UPS killed my Archon

[mudf00t]

Received my Archon yesterday.

Noticed something odd when I took it our of the box.

Took it out of the plastic to get a better look and the front logo plate fell right off.

I feel ya bro.

 

[drewiv]

That sucks. I've had this happen to two well-packed amps, but it was FedEx that killed mine. Good luck...

 

[Riggins1966]

holy shit, that's awful! mojo bro...

 

[John4021]

Wholy Phuck.
Did you buy it new.....I hope

 

[gtr31]

Sorry dude that sucks
There seems to be no safe way to ship anymore
I sent my peters GNL fed ex last year in original packing
And they broke fuse holders and fuses
Cost I paid was 130 to get it fixed and the amp inspected
Fed ex denied claim
Seems to be a lot more of this lately

 

[thiswaythatway]

UPS fucking sucks. An AX8 and now an Archon in the same week.

 

[gtrplr71]

oh shit. that is awful. is the headshell damaged at all?

 

[mudf00t]

Wholy Phuck.
Did you buy it new.....I hope

Yes, they are going to exchange but still...............

 

[cecilbag]

Damn that's a bad one. Hope it gets resolved

 

[SpiderWars]

If you shipped it back there's 50:50 chance they would drop it on the other side and straighten the trannies back out.

Glad it's being resolved.

 

[jc986]

Wow that sucks to see. Glad it is being worked out though.

 

[sleewell2]

that is terrible

 

[megaboogie]

Must have been a real hard drop... hope the seller will fix the problem in no time.

 

[7 Stringer]

face plate falling off, that sucks, to short screws??

But the trannies, i have had that happen and it's no biggie. The plates holding these are super thin, i almost bent them back by hand, it does not take a big hit to bend these. They are very top heavy so just a little drop on it's side and bam, there they go.

But it sucks when it happens, especially on a brand new amp

 

[rsm]

Wow!

 

[Rising Farce]

This is interesting indeed. I bought a used Archon online from Guitar Center, and it showed up with similarly (though not quite as seriously) bent transformers. The amp sounded great and worked perfectly, but fearing reduced resale value, I nevertheless returned it my local GC store. It would appear that they simply bent the trannies back into place and put it back up for sale, as it was on their site last I checked.

I wonder if the Archon's transformer-mounting tabs are especially thin, as I've never had this happen on another amp--even one that was dropped hard enough to completely break apart the head box.

 

[baron55]

the OT is a Magnetics Components off the shelf Marshall replacement as indicated by the data code in the pics. They are not unusually thin. But looks like they were not mounted with a large Fender washer which will help prevent that bending in most but extreme cases. That being said, Magnetic components does offer heavy duty transformer braces which almost guarantee that won't happen.

 

[RedPlated]

I agree the tranny mounting plate being bent is no big deal. I've seen it on a Friedman SS100 I had for a few days. Same thing happened in shipping. I unscrewed the tranny, straightened the mounting tabs and screwed it back down. Took about 10 minutes and was back to normal.

As far as the front trim, are the screws stripped out of it or something? I'm not sure how those are even attached.

 

[LanierP]

I had the same bent tranny's issue with a Suhr SL-68 I bought used from a real bozo on Reverb. The guy packed the amp in a box that only opened at one end. The UPS label was on the same end that the box opened too. I watched the UPS driver pull up, take my box out up on end, and lug it up to my front door up on end still. Who knows how many times the the shit tipped over during its travels. When I opened the box, the amp had the face plate stripped out just like yours, transformers were bend hard to starboard, and most the tubes were busted. The kicker was the single 24" piece of bubble wrap around the amps midsection. No foam corners or anything else inside. I sent it back and got refunded, but I know the guy didn't stand a chance with a claim.
I feel for ya brother. Best of luck with round 2. The Archon is a great amp. Hope the new replacement arrives safe and sound.

 

[PBGas]

Oh man....sorry to see that. Let's hope the replacement arrives safe and sound! Good luck!