how can they ask that much for a power supply?!
not really moog but hey.
anyone ever used a system 700?, they look REALLY nice.
i saw some footage of Pulp using one the other day, that was cool.
Thats insane! No one is ever gonna buy it at that price. should be more like $200.
yeah it really pissed me off when i saw it,
i usually scan the ebay prices and focus on the more expensive ones to avoid things like manuals, spare parts and… POWER SUPPLIES!!
when i saw the $1199.00 price, then saw the words “roland system 700”
i thought BARGIN! so i quickly clicked on it…
then the page loaded…
!!!
Well, Roland only made about 40 System 700’s and given that a standard 6 unit set-up requires at least 2 power supplies . . if you were in need of one, you might have to pay that amount!
I beleive Hans Zimmer bought RLMusic’s 700 a few months ago for around £18,000.00 . . he now has 3! So there’s a market for such items.
Mal
i would have thought it would be fairly easy to build (or have built) your own.
couldn’t cost anything near that price.
actually i was looking at that one in RL music thinking “now where can i get 20 grand?”
that bastard Hans, he should share them round a bit
I wonder how the system 700’s stack up against the Moog modulars.
Obviously two different beasts but at $18k today it must have something endearing that puts it near the league of the Moogs.
godzilla, I agree! I’ve been studying several types of power supplies in school and I just can’t see how they would be so special for the 700 to justify the asking price of the original unit.
Maybe i’m missing something but a power supply for over $1k seems excessive
Hans Zimmer paid 18 grand for a system 700! Thats ridiculous! sorry i love synths but theres far better things AND better synths to be had for that sort of cash. Man this vintage lark gets out of control. RL music are taking the p*** with their prices
For example. 1750 for a restored rhodes mk1 stage 73??? WTF??
I restore rhodes and have sold them for less than a grand, thats how much they should be going for, im sick of people trying to hike prices because somethings vintage. theres loads of rhodes pianos about, spares are readily available and they arent that difficult to work on if you’ve put in the hours.
its a poor show.
On one hand its cool as people who have already bought stuff cheap have gear that has appreciated loads, but what concerns me more is people unable to buy their dream synth as its hiked beyond reality.its similar to the housing market!
Its a shame music control disappeared in the uk as they were THE guys for second hand vintage stuff. They new what stuff was REALLY worth and sold gear on with 3month guarantees to boot at very cool prices.
for example i bought i rhodes suitcase mk1 for 750 in mint condition,serviced and with a guarantee
Dealers and ebayers-stop hiking prices please!!
Here, here. I have always thought that vintage synth prices were a rip off. Afterall, thirty year old technology might sound good, but it’s hardly likely to be reliable, which in the long (or possibly short) term, means spending even more of your hard-earned on repairs, which may well be undertaken by the very seller you bought the thing from!
Ah the ol’ rlmusic debate . . it’s been going on for 3 years now.
As a synth buyer I have bought privately, off Music Control . . and, shock horror, off RL Music.
I say it depends on what you are buying, if you want a CS80, then stump up the money and buy one from RL. If you buy an 80 privately, you’ll be looking at repair bills for the time you own it . . If you want to buy a P5 or JP8, you might be able to get one privately for a lot less as these tend to be more reliable etc.
RL sells into the pro market, it’s probably not for the likes or you and me, there are still bargains to be found for us and now, more then ever it’s easy to find replacement parts with the likes of chipforbrains selling newly manufactured components on ebay.
Regarding RLMusic hiking up prices in the used market place. . I’m not sure about that, I think the want/need for old school sounds in the music industry is doing that, that’s why you have moog and DSI recreating old sounds with new components.
Knowing Richard Lawson personally (I designed the website), I know he actually doesn’t make that much profit on synths after all the leg work, servicing and restoration is taken into consideration . . he started rlmusic because he is passionate about vintage synth and wanted to supply “as new” instruments to those looking to buy without having to go through the risk themselves, and for that he succeeds (putting Control Music out of business probably).
Having bought from both MC and RL, if you want a vintage synth that both looks and performs as a new instrument then you go to RL Music - that’s why he has the big customers.
Afterall, thirty year old technology might sound good, but it’s hardly likely to be reliable
That’s not true, modern synths with surface mounted components are designed so that if a failure happens you replace the whole board at great cost . . there’s no reason, after a full service that a 30 year old moog shouldn’t last another few decades . . try that with your modern synth that won’t work in the futrure because the operating system firmware is no longer compatible . . . don’t suppose you have noticed but there is a creeping return to hardware happening in the music industry at the moment!
If you really want to find a particular synth you might have to wait now as some of these instruments are becoming rare . . but some people will just go to the likes of RL Music and pay for it . . I did with a few synths and I can say RL Music looked after me very well, even when I had problems with a memorymoog, Richard sorted it out under his warranty and it has tuned all 6 voices everyday since then (2 years ago).
