killerteddybear Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 https://reverb.com/item/36278942-hamer-a7-phantom-guitar-synth-controller-mid-90s-white-cream?fbclid=IwAR1OBP8hapA4yK3YaB5ci8JNcer6XPkDt6aKdEZZlkibe4f644EqsJTpUsg Toughest part would be the connecting cable.
RobB Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 2 minutes ago, killerteddybear said: Toughest part would be the connecting cable. Nah. The toughest part would be hearing what comes out of said cable.
Samuelc12qw Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 I’ve been thinking about pulling the trigger but it is beat. I own a pink one and had another pink one that was stolen and they both are/were great playing guitars.
velorush Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 Now that’s a relic! Cool guitar. I’m guessing the synth electronics weighed more than the displaced mahogany?
polara Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 I had one of those. Played well and sounded great as a guitar. The cables are about $200 if you find one, and there are some compatibility issues with the different synths. I can't recall exactly, but it was hard to know if you had the right pickup and driver to go with that particular synth without just plugging in... there were changes along the way. The synth was kind of a bugger to program and bulky, plus the plastic bits were fragile.
velorush Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 Just noticed this line: Multilaminate Honduras mahogany? Wha? Like a Norlin pancake Lester?
Samuelc12qw Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 5 hours ago, velorush said: Now that’s a relic! Cool guitar. I’m guessing the synth electronics weighed more than the displaced mahogany? Na man, actually not that have at all. It’s a little circuit board I think an stk-1.
Eli Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 Generally the Roland electronics are fairly well made, for stuff that's 35-40 years old. If you use the GR-300 as opposed to the GR-700, it's a playable and cool sounding synth situation (if you're open to that sort of thing). I've always wanted an A7. I have most of the Roland guitar synths/guitars, as I do a variety of types of music. I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger on that one for basically the same reason Samuelc12qw said, it being beat and in my case, enough guitars already. But it's tempting me.
chromium Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 One of my nicer Craigslist scores involved a exe condition, final rev GR-700 synth (still had the protective plastic on it!), PG-800 programmer (the "box of knobs" for editing), a US-2 "unit selector" (a/b switch for running multiple synths in tandem; rare beyond words), and a box containing around a dozen 24-pin cables. 200 bucks for all! Also scored one of the Wayne Joness 24-13-pin converter boxes locally for cheap. I kinda miss these things, but had decided to simplify my life a bit and sold it all in 2017 The GR guitars were great, and my favorite "real synth" was the GR-700 w/programmer. The final rev offered improved tracking, and I will say that it did great on that front (for me). The second favorite were those yellow GR-100s, which are more of a hex fuzz/envelope filter/compander/chours as opposed to a synth. That hex fuzz sounded slick! I would love to snag this Hamer, but I know where that will lead... haha
Eli Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 2 minutes ago, chromium said: One of my nicer Craigslist scores involved a exe condition, final rev GR-700 synth (still had the protective plastic on it!), PG-800 programmer (the "box of knobs" for editing), a US-2 "unit selector" (a/b switch for running multiple synths in tandem; rare beyond words), and a box containing around a dozen 24-pin cables. 200 bucks for all! Also scored one of the Wayne Joness 24-13-pin converter boxes locally for cheap. I kinda miss these things, but had decided to simplify my life a bit and sold it all in 2017 The GR guitars were great, and my favorite "real synth" was the GR-700 w/programmer. The final rev offered improved tracking, and I will say that it did great on that front (for me). The second favorite were those yellow GR-100s, which are more of a hex fuzz/envelope filter/compander/chours as opposed to a synth. That hex fuzz sounded slick! I would love to snag this Hamer, but I know where that will lead... haha Great collection you had there! Yeah, it's a slippery slope. You can get all those sounds out of a GR-55 now, but it's not nearly as fun as being able to use the old big boxes. Bananas at Large (a music store here in the bay) sold off a ton of Neal Schon's guitar stuff at some point about 15 years ago. I bought one of his prototype Schon guitars (with a stk-1 setup like the A7), his G-808, GR-700, GR-300, GR-100, US-2 and a ton of cables. I'm planning to retire on the cables alone. They were right up next to giving the stuff away. I still kick myself for not ponying up the cash to buy his red G-505 with the Ferrari sticker that he used in a fair number of videos.
chromium Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 @Eli Nice! That sounds like a great score. My deal was kinda funny. The guy had advertised a GM-70 rack w/the other stuff, but when we met at a gas station to do the deal he had forgotten it and was hinting that other buyers were lined up if that was a deal breaker. I suspect he thought that unit might have been more valuable that it was ($80-100 used market at the time). A soon as I saw that box overflowing with 24-pin cables (the metal shroud ones to boot!), I acted bummed but forked over the 200 haha. There have been situations where my conscious would not allow me to capitalize on someone's lack of knowledge... but this was not one. I've been thinking lately about getting one of the modern units. Starting to build up another DAW, and it would be nice to have on that front.
Eli Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 8 minutes ago, chromium said: @Eli Nice! That sounds like a great score. My deal was kinda funny. The guy had advertised a GM-70 rack w/the other stuff, but when we met at a gas station to do the deal he had forgotten it and was hinting that other buyers were lined up if that was a deal breaker. I suspect he thought that unit might have been more valuable that it was ($80-100 used market at the time). A soon as I saw that box overflowing with 24-pin cables (the metal shroud ones to boot!), I acted bummed but forked over the 200 haha. There have been situations where my conscious would not allow me to capitalize on someone's lack of knowledge... but this was not one. I've been thinking lately about getting one of the modern units. Starting to build up another DAW, and it would be nice to have on that front. Man, $200 for that haul is legendary. Here's the Schon proto guitar from a pic of his gear. Mine is the white one on the far right. Longest headstock in the world other than a Carvin 12 string!
chromium Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 Love it! I didn't even know that there was a Schon guitar w/the synth setup... Very cool.
Eli Posted December 21, 2020 Posted December 21, 2020 Just now, chromium said: Love it! I didn't even know that there was a Schon guitar w/the synth setup... Very cool. As far as I know, this is the only one. It doesn't even have the logo on the headstock.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.