MATRIXSYNTH: The First ARP 2500


Saturday, May 20, 2006

The First ARP 2500

You are looking at the first ARP 2500. It's home is at the New England Synthesizer Museum in Nashua, New Hampshire. I was fortunate enough to actually see it in person a couple of years ago. It was an amazing experience, standing in front of it, realizing what it is. I took a few shots including this one. Title link will take you to them including a much larger version of this one. Also note the SYNTHE license plate on top. : )

What is just as amazing is how Dave Hillel Wilson, the curator of the museum, acquired it. There are amazing deals and then there is this... But don't feel to bad, as you will see, somehow karma has a way of balancing things, but somehow I think Dave still came out ahead. : )

"Many years ago a man tried to sell an ARP 2500 to Daddy's Junky Music in Nashua, New Hampshire. They didn't want it, so they referred him to me. I looked at it and was afraid to offer too little; I offered $500 US. He was expecting to get $50 for it, so he was so happy he threw in his gray meanie 2600 as well. Later Alan R. Pearlman confirmed that this 2500 was the first ever made.

Best purchase I didn't make - I looked at a Buchla Music Easel (before I knew much, but after I thought I new everything) and said it wasn't as good as an ARP Axxe. The guy offered it to me for $400 US dollars and I said no. Boy have I made some stupid mistakes in my lifetime!! (Some guy bought it for 400, turned right around and sold it to a dealer for $1200, who sold it to someone in Europe for $2400, so it's long gone)."

- David Hillel Wilson
Curator
New England Synthesizer Museum
_DWilSynth[]aol.com
_www.synthmuseum.com/nesm

Update: a few more pics below. Note David Hillel Wilson passed away in 2010.



8 comments:

  1. arp 2500s are a lot smaller then one would expect.

    so if I have a collection of old synthesizers, do I get to call myself a Curator?

    time to get some new business cards printed up!

    ReplyDelete
  2. business cards AND tax shelter!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yep. But you'd have to be open for visits. : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Matrix,
    After the big crash of my PC, me here is of return on the Net. So, I created another blog on videos " Des choses et d'autres" and on photos which I took during festivals of Jazz. To begin, I placed a video of Soft Machine which dates the first album.

    http://debvideopics.blogspot.com/

    Naturally, I continue "Chroniques de la Mao" :
    http://deb8076.blogspot.com/
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wasn't there an Arp modular with the same modules but shorter patching switches released before the 2500?
    I think it was called the 2200 or something.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks deb7680. I just put up a post announcing your video blog. BTW, are those your Synthi videos on YouTube or did you just found them? I'm going to put up a post on them and if they are yours, I will of course mention that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Actually just translated the post and see that they are by Cores303.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Someone needs to hire a maid!

    ReplyDelete

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