Moog Music Forum

My friend has a Moog "The Source" and the local shop is telling us it's probably the oscillator and it can't be fixed. The Moog no longer holds tune and we are looking for other sources of repair. I find it hard to believe that it can't be fixed. If anyone knows of a place that could handle the job please email me at jayfo1@gmail.com. This is of dire importance to our band.

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Thanks for taking time to investigate this for us. If anyone is intersted and has time check out our band's music which features our Moog in EVERY song!

Here's a link to our music:

www.myspace.com/forthedrivehome

Hi Jason,

Where is the band located? Here in New York, there's a place called Alto Music. It's in the city of Middletown. There's a gentleman there, named Mr. Mayer who repairs keyboards and amplifiers. One of his specialties is vintage synths; he repaired a broken key from my friend's Roland JX-8p. Here's the link to the store:

http://www.altomusic.com/

If you can make it to NY, good luck.

The Source is not hard to fix. Your local shop tells you it can't be fixed - translated they don't know how to fix it.

I don't know anyplace in Alabama that does synth repair. Not many synth bands in the deep south. I heard there are synth repair shops in Orlando FL, that's the closest I know of. Synthtech.com in D/FW is one I can recommend.

The things that can fail on a Source are trimpots, they don't tolerate humid environments very well. I've had to replace a few on mine. Caps can also fail. There are no custom or hard-to-find ICs in a Source. IC sockets can also get dirty, just removing/reinserting IC can clear the dirt. Also there is the "Crazy Source" problem but your symptoms don't sound like that is the problem.

While I agree with MC that the other service center probably doesn't know which side is up, Sources *can* be tricky to work on. Their trimmers can be loose and very touchy even when tight. Power supplies often require resoldering and new caps and, as is the case with many Sources, if the temperature trimmer has been messed with or has gone out of calibration, the routine to retune it requires some considerable thought and patience. The last Source here took hours to retune correctly.

Soldering on the boards in the Source/Memorymoog/Prodigy era could also be better and cracked solder connections are common.
Also common, though unrelated to a tuning issue, is a misadjustment of the wheel optos, causing the unit to count up or down only. The wood piece in the front often requires regluing too.

No slam MC, but you've been very lucky in your synth purchases.
Certainly no disrespect, but there are many synths with problems you've likely not encountered yet.

I'd recommend finding someone that has a lot of experience with these.
I'm a repair tech with considerable experience, but I'd rather not take one in either.
Because of how touchy the calibrations can be and that a unit would have to be shipped here (Calif), my job would be that much harder both in the servicing and packing of the unit.

No slam MC, but you've been very lucky in your synth purchases.

No offense taken, I do seem to have good luck with gear

I have had optos go bad on me, and getting the wheel to work can be a challenge. And the wood trims have come loose. There are many more I'm sure I have not encountered.