Shipping a tube head

[buzzsaww]

wait guys, i have to put the tubes back in the radio before we can call the ship for some gun support. it'll be like 10 mins. we have all the boxes?

[Cleveland Metal]

Ehh... Most military stuff has shielding covers that hold the tubes in with springs.

I'n guilty of shipping tubes in place. Bt, I could see them falling out of the sockets and breaking.

[charvelguy]

If they're older mullards or such.. I'll definitely ask the tubes get pulled and individually wrapped.
Larger tubes too like 6550's or Kt66's.. the larger mass to pin makes it more likely to have that happen. There's no harm in it.. just a preference.

Besides... I'm not the military.. I don't have tube makers contracted to give me specially designed tubes in huge quantities... unfortunately.

[Cleveland Metal]

Big tubes never fall out when we're done installing them...

[fett]

:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: And sometimes you have to use the "Jaws of Life" to get them out of an old amp.

[emperor_black]

:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: And sometimes you have to use the "Jaws of Life" to get them out of an old amp.

especially if they are broken!

I've shipped out two tube amp combo's with the tubes on 'em and they were fine. They went from cali to Puetro rico once and to ohio on another. They turned out fine. How heavy is your engl? If its less than 50 lb, one solid cardboard box with lots of peanuts and bubble wrap is fine. Just make sure to insure. If more than 50 lbs, double box it. Dont forget "FRAGILE" all over the box!

[charvelguy]

I had a duncan 2x10 combo arrive with a split cab.. been a long time since I had that arrive so I don't recall the particulars about the packing but it never hurts to double box or at least reinforce the sides with additional sheets of cardboard.

[jackson1]

pulling tubes is bullshit, the force it would take to knock out or shatter the tubes would would severely damage the amp.

That's bullpull! Pull the tubes before shipping and pack 'em good. Why? I had a Peavey 50/50 shipped to me and it arrived in working shape, apart from this:

A light EL84 tube slammed right out of its socket:

[Shotgun]

I've done it twice, and each time I pulled the tubes and double boxed the heads with 4 - 6" of peanuts between the inner box and the outer box.

No problems either time (whew!).

Keith