shar-vell Dan
Well-known member
All 90 lbs of them lol. Try carrying a Twin up & down 3 flights of stairs w/o yer shoulder separating.
Why so much bad luck with recieving amps?
- Thread starter SteveGlitch
- Start date
MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
This seems like a troll thread. Next the OP will say it's inevitable and thieves exercising their right to take stuff off your porch. It's your fault for having a porch and the shipper's fault for packing stuff in a flashy and enticing brown cardboard box.
Sure, whatever you say
Seems like members are enjoying sharing their experiences whether goodbor bad, let's not make this about me....
Last edited:
RedB4Black
Well-known member
I believe most cases of damage is the fault of poor packaging. I’m very hesitant to buy used because I’m convinced most people don’t know how to properly pack an amp. Most amps I’ve received have had subpar packaging . Even brand new amps Ive gotten have had shitty packaging… but at least those can be returned without hassle. Ive shipped over 100 amps all over the world and have zero damage issues, because I pack them properly with the assumption that it’ll be tossed around by shipping gorillas. People who buy from me appreciate the care I take in packaging.
SBlue
Well-known member
Shipping a piece of gear poorly packed, and blaming the carrier for damaging it, is the same as walking around at a high crime area waving $100 bills and blaming the thieves there for robbing you.
I've shipped, on my own, hundreds of pieces, including fragile amps, like a 59 high power twin, many 60's AC30, way too many original plexis, plenty of vintage Gibson guitars, since 1999, and have zero(knock on wood), none ever, piece of gear arriving damaged at the buyers house.
I've also worked for the Vintage Department at GC in Hollywood for 10 years, and during that whole time, I was the only person packing anything from the Vintage Dept that cost more than $5k. I've probably packed close to, if not more than a thousand guitars/amps, during the 10 years that I was there. Zero pieces damaged. None.
Now, I've received plenty of damaged amps and guitars that I've bought, and were packed by either music store of private party. Shitty and absolute clueless packing job. And when I've contacted the sender, the absolute majority replied with the same answer "But I've done a great job packing". Which shows me right away the person is not only clueless about how to properly packing an item, but also stubborn.
EVERYBODY knows how poorly every carrier treats their packages, still, people insist on sending an item poorly packed and expect it to arrive in perfect condition.
If the carriers would move every single package they get as if they were moving their recent born child, most likely all the shitty packing would have a close to 100% survival. Until then, I can only wish good luck to those who pack their outgoing gear poorly. And a lot of luck.
I've shipped, on my own, hundreds of pieces, including fragile amps, like a 59 high power twin, many 60's AC30, way too many original plexis, plenty of vintage Gibson guitars, since 1999, and have zero(knock on wood), none ever, piece of gear arriving damaged at the buyers house.
I've also worked for the Vintage Department at GC in Hollywood for 10 years, and during that whole time, I was the only person packing anything from the Vintage Dept that cost more than $5k. I've probably packed close to, if not more than a thousand guitars/amps, during the 10 years that I was there. Zero pieces damaged. None.
Now, I've received plenty of damaged amps and guitars that I've bought, and were packed by either music store of private party. Shitty and absolute clueless packing job. And when I've contacted the sender, the absolute majority replied with the same answer "But I've done a great job packing". Which shows me right away the person is not only clueless about how to properly packing an item, but also stubborn.
EVERYBODY knows how poorly every carrier treats their packages, still, people insist on sending an item poorly packed and expect it to arrive in perfect condition.
If the carriers would move every single package they get as if they were moving their recent born child, most likely all the shitty packing would have a close to 100% survival. Until then, I can only wish good luck to those who pack their outgoing gear poorly. And a lot of luck.
Racerxrated
Well-known member
I've honestly had hundreds of amps, cabs, and guitars along with pedals shipped from them in the last 12 years or so and only a handful of things have shown up F'd up, to be honest. The one common denominator though was Florida...almost every one that ended up damaged came out of a Florida store. Last one, 2 years ago was a mint 1960 AC cab.... out of Miami....that was shipped freight, so they put it on a pallet and shipped by semi..lol....and, when it got here it was on a pallet with NO packing, just plastic wrap around it and the pallet. Tolex was all torn up.
Other than that, just a few tubes here and there in amps, most of which were newer JJs that were destined to be pulled anyway.
Racerxrated
Well-known member
Jakem
Well-known member
I have always packed the amp heads/rack poweramps/rack preamps inside multiple multiple rounds of bubble wrap and after that a tightly fitting cardboard box around it which is taped round and round multiple times. After that I wrap the cardboard box inside multiple rounds of bubble wrap and place it inside a larger cardboard box which I foam with newspapers etc. The inner box is padded additionally inside the outer box so that it absorbs the hits and shocks. This has worked very well so far. It is costly and very time consuming but it is easier to do the job myself than to fight insurance fights with a shipping company. A guy who bought my TSL100 called me after unpacking it a while and laughed wondering if he’ll ever find an amp inside the box. 
Guitar Center/Musiciansfriend.com (Same company with different names), AMS, Sweetwater, CME, ZZsounds all ship carefully by double boxing with extra padding at no extra charge. Never had an issue with any of those. However, I did request the extra puffing from each every company and so that adamance may matter? Even so, I've yet to have a bad experience which is why I'm not worried about the Fender Pano Verb getting shipped across the country to me lol
Of course nor doubting others experiences, I've seen the pics. It's horrid. Guess location and travel distance plays a huge role too. Who lives in a bad part of the hood? Lol
technomancer
Well-known member
Irony: one of the only amps I've ever had damaged WAS shipped in a flight case
How????
technomancer
Well-known member
It apparently took enough of a shot that it dislodged components.
311splawndude
Well-known member
Hey now. That's not nice. He's still new here. He doesn't realize we talk about shipping issues 4 or 5 times a year
MadAsAHatter
Well-known member
Hey now. That's not nice. He's still new here. He doesn't realize we talk about shipping issues 4 or 5 times a year
4-5 times a year seems like a low estimate. I'd wager at least 10. LOL!
And when has it been policy to be nice to new members? If that's the case some people around here owe me an explanation for having to send daily nudes when I first joined.
I've known 2 individuals who worked at ups hubs, not all are like this but they both worked in a very 'high yeet environment'. Sometimes your stuff will be intentionally and happily broken, so until you've seen it don't blame your average person for what they thought was a reasonable pack job..
When you do pack something though, think of the dumbest, weakest, least-caring, most obnoxious person you've met and pack accordingly.
When you do pack something though, think of the dumbest, weakest, least-caring, most obnoxious person you've met and pack accordingly.
It's hard for me to visualize, I constantly have gear coming in, pedals, pedalboards, amps, guitars - literally hundreds of product within a year... nothing has ever arrived broken or even slightly damaged, I'm not saying it doesn't happen. Just didn't think the issue would be this prominent. Then again, it's a forum, maybe it just seems more of a common problem because people on forums are more vocal than all those not
CliffHydro
Member
Normally I’d agree with this…. But the last two big amps I bought from GC were packed bombproof. Bogner Helios 50 and a Friedman BE100 Deluxe. I couldn’t believe the amount of bubble wrap the BE came packed in. The UPS driver could’ve thrown it out the truck door without stopping and it would’ve bounced to my front porch. It was ridiculous. Took me 15 minutes to unwrap it. lol. Photo of the bubble wrap:
This is how I've recieeved from GC as well... that's why it's hard for me to picture stuff.