ARP 2600

“Of course it’s not as good as.......” is a phrase often heard when talking to any bore. It can be used in any context and at any time.

Here’s a classic example - a friend of mine saved for years to buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle and when he finally took delivery, he rode it to the pub only to be told by a friend (who was renowned for having an opinion on everything) “A Flathead. Of course it’s not as good as the Panhead is it?”

I think it was meant to be a rhetorical question but my friend heard the words “pan” and “head” filled in the gaps with his rage and answered with his fists while the now ex-friend begged for mercy asking “What did I say?”



You can have a similar discussion with an ARP 2600 bore too. Let’s say you have the Blue Meanie (which apparently should really be called the Blue Marvin after ARP’s head of engineering, Marvin Cohen) you will undoubtedly meet a synth bore who will explain “But it’s not as good as the Grey Meanie”

Of course it wouldn’t matter if you had a Grey Meanie either, or a G-Clef ARP Logo, or a 2600 with unpotted submodules, one with rectangular or oval speaker grilles, an enhanced 4072 Filter or the 4012 filter, you will not win because “of course it’s not as good as a CMS upgraded 2600”

As you can probably tell from the above the 2600 appeared in numerous guises over a period of ten years from 1971. There were approximately 3000 2600s made during that period and it was unquestionably a huge success for the company, with some employees referring to it as “the synth that wouldn’t die”

It was essentially a semi-modular instrument that was ready to make a noise from-the-off but also one where the user could use patch-cables to create alternate connections between the various modules, basically rewiring to suit. This meant it was the perfect choice for teaching synthesis in educational establishments across the USA and beyond. It was easier to grasp than a Modular Moog and with its three VCOs it could pack quite a sonic punch.

Aside from the absurd amount of variations that seem to exist, in our experience, as wonderful as it sounded and as versatile as it was, its main drawback that it was more a piece of laboratory kit, as opposed to a highly playable musical instrument like the Odyssey and Minimoog. But, hey, we have been known to be wrong and there’s a fair amount of users out there who would no doubt insist we were. Users such as Stevie Wonder (who is known to have complained about its unreliability during the recording of Sir Duke), Pete Townsend, Joe Zawinul (who was known to have called ARP asking “How do I turn it off?” - a reference to the VCA Gain slider making a constant noise if turned up), Skywalker Sound (who used it for the R2D2 sound), Underworld, Edgar Winter (who used it on Frankenstein), Tony Banks, Joy Division, Daniel Miller, The Orb, Orbital, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Klaus Schulze, Depeche Mode and many, many more.



We often wonder if these users fretted as to whether theirs had the patent infringing Moog Ladder filter or if their music could have sounded better if they had the Grey Meanie instead of the orange and black version?

We did manage to ask one person in the above list, a certain Mr Rick Smith from Underworld who said “Fuck off. As lovely as it is. It’s a tool I use to do certain jobs - that’s all”

If you’re looking for a 2600 in the UK today be prepared to pay anything up to £2000.





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