Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

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sidewinder
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Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by sidewinder »

I see a lot of TradeMe sellers not wanting to ship amps due to loss or damage.

Surely they ship them halfway round the bloody world to get them to NZ. Is it just because in that case the valves aren't plugged in?

Anyone had any bad experiences shipping amps?

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by calling card »

No, all safe arrivals. Except there was this time I bought a Jansen organ and it survived what looked like a fall out of a mainfreight truck.
I suppose what scares me is those larger kind of freighters stop often at companies and every munter and his dog who drives a forklift forks out their item. Your box of amp may get forked.
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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by sizzlingbadger »

Never had an issue so far.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by Molly »

Fingers crossed, no issues and I've sent a load of them. Helps that I pack things properly though:
https://goo.gl/photos/9H2XeBTQHe8AaHxQ6

I had an amp sent to me recently that was just wrapped in an old curtain.

Helps to insist on depot-to-depot too. Less handling.

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by NippleWrestler »

I received an amp last week that was literally wrapped in 1 layer of cling film. Works great!

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by codedog »

I assume you're referring to valve amps? I had an SS amp shipped from North Island with only a square cardboard patch covering the speaker grill. That's it... nothing else.

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by Kris »

sidewinder wrote: Surely they ship them halfway round the bloody world to get them to NZ. Is it just because in that case the valves aren't plugged in?
thats the line i give people all the time.As molly said the less time someone has to move it the better.Airport baggage handlers,theres a whole new level of hell.

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by null_pointer »

I think a lot of those people just can't be arsed packing an amp well for shipping so opt out.

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by TmcB »

Not an amp, but I had a semi-hollow body guitar sent to me wrapped only in newspaper - that was fun.

Amps seem fine. I've only ever had one power tube damaged in transit - it was in an SVT so probably can forgive anyone dropping it.
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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by Molly »

null_pointer wrote:I think a lot of those people just can't be arsed packing an amp well for shipping so opt out.
And I guess if you live in Auckland you've a decent enough chance of selling it locally so needn't worry about the plebs in the provinces.

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by null_pointer »

Molly wrote:
null_pointer wrote:I think a lot of those people just can't be arsed packing an amp well for shipping so opt out.
And I guess if you live in Auckland you've a decent enough chance of selling it locally so needn't worry about the plebs in the provinces.
Or as I like to refer to it 'The Other Side of the World'

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by sizzlingbadger »

I just wrap amps in cardboard (or suitable box) with a layer of bubble wrap to protect them. I think its better to leave the valves in place and not put anything around them, they aren't likely to go anywhere so probably safer then having them knocking about inside a box somewhere. It also avoids fuckwitts plugging the valves back in to the wrong sockets of damaging the pins while doing so. They are shipped from the factory like this after all.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Anyone had an amp die during shipping?

Post by Dharmajester »

Molly wrote:
null_pointer wrote:I think a lot of those people just can't be arsed packing an amp well for shipping so opt out.
And I guess if you live in Auckland you've a decent enough chance of selling it locally so needn't worry about the plebs in the provinces.
Agree with both those points however I've heard a few horror stories from music store owners so I guess it's down to volume and percentages in the end
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