Name:    Steve Kennedy
Email:   steve@pacair.com  
Subject: Packaging Amplifiers for Shipment
Thread:  183
Time:    Thu, 4 Oct 2001 19:15:01 UTC

I have shipped a few amps and have been on the receiving end of quite a few poor packaging jobs.


Here is how I would package it:


1. Start with a heavy-duty box at least 4 inches larger than the amplifier's outside dimensions on all sides.


2. Remove all tubes and carefully package them in bubblewrap and box them separately.


3. Make a cardboard shield to protect the speakers (lightweight cardboard like a Fed-Ex or Priority Mail box works well) and install it inside the amp. The idea is to prevent the box with the tubes in it, the footswitch, the caster wheels and the line cord from punching holes in your speaker cones during shipment. These items will be packed inside the rear of the combo on the OUTSIDE of this cardboard speaker shield.


4. Wrap the footswitch, caster wheels and line cord in bubblewrap and tape them up so they cannot become loose. Pack them carefully inside the back of the combo amp, using additional bubblewrap and tape to make sure they won't go anywhere.


5. Using more lightweight cardboard, make another shield that will bend over the top of the amp and come down the front enough to protect the control panel. Tape this into place long enough to complete step 6.


6. Wrap the amplifier itself in large-cell bubblewrap... at least 3 layers of it around the front and back, then another 3 layers side to side. Just place the bubblewrap on the floor and "roll" the amp carefully until the desired number of layers are applied. Tape this up.


7. The amp should now be about the same size as the interior of your box. Turn the amp UPSIDE DOWN and insert it into your box (this puts all the heavy transformers at the bottom which makes the box stable by lowering the center of gravity and also makes it easier to carry).


8. Fill the remianing airspace (if any) inside the box with MORE bubblewrap until the amplifier is essentially suspended in a sea of air bubbles and cannot move within the box at all! DO NOT USE FOAM PEANUTS FOR PACKAGING OR FILLER WHEN SHIPPING AN AMP! (Foam peanuts simply crush under the weight and aren't designed for this type of application.)


9. Tape it up, address it and ship it. ALWAYS insure for replacement value. Ship it by air if cross country (and if you can afford it). "Local" shipments within 500-600 miles can go ground.


Shipping by air helps minimize the exposure to handling and being vibrated to death in the back of a truck for a week or more. However, if packed like I've outlined above it should survive even a rough 3000 miles in a truck over a week's time).


I have NEVER had an amp damaged in any way when packaged like this. It may seem like overkill to some, but I prefer to put in a little effort and thought to insure that it will arrive in as good a shape as it was in when I packed it.


You are helping NO ONE by trying to save time, effort and money by gambling that a poor packaging job will be OK. Would you want the other party to do any less for you?


Steve