I've had a little exposure to some older Serge stuff... a 10-panel system had a few
old blue plastic panels.. Now, I'm not exactly sure where the blue-face panel
period came in, but I think there was a time when those were available. They might
even have been home-brew panels for all I know. But they were standard Serge
modules behind, I'm pretty sure, at least for the vintage.
The sound quality of these were less than desirable IMO.
For the first few years the build quality of the systems was very uneven.... good
to abysmal. This is due to their having builders that weren't very experienced.
That is not the case now, Rex sweats every little detail.
The old white-face system you mention that used to be in Darwin Grosse's possession
(where is it now??) also passed thru Grant Richter's (Wiard Synth Co) hands. He
mentioned poor stability from some of the oscillators (at first). He said he took
the boards out and there was crappy old flux and gunk on 'em. After carefully
cleaning the boards off and recalibrating, presto! solid performance again. I'm
sure Grant would've gone over the rest of the system doing other restoration work,
so that system would be in excellent shape.
So, if someone out there has an older Serge and doesn't like the performance some
simple TLC might be all that's needed.
Anybody else seen blue-face panels? I think Knox Bronson used to have some too.
Cheers,
John P.
old blue plastic panels.. Now, I'm not exactly sure where the blue-face panel
period came in, but I think there was a time when those were available. They might
even have been home-brew panels for all I know. But they were standard Serge
modules behind, I'm pretty sure, at least for the vintage.
The sound quality of these were less than desirable IMO.
For the first few years the build quality of the systems was very uneven.... good
to abysmal. This is due to their having builders that weren't very experienced.
That is not the case now, Rex sweats every little detail.
The old white-face system you mention that used to be in Darwin Grosse's possession
(where is it now??) also passed thru Grant Richter's (Wiard Synth Co) hands. He
mentioned poor stability from some of the oscillators (at first). He said he took
the boards out and there was crappy old flux and gunk on 'em. After carefully
cleaning the boards off and recalibrating, presto! solid performance again. I'm
sure Grant would've gone over the rest of the system doing other restoration work,
so that system would be in excellent shape.
So, if someone out there has an older Serge and doesn't like the performance some
simple TLC might be all that's needed.
Anybody else seen blue-face panels? I think Knox Bronson used to have some too.
Cheers,
John P.