All synths are serviced by Kent Spong, who is just great . . he has 2 Rhodes Chromas of mine at the moment and he’ll rebuild the power supplies and replace all the 4XXX chips on all 8 voice cards for £80 per synth - and then he offers a 6 months warranty on his work.
I think it’s easy to look at the price and say it’s a rip-off but unless you know the man-hours that go into a synth restoration you’ll never get it . . and for that, you might as well keep looking in loot and ebay.
Mal
BTW i never said anything bad about RL, just that i couldn’t afford the said system 700 and Hans could grrr.
yeah by there website they seem to be fairly big on the reliable factor, if i ever had enough money to buy a 700, i’d like to get it from a place like RL. Just doesn’t make sense to spend so much on a piece of gear just to have it die on you.
but i have never had any experience with RL, just seen their site, i think they look like they’re good but i really have no idea.
i just got over 1600 for my sonic six, and someone else on here got over 1700 for theirs about a month ago as well.
I dont believe rl music dont make a good profit for one minute. If they are selling a restored mk1 rhodes (which btw has the wrong dials on the front of it for the model and non fender type tolex)for 1750 they are making at least 800 quid profit. I could fully restore a rhodes in 2 days max for a quarter of that cost. The parts from majorkey are not expensive.
I totally understand the man hours and costs to make something as new but these prices put these instruments only in the hands of people with money to burn. Theyd sell far more if they dropped the prices. Id like to know more about what they exactly do to fully restore a rhodes/synth. And at that price id want a fuil breakdown of the work done with costings and sound clips at least and a years guarantee if they are gonna be sold as new.
One of the most scandalous prices on there is the 550 plus vat they are asking for a re501 space echo? thats 650 inc vat.WTF!!! Pro market my ****Thats about double the price it should be!
P.s.There is no way any rhodes is worth 1750 +vat restored or not. People who pay that amount are mad. If you look around for long enough you will find what you want for a good price, there is no need to pay stupid money for old kit. I got a pristine memorymoog plus off ebay for £1300 and it tunes 6 oscs everytime.
There are many people who will not even blink at the prices . . you think they are over the top then fine, you don’t have to shop there.
As I said before, it’s all down to what you want to buy and your knowledge of it . . you say you can restore a Rhodes yourself - great, then you’ll not need this service from the likes of RL Music.
I bought a memorymoog off them and probably paid about £400 more for it then if I had, at the time bought one privately but I was happy to do so because I understood that they are flakey and don’t have the skills to repair one. And sure enough it did go down, and true to his word/warranty Richard fixed it (actually it was out of his warranty and he still fixed it for free).
You are not taking into consideration that RL Music have to pick up the item from the seller, deliver it to the servicer, pay for the servicing and materials, soak test it for a week, deal with the client and 9 times out of 10 delivery it . . I bet RL only makes 20-30%, which is low for any industry.
You are right in that these items would sell faster if the prices were lower but RL Music isn’t about shipping boxes, they are there for the personal service and that’s why their clients aren’t joe blogs pub musician . . they are Hans Zimmer, Howard Jones, et al.
Regarding your memorymoog . . great for you, you probably have a good one but I know of many other people not so fortunate with their memorymoogs . . I have 3 Chromas, 2 of them are fine, one is a dog - it goes like that.
all good and valid points.
nice work on their website by the way.
Nice tunes Dan!
When you coming to Ireland?
hopefully soon! just trying to get some tour support at the mo!, was in Galway last year playing at the Quays with a great covers band called Big J and the Piccolo Chickens. Great place and atmosphere!
Yeah, I’ve only been here a few months having moved from London . . the whole town is one big venue. Don’t get to see many moogs though! (lots of whistles and fiddles).
Let me know if you make it here again.
Mal
Well, you did design his website, Mal! 
Galway sounds great, by the way.
At the time I was just a customer . . . Richard asked me to build his website once he got to know I was a website designer . . and i made a few comments about his first “home-made” website . . a few months after purchasing the memorymoog.
Knowing what RL Music is about and having experienced their service, I get a little pissed when people slag them off - Yes their prices are higher then others but everyone is entitled to make a living . . if you don’t like it, one doesn’t have to shop there.
Richards too nice a bloke to get involved in any threads so you’ll rarely hear from him but I selute him for his efforts . . and luckily for him there are people that want his services so he must be doing somthing right (in a Howard Jones interview in Sound on Sound recently, HoJo mentions Richard with great regard).
Mal
I have followed (and contributed to) this thread with interest, and having weighed things up, I think you’re right on all counts, Mal.
I, personally, have never dealt with RL Music, apart from asking if they could get me an AE when I was first interested in getting one. Richard came back to me very promptly, seemed a great bloke, and I’d like to make it perfectly clear that I never had RL in my sights when refering to analogue synths being overpriced. With the amount of man-hours they spend on restoration, they have no choice but to reflect this in the price.