Found an old Prodigy...

wiseguy21690 · Post by **wiseguy21690** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:45 pm

Today I pulled an old Moog Prodigy out of my grandparents' attic and decided to give it a go. I powered it on and the red LED went on, but no sound came from it, though there was a faint hum coming from the amp when I turned the master volume up and down. I opened her up, dusted and checked all the connections, whick looked fine. Does anybody know the source of this problem?

industrial_gypsy · Post by **industrial_gypsy** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:31 am

Why can't I find a great vintage synth in my grannie's attic?

I bought a non working Prod. a while back with much the same symptoms, turned out to be one of the transistors, but I had to pay a tech to sort it.

It's probably worth putting it in to a tech anyway, as once you get it working, the key contacts, pots, switches etc will probably need cleaning, and it will probably need a re-calibration i.a.w. the service manula.

Worth doing though, the sync sounds from a Prodigy are second to none.

Good luck

wiseguy21690 · Post by **wiseguy21690** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:39 pm

Thanks, you,re right, definitely needs to go to a tech. I do all kinds of work on guitars, but electronics are beyond me, especially vintage ones. It was really quite a find, my uncle bought it as a teenager and couldn't figure out how to work it so he put it up in tha attic without getting more than a day or two of playing with it. My grandfather said to take it, it hasn't seen daylight in decades anyway.

museslave · Post by **museslave** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:47 pm

There is something good about the world when people are still finding Moogs in attics, closets, garage sales, or thrift stores. : )

Robzilla · Post by **Robzilla** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 6:54 pm

museslave wrote:There is something good about the world when people are still finding Moogs in attics, closets, garage sales, or thrift stores. : )

great stuff, just like with vintage guitar gear.. finding a vintage and rare piece is always cool!

roboctopus · Post by **roboctopus** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:25 pm

Well, I had to post after another "rob" and animal hybrid user name. I mean, really. Rock.

Take it to a tech, yes. But take it to a tech who knows what he's doing. I took my poor little prodigy to a tech and gave him my copy of the service manual and he said he could fix it. A month later he gave it back, charged me 150 bucks and said it was good to go. It has exactly the same problems it did when I gave it to him, and he said no refunds on vintage equipment repairs.

So ask around, find someone with a Moog and a tech they trust.

On a similar note, now that I think about it, does anyone know a good tech in the Austin, TX area? My prodigy has been suffering for a year, and may soon be sacrificed for some Little Phatty cash...

oldsynthguy · Post by **oldsynthguy** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:56 am

That's a cool find!
I'm interested in buying broken (or working) analog synths if anyone wants to sell their Prodigy or others...
Thanks.