For what it's worth, I was the guy that posted over on GAB (Marshallkiller) stating what happened.
Dave was right about it being a rush order thing before I knew of it being a rush order thing. Regardless of that, there was nothing going on through out my entire dealing with Dave that ever made me feel wary. To me it was just an unusual request.
In fact, my amp arrived at Dave's on Friday. So this is my second time doing business with him.
To reiterate, I wasn't happy about what I posted (on GAB) as I let my fingers act before my brain could catch up. Dave and I have talked at length since that post and I have renewed confidence in TM/Dave F. I'll definitely be doing business with Dave in the future outside of mods.
As far as the cash is concerned, I was more afraid of losing my money if my amp were lost/stolen in transit on top of losing my amp.