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Safe to Ship a Heavy Cabinet ?

#41
I ordered a 15" combo from Guitar Center that said the shipping weight was 63lbs. When it arrived the box was way bigger than the amp but the amp was wrapped in about 8 inches of bubble wrap on all sides with additional large air bladders and wadded up paper. Amp had not one scratch anywhere. Packing was more the adequate in my opinion. I may have just been lucky also.
 
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#43
ZZ Sounds. Easy pay plan, no credit check. Divides payment in 4,6,8 and 12 months. Ships out same day if ordered before 5:00pm Eastern time. The factory boxes look to be shipped on pallets, not sure how well they would make it through THAT mess. Unless it's heavy enough to be diverted and mishandled another way. Buy I do know it gets rough on a person to lift and move hundreds of boxes a day, so no hate, only concern for that coveted Ampeg. LOL

They say if it arrives damaged, they will issue a pickup order at their expense, and in many cases trust you and ship the replacement at the same time. Sounds pretty good. What really holding me up is being stuck in an apartment for a few more months. It's gonna drive me nuts to have that sitting on top of my BSE15T and not being able to crank it.
 
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#45
I just received a vintage Ampeg V4B (2x15" folded horn) bigger than an 810 fridge and about 50 lbs heavy. I had it shipped from Ontario, Canada to Tampa, FL. No issues, arrived fine. It was loaded on a pallet, covered in one layer of cardboard and plastic wrap. It took about 2 weeks to get to me.
 
#46
Bubble said:
Me. I bought a used Ampeg cabinet that had a "missing" caster wheel. I found after I got home the "missing" wheel must have been broken in a drop. There was some damage to the OSB cabinet bottom and the monster 15" (not Eminence) speaker inside had a bent frame and magnet that made an annoying buzz at medium and up volume. I ended up with a new replacement woofer and caster wheel, now the cab is in new condition for $125 total, $50 for the cab and $75 for then new woofer.

There I learned what sort of materials I want in a cabinet. At least Birch plywood baffle (at least baffle) and something like Eminence Double-T or BassLite speakers. Then I would not have to ask about shipping worries.
I asked Ampeg about this cabinet and they weren't happy about that design either, an oldie BSE115T. Sounds great, very loud but a bad choice of woofer and cabinet material. The OSB must be great for sonics but not so good for being bumped around. I see they are using Birch plywood on at least some cabinets, I don't know which all ones. I'll trade a little acoustic quality for the strength of laminated plywood on the bigger stuff.
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FTR, Ampeg hasn't used OSB in their cabs for 11 years.

Anyway, I've had two Heritage 810e's shipped to me freight, and both arrived in perfect health.
 
#48
I've had a couple brand new cabs get pretty banged up on their way to me.

I've also shipped a whole bunch of brand new cabs I've built. Maybe 5 incurred damage that required sending em back. On a couple, the boxes looked like they'd been thrown down a flight of stairs!

Pretty rare, but it ain't like it never happens :/
BadExample said:
Has anyone received a speaker properly mounted in a cab that had a damaged frame (basket), yet the cab was not damaged?
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#49
In most likelihood a cab shipped to a local store came with a group of them loaded on a pallet, unloaded on the pallet with a hand truck, off the delivery truck, pulled inside, and moderately set on the ground. From there a trunk monkey has a chance to toss it and get the world back.

fhm555 said:
Keep in mind the cab you obtain locally was shipped to whoever you aregetting it from.
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#50
Considering all, I'll probably wait until I move into a single resident home and get a new one locally. I have to play through headphones in this apartment, so I will wait until then.
My apologies to internet order sites for worrying people but I just had to know what the chances are, especially after damage the used amp bought locally had. Any time it gets moved for any reason, that situation exists.
Except maybe if 15" and up, something like BassLites would greatly reduce that change of similar damage to what mine was.
 
#51
I just received a used bass from M123. It was in its case with no extra packing inside and then the case was placed inside an oversized bass box with no packing to keep it from flopping around. The box was accordianed all around but luckily, and miraculously, both the case and its contents were unscathed. But that's with the shippers packing, not factory boxed. I've received instruments from Sweetwater and Wildwood that were packed so well that it was a chore to get to the prize. It depends on the shipper. If its a new cab, hopefully it will still be in the original packaging, which should be ok. I'd be worried otherwise.
 
