Studio Electronics Harvey (808 clone)

breitt · Post by **breitt** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:28 pm

This intirgued me about 6 months ago when it was on ebay for about $1300. Now that the price has tripled

, I'm less intrigued.

http://cgi.ebay.com/STUDIO-ELECTRONICS- ... dZViewItem

kuroichi · Post by **kuroichi** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:55 pm

Is that still around, I dont understand what the deal is, isnt it just an 808 converted?

whiteyhouston · Post by **whiteyhouston** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:11 pm

I would be intrigued to see what jaghole would pay $3800 for that..

breitt · Post by **breitt** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:19 pm

whiteyhouston wrote:I would be intrigued to see what jaghole would pay $3800 for that..

I'm a sucker for oddballs and rarities occassionally, but when they cross the $2,000 mark, my testicles shrink.

Post by **carbon111** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:12 pm

IIRC, its not a clone, its the guts of an 808 shoved into a rack.

Z · Post by Z » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:19 am

I beleive Carbon is correct. In the late 80's, before they started building their own hardware, Studio Electronics would rackmount and MIDIfy a fe classics: Mini, SEM, OB-8 & 808. I see the MIDIMINI's quite often on eBay and have only seen Harvey 808's (the one Wavstudios has had listed for months and one that sold recently), but have never seen the SEM or OB-8's. I remember an old Keyboard Magazine article featuring Depeche Mode who had the racked SEM - I think there's 2 SEMs racked together.

The deal is you would ship your synth or 808 and they would perform the transformation. I think I looked into doing that to my 808, but the price was really high. Don't remember how much, but I opted to order a Kenton MIDI kit from Wine Country ($400) and have a local teck install it ($150). The Harvey mod must have been at least a grand.

Z

neandrewthal · Post by **neandrewthal** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:23 am

I don't understand why people paid them so much to destroy their classic gear. Makes me cry

Sir Ruff · Post by **Sir Ruff** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 1:33 am

in the case of an 808, it seems particularly pointless if they don't even add any functionality such as allowing you to use both of the "switch" sounds at once, or extending the sound range.

Z · Post by Z » Sun Sep 23, 2007 2:25 am

I was mistaken in my previous post regarding Studio Rackmounting the OB-8. It is actually the Prophet 5. Here is a scan of their ad in a 1990 Keyboard Magazine.

Here is a scan of a photo of Depeche Mode from May 1993 Keyboard magazine featuring the rackmounted SEM's and Minimoog.

Z[/list]

Alex E · Post by **Alex E** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 4:46 am

neandrewthal wrote:I don't understand why people paid them so much to destroy their classic gear. Makes me cry

Yeah it's too bad that they lost their look and feel like that. They will never be the same again.

-But hey, at least they still sound great, right?

synthetic88 · Post by **synthetic88** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:56 pm

Yup, a short-lived craze.

I sure do want that racked SEM system, though.

Post by **shaft9000** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:25 am

I was in BigCityMusic a few months back and they had a Harvey in the rack right next to the front door.