alanwaston wrote:I'd never order a guitar to be shipped to me during the bitter cold months of winter. I just can't imagine being in a UPS or Fedex truck for 3 days of -0 temps would be good for it. I'm wondering about ordering electronic gear, especially something like an amp during winter for the same reason. It seems bitter cold would be hard on solders, tubes, diodes etc., getting cold and brittle and not being handled with kid gloves as we know how UPS and Fedex handle things. Any thoughts or experiences?
90% of all electronic gear I buy is through the mail. When the equipment arrives I;
1. let the box set unopened at room temp for at least 24 hours.
2. remove the equipment from the box and let it set for another 24 hours
3. the first time I plug it in, it sits for at least 10 min before I turn it on "let the power transformer warm up"
4. turn on the equipment and let sit for another 10 min to warm up the transistors,diodes, compacitors ect.
5. look for smoke or any kind of noise coming from the equipment.
My number one rule "for me" is never buy a stringed instrument through the mail.........never.
so
by doing this I have been very lucky with electronics through the mail "even my 4k STAX electrostatic headphones"
edit;
Anything that I have that is solid state "none tube" very rarely ever gets turned off. When electronic equipment heats up and cools down a thing happens inside the box that is called "water condensation"...........and that's bad.
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