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Broken Gear You Don't Need


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Hey there fellas...

 

Just wondering what you guys do about this. I have a bunch of gear I've accumulated over the years that is partially or totally broken. It's stuff that's not worth having fixed, or not taking the time for me to *learn* how to fix it myself. Yet it also seems terribly wasteful and environmentally unfriendly to just throw it in the garbage. I've considered an ad on Craigslist to give it away for free, provided that one person take all of it. Anyhow...

 

Examples:

 

- Yamaha TX81z I bought for sixty bucks, and then most of the buttons on the front crapped out. So I can still turn it on, and play the presets, but I can't edit anything nor go into multi-timbral mode.

 

- Korg MicroKontrol with a broken mod knob, and also doesn't turn on anymore.

 

- Half dozen volume pedals, from when I played organ in a rock band standing up. They all work, but they are really dirty when moved so they make all kinda noise. Several of these are those big, metal Boss pedal. I know there's a way to clean these out but, again, I don't need these pedals and it just is a waste of my precious time.

 

I think I have others but those are the best examples.

 

Thoughts?

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Nothing broken but you mentioned a TX81Z. I gave away mine 7 years ago.

 

Oh wait... now that I think about it, my EMU Vintage Pro has a flaky patch select/edit wheel. Haven't used it it ages--it erratically jumps from patch to patch when spinning the wheel. Very thin sounding thing, never really liked it. Hopelessly overrated.

 

Eeeesh. :mad:

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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I'm with you.

 

For throwing away things in general, I'm lucky to have found a recycle center a couple miles from my house. Old computers, motor oil, batteries, chemicals etc etc--you bring it in and place it all in different bins and pallets. Now, for all I know they just throw it all in a big dumpster again but I hope not!

 

I have a hard time even so with musical gear. It just feels "wrong"....like dumping an old friend! Music being emotional for most of us I guess is the reason. I have a Studiologic controller from the 90s that has a couple keys that don't work right....I tried to fix it by cleaning the contacts, and I fixed the bad keys only to cause the issue with four new keys! This thing plays really great, it has the TP-40 action...but bottom line it's taking up space that I could use.

 

The worst is spending money to try to fix gear that you think might be ok (if it had a new power supply, or a different weird cable that you had to order....). Especially when it's something that at best might sell for 50 bucks if at all (my old firewire mixer, looking at you!)

 

It's effort even to find people to give away broken gear and I don't really like random people coming to my house from Craigslist.

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Yeah I always wonder about stuff like this. If the only other option is the garbage, there may a be a tech in your area who would take them for parts or to refurb and resell themselves. There are one or two guys in my area I can imagine taking something like that for cheap or free if it repairs or disassembly were in their wheelhouse.

 

I have a similar quandary with my Roland VK-760. My Nord Electro put it out of business years ago; It's currently set up in one of my bands' rehearsal spaces, but I always bring the Nord anyway, since the Roland has a really touchy master volume knob that, if jostled the wrong way, mutes the whole board, plus the thing drifts out of tune like some kind of vintage analog synthesizer. You can adjust the fine tuning in the menu, but it's time consuming, and the pitch drift isn't consistent. Nothing like hitting a big screaming Hammond chord and realizing that what the board thinks is A=440 is about 40 cents sharp compared to the horn section!

 

But hey, I got the thing used for $500 in 2012, and the previous owner apparently dragged it around without a case. It had seen some action, for sure. I will say, I miss the pitch/mod joystick, and the little V-Control LED sensor that you could wave your hand over to change the Leslie speed -- one time another musician asked me if I was using The Force! :laugh:

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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Yeah, I never have Craigslist people come to my house. If possible I meet them at a public place. Like a few times, I've sold synths at a Starbucks; the trick is getting a table near an outlet. What's funny is none of the other Starbucks people thought our interaction was weird or anything. Folks just carried on as usual.

 

But if the item is expensive, then I'll have them come to my rehearsal studio, which is in a run down industrial complex, so it's sort of safe. If anything, THEY should be scared of me. ;)

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But if the item is expensive, then I'll have them come to my rehearsal studio, which is in a run down industrial complex, so it's sort of safe. If anything, THEY should be scared of me. ;)
When I bought my Wurlitzer, the seller took me to a storage space in the attic of an industrial building in Rochester, NY. My wife came with me but waited outside. As we got up there, I definitely felt that my kidnapping or murder was not entirely outside the realm of possibility...

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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But if the item is expensive, then I'll have them come to my rehearsal studio, which is in a run down industrial complex, so it's sort of safe. If anything, THEY should be scared of me. ;)
When I bought my Wurlitzer, the seller took me to a storage space in the attic of an industrial building in Rochester, NY. My wife came with me but waited outside. As we got up there, I definitely felt that my kidnapping or murder was not entirely outside the realm of possibility...

