GR-50 & FC-200 in the market

Started by Tony Raven, July 04, 2017, 01:27:17 PM

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Tony Raven

Well, I recently stated that the FC-100 had been going out for "$150-$250." Turns out the market had swung again. :-[ Not a good time to sell, but maybe a great moment to replace a well-used rig.

For comparison, finding a functioning GR-1 for <$200 has become difficult, but the unimproved VG-8 can be seen for ~$125.

The GR-50 seems to be ~$150 (shipped) on Reverb.
https://reverb.com/item/5654005-roland-gr-50-gr50-guitar-synthesizer-sound-module
https://reverb.com/item/1127780-roland-gr-50-1994-black
https://reverb.com/item/1693698-roland-gr50-rackmount-guitar-synth
Watchers are few, previous offers are nonexistent, though one's been up "more than a year," another "almost two years." Very likely someone would take a hit just to move it along.

The FC-100-II is a surprise, here $70 & $65 respectively
https://reverb.com/item/5748810-roland-fc100-mkii
https://reverb.com/item/2627628-used-roland-fc-100-guitar-effect-pedal

Biggest bummer: lack of sane PG-10 offers. These have recently gone out for $200+, while the elephantine PG-1000 (D-50/D-550) regularly asks <$300 -- madness. (Maybe VSE was correct, & the D-110 had a resurgence.) I think I bought my D-10 for ~$35 before I even owned a D-5, because I knew it'd have value.

{oops -- meant "PG-10" sted D-10. :-[}

chrish


Tony Raven

#2
That PG-10 seems to have taken up permanent residence on eBay. ;D --
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-PG-10-LINEAR-SYNTHESIZER-PROGRAMMER-w-power-supply-D-10-D-20-D-110-GR-50/132408830353?hash=item1ed42e6991:g:4LMAAOSwJV1Z33Nx
Still holding out for every last dear penny of that $199 (+$47 s/h), probably has already spent at least $50 on repeated listing fees.

Not much better at Reverb: ~$200 when they appear at all.

If I didn't have a D-5 and D-20 and GR-50, I'd probably take $200 & run. ;D Not used much, but really handy sometimes, especially on-the-fly tweaks (something 99% of Roland gear seems to fail miserably at).

And (IMO) anyone who wants to really dig into the GR-50's parameters should get one of these, at least for the initial deep exploration. It'll either turn out to be a great learning experience, or lead to using a soft interface (like Sound Quest), & in either case can recoup the cost.
________________

Looks like last year's regular crop of $100 GR-50 has melted away -- maybe from resurgent interest by musicians, but I suspect mostly snagged by "collectors" & similar fast-buck artists.

That assessment somehow seems bolstered by the general cluelessness of the"professional" marketplace: there's two at GuitarCenter.com, listed respectively as effect processor & bass preamp.

:o

Anyway, the latter is $120 + reasonable s/h.
________________

Availability of the FC-100 has declined as well. With used FC-300 starting to dip below $250, it's odd to see the few FC-100-II asking more. Again, I'd rather blame "investors" than suggest they're being trashed or simply disintegrating in the still of the night.

Tony Raven

Yeah -- noticed that. :)
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Roland/GR202-Solid-Body-Electric-Guitar.gc
Hmm; look at how the saddles are set. Either the last owner was incompetent, or compensating for some ghastly worn-out strings (which sorta leads back to the first choice).

But the description DOES make me smile. Recall my crack about "clueless pro sellers," & recall Elantric's thread about how poor Roland marketing undermined the 13-pin world they were trying to build. What do you want to bet the GC figured "MIDI guitar" & couldn't find the 5-pin DIN jack....

