by Pro5 » Sun May 20, 2018 9:59 pm
I prefer the Prophet 6, have used it quite a lot. Find it's got more body and more range. OB-6 has a sweet sound but is a bit thinner overall and lacking the kind of filter I'd want in an expensive poly (versatile) HP + 4 pole LP.
I imagine it's more expensive due to things like extra wood, along the front and thicker ends and the type of wood is possibly more expensive (Walnut which is currently the most expensive hardwood I think). Not sure what wood the OB6 has though.
Looks wise and overall sound/features/scope wise I prefer the Prophet 6 and would buy one at a good price. I'm not really that interested in OB6 as it has a fizzy edge to every sound I hear, nice in small doses but not worth the price to me.
YMMV but those who've used them both heavily, inc JD73 (synth reviewer and did presets for them I think?) as well as that guy on youtube who makes patches for everything AND Paul Dither + another guy who's name escapes me right now all say the same thing. The Prophet is just an overall better synth once you get over the slightly looser VCOs in the OB-6 and that sweet fizzy thing, it's a lot harder to not make it sound samey all the time, and it doesn't record or mix as well, nor is as much of a workhorse as the Prophet 6.
If you've got one though, great, it's still a nice synth. Next to a Prophet 6 I think it's a few rungs down the ladder for my polysynth needs at £2k+
Lastly I think the P6 is somewhat closer to what they were aiming for (more like a P5) and the OB-6 is kind of it's own thing with some faint OB-ness about it but overall a bit like a VCO juno, to me neither here nor there, lacking identity. I can listen to Prophet 6 tones all day and be fine, I can't take much of the OB-6 before it starts to grate. 2 Poles can often do that to me unless the rest of the engine is just right.
Currently using (rating/10): SH2(9.5), JX-3P(9), Prophet 6(9), JD-800(8.5), Crumar Performer(?)
Recently gone:Polysix(8), Prophet Rev2(6.5), Slim Phatty(7), JD-XA(7.5), Sub 37 (7), Juno 106(6.5), DX7 II-D(6), V-Synth(6.5)