Bringing in the Drum Synth Harvest...

Sep 24 2015 Tags: Ace Tone, Drum Machine, Drum Synth, Kawai, Maestro, Mirano, Roland, Space Echo, Syncussion, TR-808

Hello again from the Derbyshire hills. We're definitely feeling the beginnings of Autumn here and at Soundgas we've been hard at work in the fields bringing in another bumper crop of vintage gear. In particular we've got a fantastic haul of rare Japanese drum synths - scroll down to see them in detail. Also in this blog you'll find a look at tape echoes - we've got a lot of units coming back from service over the next few weeks and, aside from a steady stream of our rock-solid, perfectly serviced and set up Space Echoes, we'll have some RE-301s coming through, as well as a range of rarer Japanese units as well. If you think you'll have a need for such items in the next couple of months we strongly recommend reserving ahead of them being listed as they continue to be in demand in this condition and with our guarantee.

And of course there's the stock list button below with a full list of everything we have available or coming in.

Other points of interest amongst recently listed items are various Mu-trons including the ever-popular Bi-phase, a Great British Spring, a near mint Roland SPV-355 Pitch/Voltage Synth and a good haul of interesting pedals (with a lot more to come next month). Oh, and there's a beautiful Binson Echorec Baby coming in next week - get first look at it here.

CLICK HERE FOR A PDF OF OUR CURRENT
FULL LIST OF VINTAGE GEAR

Over 300 items, many of which sell before they get a full listing.
Get this list as soon as we update it: join our mailing list
via the box at the bottom of this page.

First we have these three Ult Sound analogue drum synths from Japanese instrument manufacturer Toyo Gakki, including this ultra-rare Ult Sound DS-4 Custom - a four channel model with unique cascade triggering option accessed by pulling individual channel sensitivity knobs. In excellent condition and perfect working order, just serviced by James Walker at Synth Repair Services.

And then we have a pair of examples of our favourite drum synth - the Pearl Syncussion. This one is pretty special - near mint Syncussion with case & boxed drums. Possibly never been hit in anger, in perfect working order, serviced by James Walker at Synth Repair Services and modified for individual outs on a TRS.

Our second Syncussion has some damage to the casing (past interaction with a drummer?) - one corner broken off the composite ‘wood’ surround, but this doesn't affect the performance. Rare to find with drum pads and stands for both the drums and the Syncussion itself. Available very soon - serviced by James Walker at Synth Repair Services, modified for individual outs on a TRS.

Aside from those, other drum machines of interest in stock at present include a TR-808 that's come to us boxed and hardly used from the studio of a very successful producer, more interesting Japanese Ace Tone machines, and, for those on a budget, we've got a British-made analogue drum synth in the form of an MPC DSM-2. Click on the images below to get more information about all of them. Oh, you want a crazy vintage Japanese beat box that works in stereo? Yes - scroll down for one of those as well...

This boxed 808 shown below has had very low use from new: the original owner is a well-known producer who put it back in the box in the 80s and left it there. There are a few scuffs, scratches and patches of oxidation to the finish, but it's clear that this 808 hasn't had a hard life. Serviced by James Walker at Synth Repair Services.

This Rhythm Producer FR-15 was an early attempt by Ace Tone (forerunner of Roland) to create a programmable drum machine. A very interesting bit of kit with a great sound. Dates from the late 60s or early 70s, fully serviced and ready to go.

And yes, this is a Kawai Stereophonic Rhythmer pictured below, a (we assume) late 60s stereo beat box where some of the sounds pan back and forth. We bought it because, like a lot of our more unusual gear, we'd never seen or heard one before and we just had to have a go. It needs a video demo doing so you can appreciate the groovy flashing light blocks on the front but that won't capture the "maracas" (in a pretty loose sense of how the they sound) zipping from left to right in your speakers...

We also wanted to give tape echoes a quick mention. They are a speciality of ours and we pride ourselves on sourcing unusual units and on knowing exactly how they should be set up and sound. Our Roland units are all serviced and set up to factory spec by a very experienced engineer and we are able to guarantee their performance. One piece of knowledge we're very keen to share is that if you are having problems with your Roland echo then we recommend changing the tape. Sounds obvious... unless you just did that, right? Well, no. We'd still suggest you try a different one as, in our experience, it may be the problem... For now we'll just say that we've found issues with some of the new tape currently on the market; we'll be doing a detailed blog post on tape soon, but if you have any questions then get in touch - we're here to help.

As already mentioned we have a steady supply of Roland RE-201 Space Echoes, and we also have some of the much rarer RE-301 units and an SRE-555 coming through - these always sell quickly so if you want one then you know what to do!

However, our range of units in stock and coming in extends far beyond Roland and includes these three very interesting Mirano/Hawk (same company) echoes, including their "tape-take" on a Binson Echorec the Echo Chamber 3R complete with magic eye valve - we're still waiting to get it back into peak condition but it's packed with valves and has the potential to be a superb and wild sounding machine. We also have waiting for service other smaller ELK EM-4 units, Dynacords, and a rare Maestro EM-1 (a 4 channel Echoplex - see below for a picture but no link yet).