:o

I can be a total heathen when it comes to gear. For $400, I am somewhat tempted to replace the original innards with a GK-KIT. And if I were anywhere near Atlanta, I'd walk into the store & offer $300 cash to take this "wrecked" axe off their hands. 8)

chrish

#4
Quote from:  sec6
At GC, there is also a pretty nice 24-pin Roland G505 guitar (mislabeled GR202) for $399. Says midi connection is missing?  Looks to be missing nothing--24-pin input appears to be there.  One small chip.  Good price if you are into 24-pin gear.
it's hard to tell, but it looks like the 24 pin jack is not there, which would explain why they say that the 'midi'  connection is gone.


chrish

#5
Quote from:  sec6
Looks like it is there to me.
I'm looking at the picture on a mobile so like I say it's hard to tell.

But I did compare the Jack enclosure picture to my g505 and the two Phillips head screws that are visible are not configured that way on My Guitar. There are two Phillips head screws on my guitar but they are more aligned in the center of the enclosure and hold the 24-pin jack.

Can you see the actual male pins?


chrish

Quote from:  sec6
I can see the male pins, the two Phillips head screws, and the center prong.  It is all original.  If I were still into 24-pin, I would have already scooped it up.
ok thanks. I can see them in Steve's picture.

Tony Raven

Yah; far as I can see, given the depth parallax, the screws WOULD be centred on the jack. In my limited opinion (having not touched a 24 since like 1996), it looks original.

Anyone want to make a preemptive bid on the harness? ;D Yes, I >>can<< be bribed.

chrish

#9
Quote from:  sec6
At GC, there is also a pretty nice 24-pin Roland G505 guitar (mislabeled GR202) for $399. Says midi connection is missing?  Looks to be missing nothing--24-pin input appears to be there.  One small chip.  Good price if you are into 24-pin gear.
thanks for the heads up on this guitar and sorting out  the poor picture quality in the ad. It arrived today.  :)

It's in way better shape than I thought it was going to be in. Was only able to talk GC down $50.

It's fully functional with some scratchiness in places that will need some deox spray.

And as noted in this thread, the intonation is way off.

Produces a different sound with the GR 300 then my other 505 which is in indication that the guitar string really is the oscillator.

It also doesn't have the open A string resonant build up that my other 505 has which causes miss triggering of the gr300, most likely just a setup issue.

Guitar Center advertised that it came with the Hardshell case, however that case has been crushed.

Left the store that way obviously because several large pieces of plastic are missing from it. And the aluminum frame has a very old bend in it on one end. Oh well didn't buy it for the case.

Tony Raven

Back to the GR-50. ;D
Quote from: Tony Raven on December 16, 2017, 10:17:53 AM
the general cluelessness of the"professional" marketplace
They're not getting any smarter, either. ::) Various GR modules on Guitar Center's site are categorized as

  • Bass Preamp
  • Effect Processor
  • Multi Effects Processor
  • Sound Module
  • Synthesizer
________________

This GR-50 looked a touch steep at $200 + $30. Then I saw it includes TWO GK-2A, a 13-pin cable, & the GR-50 manual.
https://www.musicgoround.com/p/858657/used-roland-gr-50-gk-2a-guitar-synthesizer

Price cut to $120 on this one --
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Roland/GR-50-Bass-Preamp.gc

However, $150 gets not only this GR-50 but an FC-100-II.
[url]http://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Roland/GR-50-Multi-Effects-Processor.gc
As stated previously, this is well into the range where (even adding in s/h) there's little risk of resale loss, so it's an inexpensive opportunity to get some hands-on with classic gear. And the last time I bought some used kit from GC (a VG-8, I think) that mentioned "cables," I got not only TWO 13-pin cables but a GK-2A. YMMV. 8)

chrish

#11
That's pretty hilarious. A roland GR50 bass preamp. :D

Which reminds me I have to plug in  my spare gr 50 and turn it on to recharge the capacitors.

I've been having pretty good luck on reverb lately. Just sold that GR100, which is an incredible pedal however I have that spicetone 6 appeal which goes a bit deeper and just sold a Roland PG300 programmer.

The programmers are great as they give a Hands-On experience rather than menu diving.

I'm kind of surprised that PG 10 is still available.

Too many other synths to program, so little time.