 

Yup, a bunch of times when I was a little weirded out, I'd bring a friend, have him wait in the car, and tell him "If I don't come out in fifteen minutes, call the cops."

 

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I have a Moog Source that makes a good wall hanging. Back in the 80's after a friend had a bunch of gear stollen I got an engraver and put my SSN on it. If not for that I would probably Ebay it. As it is, it remains under the guest bed where it has been for years.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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I have an Arp Omni II that doesn't power up sitting in the closet in my music room. I do believe it needs a power supply. I doubt it is worth fixing, I doubt I would get back what I would put into it if I sell it. Another dust collect. I also have some Yamaha equipment that I don't use anymore, I replaced it with lighter equipment. All my Yamaha equipment still works, but that stuff sure is heavy.

Yamaha Motif ES8, Alesis Ion, Prophet 5 Rev 3.2, 1979 Rhodes Mark 1 Suitcase 73 Piano, Arp Odyssey Md III, Roland R-70 Drum Machine, Digitech Vocalist Live Pro. Roland Boss Chorus Ensemble CE-1.

 

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I've got several rack mount fx units & an Akai sampler that bit the dust a few years ago. Not worth fixing any of them, plus I don't have any use for them these days. The Akai was a lot of fun and used it a lot, but I still have two ASR-10's if I get the urge to go down that road again. I've generally sold any bigger ticket items when I started getting a sense that the end was near and I might end up with a door stop.

 

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Similarly, I have a Voce Micro-B Mk II (with vc+Leslie) whose selector switch pooped out. I actually found the factory and got a replacement selector switch -- but my soldering effort apparently failed, and now it does nothing.

 

I was thinking of posting it on KC as "free for the shipping." I keep thinking someone else may be able to fix it easily.

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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I've got a Receptor with some nice VSTs on it which won't boot.

 

I was worried about this with mine so I purchased a replacement HD and cloned the Receptors drive to it as a backup.

 

Kurzweil Forte, Yamaha Motif ES7, Muse Receptor 2 Pro Max, Neo Ventilator
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Houston has a recycling center that takes "Electronics - computers, TVs, household electronics" and Environmental Service Centers that list "Computer Equipment and Components, Electrical Appliances (small), Electronic Scrap" and also says, "Residential electronic scrap items accepted for recycling include: Monitors, CPUs, Televisions, VCR/DVD/Blu-Ray players, Small Electrical Appliances, Stereo Equipment"

 

I would recommend looking for similar facilities near you if you have electronics that are unfixable. I have a pile of stuff I need to haul over to one of these. I hate putting anything in the garbage.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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I have an Arp Omni II that doesn't power up sitting in the closet in my music room. I do believe it needs a power supply. I doubt it is worth fixing, I doubt I would get back what I would put into it if I sell it. Another dust collect. I also have some Yamaha equipment that I don't use anymore, I replaced it with lighter equipment. All my Yamaha equipment still works, but that stuff sure is heavy.

 

An ARP Omni? Those are worth something; even broken you could likely sell that and get a bit of money.

 

Tangent, I had an ARP Omni as a teen (I bought it for a hundred bucks saving birthday cash etc). I loved it, the string sound was sweet, and the bass sound was killer. Of course, during a dumb phase I sold it to buy an amp. But that's a great keyboard. Also, you can put other keyboards on top of it!

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I have an Arp Omni II that doesn't power up sitting in the closet in my music room. I do believe it needs a power supply. I doubt it is worth fixing, I doubt I would get back what I would put into it if I sell it. Another dust collect. I also have some Yamaha equipment that I don't use anymore, I replaced it with lighter equipment. All my Yamaha equipment still works, but that stuff sure is heavy.

 

An ARP Omni? Those are worth something; even broken you could likely sell that and get a bit of money.

 

Tangent, I had an ARP Omni as a teen (I bought it for a hundred bucks saving birthday cash etc). I loved it, the string sound was sweet, and the bass sound was killer. Of course, during a dumb phase I sold it to buy an amp. But that's a great keyboard. Also, you can put other keyboards on top of it!

 

I've restored a few synths but restoring ARP Omni string machines is a labor of love. The power supplies require a complete replacement, the originals have a fault that can destroy ICs which is one reason why so many of them are dead. Other reasons why many are dead are the tantalum capacitors that have a history of going bad with age and there are over 50 to replace in there, and the early generation CMOS ICs that have a history of going bad. Plus those DAMNED slidepots that don't age well. Between all those parts and labor they require a lot of $$$ to restore. Omnis never had a respectable market value and while they sound good at what they do, they have limited appeal. And we haven't even talked about the $$$ for a MIDI interface to bring it into the 21st century! So Moe is right that he would not get back what he put into it if he sold it.

