Considers buying cheap Yamaha A3000 sampler... any users?

Yo!

I have a standing offer on a very cheap Yamaha A3000 sampler from a trust-worthy seller (my big brother's good friend). I have no idea whether add-ons like SCSI, CD-rom drive or harddisk is installed, but the sampler itself is in good condition, fully-working and including cables + manual.

Questions that came to my mind:

1. What Akai sampler would you guys compare it to? - more S-series than MPC-series?

2. Is it as tedious to operate as oldschool Akai S-series samplers (which were, aside from the KB versions, rack-based exactly like Yamaha A3000)?

3. Does it lend itself well to hip-hop style sampling: ie. recording a 4/8+ bar loop off gramophone, chopping it in small slices, etc., mapping them across virtual keys, and then playing them from my DAW on PC using a standard MIDI cable?

4. Does it have that gritty, lo-fi, vintage-sampler sound, again, known from Akai S950, Akai MPC60, and E-MU SP-1200, etc.? Maybe just a bit? That would be dope!

I hope some current/former A3000 users can supply insight into this sampler. Even non-users who might have interesting knowledge or comments, I'd be grateful for replies from... - basically anything relevant! As I already own plenty newer software and hardware samplers (check out my 2nd post of today...), I won't be buying it in the hope it's my new #1 go-to sampler anyway... it's more someting to toy with, or perhaps run my sound signal through to add grit/warmth/punch (if the DA/AD converters, bit + sample rate, FX, etc. create that lo-fi-sampler sound goodness, LOL).

Thanks for useful input in advance, yo!

I now have one A4000 and I used to have two of them. They are great. The effects in these boxes are fantastic. I have made many videos about the A4000 and have them on youtube. THe knobs can get wonky and they are not fast loading and Yamaha forgot to add a convenient and fast undo/redo option.

Definitely tedious compared to a sampler with pads. Sound is good...i would not call it warm.
Has smart midi, so when you touch a knob on the controller it assigns itself tothe highlighted parameter. As with most yamaha gear can get deepbut worth it in the end. Best feature is the factthatyou can for example play a record andturn down thevolume and the sampler will know to make the next incoming signal be another separate sample. So itwill putthem in a row. Makes forfast sampling.

You can mod these machines with all sorts of stuff..internal cd if you cut a hole in it, etc.

Do not pay a lot of money for it. I would suggest you buy the A4000 or A5000. My music studio has grown substantially and I do not use the A4000 as much as I used to. Let me know if you want mine, I would rather sell to a forum member that is actually going to use it.

Mine has the glyph cd drive and the multiple in/out as well as all the cdroms.
In perfect working order.
Cheers,
Ian

Used an rs7000 for years, same engine as a3000 I think.
Sounded very good for a modern sampler, clean, better bass than alot of akais, although not a bass monster.... captured analog synth phrases very nicely... not many samplers I can say that about.
Used nice burr brown op amps from what I remember.
For me one of the best of the newer gen stuff soundwise, but absolutely not a lofi/character sampler.