#52
Relsom said:
I just received a used bass from M123. It was in its case with no extra packing inside and then the case was placed inside an oversized bass box with no packing to keep it from flopping around. The box was accordianed all around but luckily, and miraculously, both the case and its contents were unscathed. But that's with the shippers packing, not factory boxed. I've received instruments from Sweetwater and Wildwood that were packed so well that it was a chore to get to the prize. It depends on the shipper. If its a new cab, hopefully it will still be in the original packaging, which should be ok. I'd be worried otherwise.
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I bought 2 used basses from Guitar Center that we're packed like yours from Sweetwater. They were shipped from different stores so I wonder if they have a company policy on how they pack their instruments,etc. They were packed exactly the same.
 
#54
Bubble said:
I'm looking at a good deal from an internet music company but I saw a thing on TV that showed boxes in a shipping terminal. The boxes were rolling, tumbling, getting dropped, stacks piling up at the conveyor ends, and people who have picked up hundreds of boxes that day, just tossing it on another conveyor.
Then they said it is up to the shipper to anticipate this rough handling and pack accordingly.

The option is to take a less inviting price and get it local, handled mainly on skids or pallets, in a bundle and much better treated.

How well is that shipped cabinet or combo amp arriving ?
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Hey, there is always going to be damage done by any type of transport. Thing is, people who receive the shipment in a mint state don't usually feel the rush to publish on every corner of internet how their shipment got delivered in one piece. OTOH people who get unlucky with it do most of the time.

#statistics
 
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#55
Bubble said:
Considering all, I'll probably wait until I move into a single resident home and get a new one locally. I have to play through headphones in this apartment, so I will wait until then.
My apologies to internet order sites for worrying people but I just had to know what the chances are, especially after damage the used amp bought locally had. Any time it gets moved for any reason, that situation exists.
Except maybe if 15" and up, something like BassLites would greatly reduce that change of similar damage to what mine was.
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If you decide to pull the trigger, check sweetwater, they have the same price as ZZ and pack everything very well. You also get a sack of candy with your order.
 
#56
Bubble said:
In most likelihood a cab shipped to a local store came with a group of them loaded on a pallet, unloaded on the pallet with a hand truck, off the delivery truck, pulled inside, and moderately set on the ground. From there a trunk monkey has a chance to toss it and get the world back.
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I'm not so sure that would be a most likely scenario unless you were dealing with a retailer who did a tremendous volume of business. Having spent a lot if time in a largish, pretty busy music store, most of the stuff i saw delivered there came out of a UPS truck, including big bulky and heavy items, even if multiples of a single item were being delivered.

It was pretty much the same at a friend's high end stereo shop, everything came UPS, FedEx, or USPS.

It's worth noting that neither place had a loading dock for a big truck and outside of food service deliveries, it's rare to see big trucks deliver to places without a loading dock.
 
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#57
Bubble said:
In most likelihood a cab shipped to a local store came with a group of them loaded on a pallet, unloaded on the pallet with a hand truck, off the delivery truck, pulled inside, and moderately set on the ground. From there a trunk monkey has a chance to toss it and get the world back.
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These days the manufacturers have to deal with the reality that many if not most of their products will be re-shipped to the end user. IMHO it's on them to package their products accordingly. And many do, in my experience.
 
#58
The best factory boxed 810 was a Laney Nexus.
Boxed to be shipped around the world.
Previously had received an Ampeg and Peavey 810's. All made it fine but I was surprised at how little packing was used for such a large, heavy, and somewhat expensive cabinet.
I called Laney and told the guy that I wanted to congratulate the shipping dept. on the great job.
He didn't seem as impressed as me. He said "that's good, how does it sound?"
 
#60
Bubble said:
I figured GC would order enough to get volume discount and cheaper shipping. At least a few skids of 4x10's etc. I have seen lots of trucks unload pallets at stores but just assumed GC orders bulk.
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Around here it would be surprising if the GCs stocked more than one or two new 410s of any ilk.
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