Moog System 12

‘Rare’ doesn’t come close to describing how few and far between these vintage original Moog Modulars are these days, and owners are simply hanging on to them whilst all the reissues from the new Moog company are making their transition into the market. The fact remains that savvy owners truly appreciate the historic value of these genuine ‘Bob Moog’ manufactured instruments, and why this lineage is what really counts at the end of the day, both emotionally, historically and commercially speaking – certainly in investment terms.

So why are we selling this beautiful Moog Modular System 12?

Well, this example comes from the RL Music private collection and has been fully professionally restored in 2015. We are releasing this for sale as we already own 3 other vintage Moog Modulars, and would like to raise some capital for some new vintage modular projects we have planned for this year, so here is a golden opportunity for someone looking to own a genuine piece of synthesizer history.

There is a considerable volume of material written about the amazing Bob Moog and his groundbreaking synthesizer designs from the 60s and 70s. Also, we all appreciate the outstanding sonic capabilities of these amazing instruments and why Bob Moog’s synthesizers changed the world, but to cut to the chase, here are the facts about this System 12 we have for sale.

Background history that we have:

The Moog System 12 unit has serial # 1039 and features some early ‘RA Moog’ modules from the time the Moog factory was located in Trumansburg, NY, and some modules with the later ‘Moog Music used after the move to Williamsburg. This is actually quite normal for these models as the assembly/manufacture date was around the early 1970s, so there would have been some RA Moog modules still available to use when assembling these systems. This puts an approximate age on this System 12 at 44 years old…not bad!

In the 1970s this System 12 belonged to the synthesist Jan Ternald of the Swedish psychedelic rock band Älgarnas Trädgård. After that, it ended up for unknown reasons in a small demo studio in Stockholm where it was left unused and forgotten until it was found and purchased by the last owner in 1984 (of whom RL Music purchased it from in 2015). It was mounted in custom-made flight cases in 1989 to allow touring and live performances. The original live setup also included two Mini Moogs, both stripped of the keyboards and mounted as rack modules, and an oscilloscope + a guitar tuner.

The system was then located in a recording studio in Stockholm, Sweden, and used in numerous productions until 1999. The last owner bought the System 12 to London In 2010 where it was located in the studio of an audio design company – it was continuous use (and professionally maintained) until it was sold to RL Music in 2015.

Modifications of note:

The two 921B oscillator modules have at some time prior to 1984 been modified by replacement of the original potentiometers with 10-round precision pots.

An IEC socket was fitted sometime during the lifetime of the System 12 to enable the system to be used in the EU. The power supply is rated to 220V, so it’s possible it was produced for the EU market by Moog, but we’re fairly sure that these systems were supplied with the standard 3-pin US power-socket from the factory back in the early 70s, so the IEC socket is more useful for EU users.

The System 12 arrived at RL Music without its original lid (lost over the years), so we have had a new one manufactured by Lamond Design, and then the whole system has been re-tolexed, with new nickel-plated hardware fitted by KSR in the UK to finish off.

All the 1/4 inch jack-sockets have been replaced with high-quality Switchcraft® panel mount sockets to improve connectivity. We decided to implement this upgrade as 44-year-old sockets can be very intermittent in connection, regardless of cleaning, and this can be very frustrating for users of voltage controlled/audio systems like these.

Configuration Top to bottom:

903-A Random Signal Generator (RA Moog)
907 Fixed Filter Bank (RA Moog)
904A Low Pass Filter
911 Envelope Generator (RA Moog)

921A Oscillator Driver
921B Voltage Controlled Oscillator
921B Voltage Controlled Oscillator
921 Voltage Controlled Oscillator
994 Multiples (RA Moog)
902 Voltage Controller Amplifier (RA Moog)
911 Envelope Generator (RA Moog)

CP3 Mixer
– Reversible Attenuator
Controller Output
Trunk Lines
Power

Restoration notes:

Our vintage Moog restoration expert, Kent Spong of KSR, undertook an extensive ground-up restoration on the System 12 during 2015. Other than the items noted above in the ‘modifications’ paragraph, no components that affected the sound character of the Moog were replaced (or needed to be in fact). We retained the original knobs though as these are a major cosmetic component to the aesthetic of this authentic vintage instrument.

The only item of note is that ‘power indicator’ bulb is no longer functioning.  This is a mains supplied (and sealed) part that is no longer available.  We did try Moog to see if they would supply one from their reissue range but they did not even reply to our enquiries.  Kent at KSR said that it would be possible to retrofit the light with a modern LED style indicator, but we have not asked him to implement this, but the buyer of this System 12 can decide on if they want that modification done or not, subject to quotation.  We have reduced the sales price of this System 12 to reflect this part not working.

We will service this System 12 prior to shipping to the new owner, so please expect a short delay of up to 2 weeks post-sale before it can be ready to hand over to its new custodian.

This Moog Modular System 12 is sold with a 3-month warranty and mentioned above, runs on EU 220V. We will include a selection of (used) 1/4 inch jacks with the sale if needed, but we do not have any spare cinch-jones cables, although Synthesizers.com can supply these from new here – http://www.synthesizers.com/qmse.html

We will ship this Moog worldwide, so please ask us for a packaging & shipping quote for your preferred destination address.

Price: £11,500 GBP.

Availability: This Moog Modular System 12 is now SOLD, as at 20th May 2020.

Picture of actual System 12 for sale below, so please click on the thumbnails for higher resolution photos.

BUY THIS MOOG SYSTEM 12