YAMAHA GX-1 with 3 tone Cabinet.
This item has been sold!
We shipped this item from Sydney to Pete Townshend of The Who in London in 2013.
---Item Condition---
Owners Comments (1)
Hi Taro
The GX-1 is in very good condition for its age. Obviously it’s got a few bumps and scratches on it associated with moving such a large instrument around.
I’ve spent a few years restoring the electronics.
The GX-1 is completely functional, although notes on the lower keyboard drift in and out of tune (I simply don’t have the time to spend on it now).
The three original tone cabinets are not functional, they need some work.
This has never bothered me, as I have the GX-1 mixed into my KA-20 speakers. Overall, I imagine it’s one of the few working GX-1s left in existence.
Very importantly, it has the tone board (patch panel) and tone module settings box, a service manual,
and MOST importantly a box of spare parts supplied by Yamaha to replace most custom parts
(i.e. non-easily available discrete component) in the GX-1, including keys, complete spare boards, reverb springs etc.
The spare parts alone could be the most comprehensive set of parts left around the globe for a GX-1.
Owners Comments (2)
Hi Taro,
I’ll take a photo of one of the tone cabinets for you over the weekend.
The other two are in storage and currently sealed in plastic.
One of the tone cabinets does produce limited sound, but does the GX-1 no justice. The other two do not work.
The GX-1 has three tone cabinet outputs (UPPER, CENTRE/GENERAL & LOWER) along with a switch to configure the number of connected cabinets.
With all 3 cabinets connected:
UK -> UPPER
LK -> LOWER
PK, SK, Rhythm, Portamento -> CENTRE
I’ve been running the GX-1 with 1 tone cabinet selected hence UK, LK, PK, SK, Rhythm & Portamento all are output on one channel (which I have connected to a KA-20).
There are a number of marks on the GX-1.
No real dents that I am aware of. Potential buyers do need to understand the rarity and that they are 35+ years old.
The fibreglass is in great condition, given the age of the GX-1. Much better than an EX-42 I had a number of years ago.
The condition of the silver/grey finish is reasonable with some imperfections/blemishes.
Some could be removed by a good polish. I’ve focused on electronic restoration - cabinet restoration is not my specialty J
Overall, as you can see from the photos, finding a functional GX-1 in this condition is going to be very rare indeed.
BTW, this GX-1 has an international voltage selector, making it perfect for exportation.
According to the service manual, not all GX-1s had this.
Cheers
"but does the GX-1 no justice" – what I mean is that the GX-1 does not sound near as good through the “working” TK-II tone cabinet as it does through the KA-20 tone cabinet.
This is because the amplification system in the “working” TK-II still requires repair for full operation.
Cheers
Owners Comment (4)
Hi Taro,
On the solo keyboard there are three touch responses (1st, 2nd, 3rd):
1st: Attack Time/Initial Pitch
2nd: Pitch/Brilliance/Volume
3rd: Conventional Touch Vibrato/Wah/Resonance
On the UK: Touch Vibrato/Wah/Resonance
There is no touch response function on the LK.
Download the GX-1 user manual from http://www.yamaha.co.jp/manual/english/ (search: GX-1).
This explains the touch response capability in more detail if you need to know.
Touch responses are working.
All keyboards have sub-oscillators effects – quite different to touch response.