Gigging with vintage synths (Juno 60)

[freddie]

New here. Hi. I recently bought a Juno 60. I've searched for opinions on this forum, but all I could find was one person on another forum saying that it's not recommended to gig with a synth like this because of its fragility. Would most of you agree with this? Could it really develop problems that are completely unfixable, or is it more a matter of expensive upkeep? What if I'm not going on tour, but mostly playing local shows here and there? What if I keep it in a hardshell case, and it never travels very far? Should I avoid bringing it to rehearsals as well? I have a Microkorg, also, but admittedly would be disappointed if the consensus matches what the person I mentioned claimed.

[Alex E]

The Juno-60 isn't that fragile. It's tough and well built, but it's also vintage and old. If you're nice to it, it'll probably be fine. I'd personally be comfortable relying on a Juno-60 for gigs.

[zoomtheline]

If it has the sounds you want in your music then just use it. Don't be all kid gloves, it's only a synth and there are others out there. Just think of how much better than all the other generic microkorg bands you'll be.

[Analogue Crazy]

I gigged with a Juno-60 for a couple of years, it was by far the most reliable and dependable vintage Analog Polysynth i used on the road. Its really well made and not too heavy to move around, and with it being a simple synth real time tweaks are very easy to make while playing live.

On the other hand i gigged with a Jupiter-4 for a year, now that wasn't nearly as easy. Between sets i had to go around the back with a screwdriver and manually tune the thing up.

[Stafftunes]

I've gigged my JX3P h**l of a lot, and my Jupiter 6 a few times, both seemed very happy in the hot sweaty and smokey environments they were put into. As the Juno is from roughly the same era I'm sure it'll be fine. (I seem to remember Banco De Gaia aka Toby Marks used to take his out a lot)

[KevBKeys]

With stable tuning and user presets, the Juno 60 was probably one of the first synths you could easily gig with. They have a reputation for being very reliable, so I wouldn't be too worried if yours has been well maintained. When was it last serviced?

Any piece of equipment, new or old can go wrong at any time, so it doesn't hurt to think what you might do if a situation does arise in the middle of a gig.

I think I'd be more worried about the value of the instrument than the reliability.

[madmarkmagee]

Insert horror story about synth falling off stage here.

[themilford]

I toured and gigged with a Prophet 600. No issues... just get a good roadcase.

[meatballfulton]

It's not a reliability issue.

If you're doing local gigs expect it to get dinged and scratched, maybe have beer spilled on it, be knocked off the stand , broken keys/knobs/sliders, etc. over time.

[calaverasgrande]

I'd rather gig with a vintage Roland anything instead of vintage Moog.
The Moog stuff sounds phenomenal, but tuning is always wonky and the dang things were never meant to be roaded.

[Bitexion]

Old Rolands are made like tanks. They were made for gigging and touring musicians, they can take a beating. Even the old Jupiter-8 looks like a metal monster compared to a fragile wooden Moog or PS3200.

[Jabberwalky]

I gigged with a Juno60 a few years ago. It's portable, has plenty of patches to accomodate your set, and cuts through with that filter. I loved it, but ended up quitting that shitty band and selling it to another guy that gigged it everywhere.

[ppg_wavecomputer]

The Juno 60 is nothing to get too worried about, for two reasons: First, it is relatively reliable, and second, it is not that hard to replace in case it gets lost, damaged, stolen, what have you. Get yourself a flightcase for it, and you should be fine.

How do you guys like this:



Is this bravery or utter madness?

Stephen

[calaverasgrande]

the only madness there is the EHX pedal in the foreground.
Love EHX stuff (I have a whole shelf full of theri pedals in my studio).
But I put them next to (vintage) Moog for the poor road worthyness and lack of engineering robustness.
Funny, both companies were located in NY back in the day, right?

[mpa1104]

That's still one of my favourite pics from that other forum
Gigged quite regularly with my Juno 60 for at least 5 years, and for more sporadic engagements over the past 10 years, it has remained the most reliable synth in my rig. In my experience, I'd just say take it with you wherever, you'll have no problems. The only time I ever felt mildly worried for its safety during a show was when two girls started beating the s**t out of each otherand they brought it onto the front of the stage. First to go were the monitor wedges, then I could feel the A-frame getting nudged while I was playing. Fortunately the bouncers managed to get them off (and it took 3 of them )