experiences with Wine Country Sequential?

Cycom · Post by **Cycom** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:41 am

After two years of falling head over heels in love with the arcane sound of the Prophet VS, I've decided to get one. This will be my first expensive synth purchase (well, it's going to be a gift but you get the idea) so I'm biting my nails in anticipation of eventual repairs.

I've already found someone with a supply of the CEM sample + hold IC's so I'm going to purchase a few as backup. I've also found a new old stock VS joystick and data slider. That said, I'd like to get some comments about reliability from the VS owners here. A fair assessment of your machine would be much appreciated.

Finally, has anyone ever purchased synths from Wine Country? They charge quite a bit more than regular second hand but they seem to really be into restoring them in addition offering a 45 day parts and labor warranty on all restored synths one buys from them. Just seems like good peace of mind. I dread getting one from ebay only to have it show up dead. I do NOT want an expensive paperweight.

memo · Post by **memo** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:34 am

I purchased a Prophet VS from them (in original box!) about 7 years ago. It arrived working well, looked brand new, and I was very pleased.

I've heard that their repair rates are high, and occasionally their customer handling skills can be a bit lacking, but I had no problem with the restored Prophet.

matrix · Post by **matrix** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:24 pm

I picked up a Perfect Prophet-5 from then years ago after having a bad deal on Ebay with one. Best thing I ever did. Sometimes it's worth paying the premium. With a shop you have someone to go back to should something go wrong. They usually know this, so you can be pretty sure what they sell you will be in the shape advertised.

Post by **wiss** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:30 pm

wine country is awesome.

andrasklang · Post by **andrasklang** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:57 pm

i have been meaning to end in my six trak for 2 years......ugggg. maybe this tax check bush plans on sending all of us in my will go towards that,,,,

Chaorta · Post by **Chaorta** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:12 pm

I've dealt with them once when i had my Prophet VS...i called to ask them a question, they were really friendly and said something to the effect of "Well, in theory you could send it to us to fix that, but it would cost you a lot, so why dont i just tell you how to do it?"

I like them.

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:14 pm

Cycom wrote:I've already found someone with a supply of the CEM sample + hold IC's so I'm going to purchase a few as backup. I've also found a new old stock VS joystick and data slider. That said, I'd like to get some comments about reliability from the VS owners here. A fair assessment of your machine would be much appreciated.

Finally, has anyone ever purchased synths from Wine Country? They charge quite a bit more than regular second hand but they seem to really be into restoring them in addition offering a 45 day parts and labor warranty on all restored synths one buys from them. Just seems like good peace of mind. I dread getting one from ebay only to have it show up dead. I do NOT want an expensive paperweight.

LA has the best craigslist in the world, any Sequential keyboard can be found there, just place a want ad. i live nearly walking distance for Wine Country (which isn't in wine country) but i'd take my Sequential synths to Analog Synth Service in oakland. a good synth tech is a good synth tech and any worth using will guarantee their work for at least a month.

i've purchased two VS synths: one on eBay which arrived with keys popped out... i opened it up and reset them & it works fine. the other one i bought off of craigslist but it was buggy and locked up... i took it back & they sold me their minimoog! great fortune!

here's a pic from the day or two i owned a duo of VS's. of all coincidences, the serial numbers were within 10. note that both feature weird key spacing, this is apparently common:

not everything is junk on eBay:

Cycom · Post by **Cycom** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:32 pm

Many thanks for the replies, gentlemen. It's good to hear the votes of confidence for Wine Country.

xpander: the VS and PEK look awesome together. I bet they compliment each other quite well sonically, too.

Chaorta · Post by **Chaorta** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:57 pm

This thread makes me miss my VS

mpa1104 · Post by **mpa1104** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:44 am

Yep, I'd also like to add two big thumbs up for Wine Country, and that's from another wine country down here in the southern hemisphere

. When I had to replace parts for my VS (vol knob and data entry slider) I was immensely grateful and impressed with the service I received from WCS. Within a few short days of sending them a fax order, the parts arrived in South Australia. I was able to install them easily myself thanks to their detailed instructions. Great service from those guys (and my VS still rocks!!)

iProg · Post by **iProg** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:08 am

Does one need a Prophet VS if you already have a Wavestation EX?

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:31 pm

iProg wrote:Does one need a Prophet VS if you already have a Wavestation EX?

they sound & work quite different from one another. i used to use a Wavestation AD, now i use the software Korg Legacy version, sounds fantastic. now those are two synthesizers that complement one another.

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:18 pm

the wavestation and VS are pretty different. i wouldnt get rid of 1 for the other.
mini

experiences with Wine Country Sequential?

experiences with Wine Country Sequential?

Re: experiences with Wine Country Sequential?