 

Twenty years ago a music store had a visit from a customer who wanted to sell his ARP Omni. The owner had stored it in its Anvil case in a DAMP BASEMENT for TWENTY YEARS. The store didn't want it so the owner basically dumped it there. The store owner knew me and offered to dump it on me. As I started work on restoration it quickly reached the point of diminishing returns as twenty years in a damp basement had put the thing beyond restoration by destroying anything made of metal (and probably the wires). The wood endcaps were reduced to the softness of balsa wood, I could easily impale a screwdriver right through them. I scavenged the thing for parts, which wasn't a lot. The switches, keycaps, and chorus ensemble effect circuit board went to other buyers long ago. I did keep the unpotted 4075 VCF module, which actually still works!

 

I know another store with a "vintage keyboard room" with seven dead or dying ARP Omnis and they want too much $$$ for them because they are "vintage".

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This thread is what I immediately think of when someone goes all goony over buying a 30+-year-old synth on ebay. I had a great tech who refused a few known instruments because they were so poorly constructed, "its not worth my time or their money. The repairs never hold." If a synth stays at home, properly cared for, it can last for decades, but how many go that route? I can easily understand Synth Luvâ¢, but entropy always wins in the end. KC denizens are well-seasoned about all of this, at least those of use who can remember "Lost In Space." I'm slightly hard-pressed to see why someone would wrestle with finding J-wires for a Prophet-5 when Dave's new instruments are rationally priced and so next-level. I know, its a special "tone" thing we often love, same as guitarists; my first poly was a P-5. I'm just happy to have gone through the various eras and wound up in good shape, in the box.

 

I hear Synthoid's complaint about that E-mu knob; it killed my beloved Planet Earth. I took up Digital Sound Factory's version and regained everything but those amazing arps a few layers below the surface demos. Those 80s sounds can be a bit dusty stylistically, but they were crisp when most non-Synclavier sounds were analog spectrum-hoggers. They're still useful, especially in combis with other instruments.

 "I want to be an intellectual, but I don't have the brainpower.
  The absent-mindedness, I've got that licked."
        ~ John Cleese

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Last month I finally moved out of my storage space hoarding...errm... "holding" old gear I never used. Why pay $150 a month to hold old stuff and spare keyboards, especially when my last 2 bands never practiced there anymore? My guitarist wasn't too happy to have to move his drumset and all his crap to another cubicle on his own, but I was tired of throwing away money.

 

So I tossed out the empty factory boxes, half-working MIDI controllers, etc, and moved what I could back home. Gave away a working Fusion 8 with a dim screen to my vocalist, so his son could learn on it. Finally tossed the VFX-SD I got for $200, the poly AT on it wasn't very good anyway.

 

But the clincher was the Alesis X-guitar that I tossed into the dumpster. I should have knocked on the door of that punk band that was playing and gave it to one of them. About a week later, there was talk of old stuff on GS, and just out of curiosity I looked on Ebay. There was one selling for $1000!.... woops

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Storage space is a money pit. You really need to consider your sentimental attachment to what you place in rented storage space. Everything stored exceeds its value quickly with the expense. These facilities know exactly what they are doing and who they are dealing with. They raise the monthly rates at a generally fast pace. Faster than the average renter can keep up. Even a temporary plan can be gouged before it is complete. In many cases you would be better off sifting out a few things to keep, donating/giving away some of it and taking everything else to a dump.
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...Yet it also seems terribly wasteful and environmentally unfriendly to just throw it in the garbage. I've considered an ad on Craigslist to give it away for free, provided that one person take all of it. Anyhow...

 

Thoughts?

 

Contact Sam at Syntaur or any other electronic music/synth repair center. Its at least worth a shot.

 

 

 

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The only thing I actually threw out in the recycling is a Korg MS2000. Bought it in 2000 for $750 and two years later it went all wonky with patch change strangeness and finally just crapped out. Took it to an authorized Korg dealer and they said the mobo had to be replaced. The board itself was $400 then add the labor. It just wasn't worth the repair. It wasn't well made and was always giving me static electricity shocks when no other piece of gear has EVER done that.

 

Still have my Polysix and last year replaced the IC30 chip as it wasn't storing patches; but that was a quick fix and she's fine now. I guess I've sold off old gear before they started having issues - recently my Kurzweil SP76 to our guitarist. I donated a second Kawai K4 to a school although the volume slider was always on full a volume pedal would mitigate that. Keeping my original K4 though.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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