Moog Music Forum

hi there, I am new in thsi forum and I got my long time wished mf-102 for 2 days right now.

I thought about the durability of the electronics inside...is there a lifespan of these things? like...I think you can use it 10 years but do not expect that it will work after 12 years. a deadline I mean in cause of abrasion or something. is there anything I have to look for, not to destroy it or something.

all in all what can I expect of the MFs lifespan?

thank you and excuse my bad english.

Well Herman the German I can say I've had my MF-104 since 1/03 and a MF 102 ince 3/03, I have had no problems with them yet, I acutally bought 2 one that I keep in my dresser to use after the shakey 10-12 year period when they start to expire. Mine says "Best used before 11/09/13 on it!

what happens in that shakey period. whats the worst thing that could happened with the mf-102 and is it possible to fix it then? without buying some things from other brands?

does it mean the mfs quit working and will never work anymore :O or does it mean that moog stop to produce them?

excuse me for not understanding your joke if it was a joke.

i don't know a whole lot about electronics, but i tinker and do basic repairs on my gear. i've pulled the backs off my MFs and they appear to be pretty straightforward circuits, made from fairly common parts.

you can expect things like pots, jacks, leds and switches to go bad with use. these will be easily to replace. non-mechanical components generally have a long lifespan. there are thousands of perfectly functional 30+ year moog synths out there that are many, many times as complex as these pedals.

in the event something of limited-availability dies, a unique or rare IC, for instance, you might have more trouble. these are not likely to go bad, of course, but problems do happen. that said, there are lots of people around devoted to keeping odd electronic parts handy and most desirable components, even those that have not been made in years, are available on ebay and the like.

the construction of the MF pedals seems to be pretty accessable and easy to repair, if needed. nothing is sealed up or on super micro boards like you see on some mass-produced imported junk.

I've had my ring modulator since sometime around summer of 1999. Or something like 4 to 5 years. Then it was Big Briar rather than Moog. I have never had any sort of problems with my ring mod.

I use my ring mod with a pro co rat distortion pedal behind my drum kit to destroy the sound of my voice when I sing back up with my band because I can't sing very well and it just sounds cool. Well, I've spilt beer on it, it slipped out of my rack a few times onto the floor from drum kit vibration, and I dropped it once and nothing rattles inside when I shake it!!!

I dont know much about electronics...and my question goes to the things which gives the fooger life, for example the lfo, carrier and ring mod. and I was thinking about these thing if they are mechanical, like I said I dont know much about how a oscillator looks like or the ring mod, I just know that it sounds awesome.

there are no moving parts involved in an oscillator circuit (though it sounds like there could be)

perhpas it's an issue that the MFs sit there oscillating off into space whether they're active in the signal or not (which is part of the flexibility of the pedal - it allows you to use the oscillator from one to control a feature of another, even if the source pedal isn't effecting the signal chain at the moment) - those little rate lets blink away as long as power is connected.

perhaps if you're concerned about longevity, you should disconnect the power supply when your pedals are not in use.

electric issue, isnt it?

or do you think it will turn out someday because of oscillating?

All electronics run on smoke...
Once you let it out, you can never put it back
and the device no longer works.

playon

excuse me but I havent understand what you wanted to tell....

what do you think about the lifespan if everything went well?

The semiconductor devices and passive components i.e. integrated circuits (IC's), transistors, diodes, LED's, resistors, capacitors, etc. will not wear out as long as Moog designed the circuit to operate within the manufacturers specifications. Mechanical parts such as the jacks you plug your cables into and the potentiometers will wear because of the friction between moving parts i.e. 1) the plug and the contacts in the jacks; 2) the wiper and the resistive element in the potentiometers.

Barring any external forces (weather, contaminates, corrosion, your 2 year old trying to modify the circuit) or abuse the electronics will last a lifetime and the mechanical components are easily sourced and replaced.

playon

now I can sleep tonight...
I think Ive learned a lot in this thread, thank you all, and if somebody got to add something I would be happy to read it!

btw is there any deadline of the foogers production, somebody in the first few posts that something bout 2013.... or was it just a joke which I havent understand, too?

the 2013 reference was probably just a bit of pessimism on the part of the poster.

with minimal care and limited abuse, moogerfoogers will probably outlive you.

Someone musta kicked the output jack, it's all loose. Though it still works fine, who do I send it to for repairs?