What to look for when Buying Used

Hey all. New to the forum, been doing serious production for the better part of 5 years. DAWs of all kinds, instruments, interfaces, you get the idea.

Been eyeing MPCs for a while and decided its about time to get my hands on one. Went to a synth meetup in Boulder, Colorado, got a tutorial on the MPC 1000, learned about modding the pads, figured out the workflow, and now I'm back in love.

MPC 1000 is what I'm looking at, being the least expensive machine that's "still an MPC". The Fly looks cool, the 500 has that portability but a teeny screen, but I can almost get a used 1000 for the price of a new Fly, so that's a no-brainer.

So a couple questions...

What kinds of things should I look for when shopping for a used MPC 1000? I want to replace the pads with thick pads... I was told to look for an MPC with a BLACK back panel, none of that silver/blue/red stuff.

Aside from Craigslist, MPCstuff.com and eBay, where can I look for used MPCs? And should I have specifications regarding shipping, if I get one from afar?

Much thanks!

Guitar center used listing online

Any thoughts on what to look for when buying a used unit? Perhaps questions to ask the Guitar Center rep if/when I call them?

the rep at gc is likely not going to know all the ins and outs so i would say skip guitar center unless you can go in and look yourself.

there are certain things to look for but they can almost all be added again later - just keep this in mind when talking price.

number one essential thing is the old vs new style pads. the blue ones originally shipped with a totally flawed pad design that was soon redone in the new models, and a new pad kit is available to convert the old ones.
so make sure it has the new pads, or factor in the cost of the upgrade because you will absolutely need it.

second is the os. if it has a jjosxl that is good. there are free versions of jjos too, but the paid ones are really top notch - so if you find a machine with it that is good.

finally the standard stuff, memory, hard drive, cf cards...

find a broken one and fix it up, both for cheap!

To find out if you got the new pads or not, try to lift one of the corner pads out of the casing. If the corner of the pad can be slipped out and poke out of the casing, you got the new pads. It shouldn't be too difficult, don't force it or the pad could break.