new enclosure, and I could re-seat the transformers properly...hammer the chassis back into shape (one of the mounting hole areas under the chassis), and replace the tubes. If it were a customer receiving the amp this way, they'd have had a heart attack. Considering how I build my amps, this sort of damage was severe. I can't even imagine the force it took to do this to the amp. But with the packing job failing like this, some damage was expected anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve f Posted January 10, 2008 Members Share Posted January 10, 2008 I'm going to add one more thing that I've had personal experience with. If there are labor problems at a shipping company, use someone else. About 6 or 7 years ago UPS and the Union representing the workers were having major problems with negotiations. There was a lot of angry talk going back and forth, etc and eventually a strike. I had a lot of vintage stereo equipment that I shipped and also some that I bought damaged. I had even double-boxed some of it, and it still ended up broken. The damage on some of it had to be intentional, the stuff that was double boxed would have had to have been dropped from many feet onto a concrete floor. Shipping problems aren't specific to one company usually, but if there's labor problems and strike talk, I'd steer clear of that particular company. In the case of UPS, they were self-insured at the time (may still be) and any damages they paid came straight of their pocket, so it was probably just payback on the part of some of the workers (and I'll also say that the Forest Park (Atlanta) warehouse that serviced my area was pretty lousy anyway as far as the workers and their attitude, even before the labor problems). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KsE fan Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 Does anyone have any pictures of how they pack, say an amp head? Someone said they did but can someone post pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fatfat Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 Does anyone have any pictures of how they pack, say an amp head? Someone said they did but can someone post pics?first i wrap it in plastic and bubble wrap..then i put in into the original box if i have it with original packaging and corner protectors...EX:bubble wrap and plastic with original corners.then i fill all the spaces with peanuts ( also original to how it was when i recieved it.then tape up the box and ship her off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tetaJ Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 i hope someone who has gotten an amp from me shines in. This is what i do: I use the foam corners, i wrap the whole amp in bubble cushion and then i also use 7 or 8 bubble cushions but rolled and attached to the amp so the amp inside the box will be floating inside of it. When possible, after all of this is done, i double box the amp! The only way they are going to do some damage to the amp is if they throw it form a plane. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members murdock Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 i dont need pointers, im a proim shipping grand pianos in boxes now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phyrexia Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 If you reuse your original box, every major shipper can void your insurance claim. Once a box has been shipped they won't reship it and insure it. Styrofoam or what have you on the inside of the box is ok. This is just what UPS, Fedex, and USPS has told me in the last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 If you reuse your original box, every major shipper can void your insurance claim. Once a box has been shipped they won't reship it and insure it. Styrofoam or what have you on the inside of the box is ok. This is just what UPS, Fedex, and USPS has told me in the last year.if you check the website UPS can void your claim if you do not use the original box and packing supplies.Fedex told me the same thing last time i shipped a amp.They are suppose to open it up and inspect it if you use anything other than the original stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phyrexia Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 if you check the website UPS can void your claim if you do not use the original box and packing supplies. really? link me. i will print out and take to my local UPS guys and bitch at them. except I owe them $300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve f Posted February 8, 2009 Members Share Posted February 8, 2009 Here are some very important pointers:- If you don't have the amp's original box and foam corners, find an appropriate sized box or don't ship the amp until you find one....You want wo inches of space between the amp and the outer wall of the package, or slightly more, but not very much more. . Glad someone pointed out the problems with using oversized boxes. I've seen posts fairly regularly saying to get a box with 6 inches of space on each size. This would make for a huge box, especially on really long amps like some of the Marshalls, you would basically be adding a foot to the length, width and depth of the amp. If you buy and sell amps, and ship regularly, it's worth it to go out to Uline or some similar place and bite the bullet and get some 24" wide bubble wrap, it's much easier to use than the regular 12" wide stuff you find at most stores. Use several layers. If you use the proper amount of bubble wrap, you won't have that much leftover room in the box. One other thing. If you do use styrofoam peanuts for anything at all, make sure you wrap whatever you're shipping up tight to prevent the bits of styrofoam from getting in. Use a a garbage bag if you have to. I've had some very expensive gear arrive with bits of styrofoam from the peanuts jammed into every crevice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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