question about buying a used 2000 classic (my first mpc)

i'm about to buy a used mpc2000 classic from this dude for 150 bucks. he says it hasn't been turned on in a year, he lost the os disks, the piece doesn't have a zip drive and used to freeze every once in a while when he used it. he's also sending me an external hard drive, but said that the actual hard drive of the mpc might need to be replaced.

i live in dallas and was thinking i could probably get it repaired at audio electronics (http://www.audioelectronics.com). what do you guys think? is this worth it? or is the unit probably not even worth the trouble?

it'd be my first mpc, i've been a long-time computer user and have just gotten sick of point-and-click beat-making. i've used plenty of old, difficult, one-line-of-fading-LCD-text stuff before, though, so i'm not afraid to dig into it.

at 150 i figure i could easily afford to fix it up and it still be cheaper than having bought one elsewhere. should i jump for it?

Just based on what you typed I would wait and get one off ebay for like $400

This is what my boy just told me:

"When I say freeze I mean after it has been on for a little while, usually 30-60 minutes minimum. If I remember correctly it would just give an error message then I'd have to reboot."

that's what he says the only problem he had with it was. anybody else have this issue? is this common?

If you want it then buy it but it's gonna be a headache to get it workin right if you ever even get it to work right. I can already tell it's gonna cost you $200-300 to fix after all parts & labor.

yeah, seems like a good deal cause $150 for any mpc is good but since its your first, you should buy a working one.

its worth it just for the parts at that price.

Sure $150 is dead cheap

>he lost the os disks,

that's not a biggy, you can get those

>the piece doesn't have a zip drive

the classic never had an internal zip anyway if that's what he means, it can take an internal scsi zip but only with significant internal modifications

>usually 30-60 minutes minimum .. give an error message then I'd have to reboot

that sounds like an unhappy piece of electronics to me

>but said that the actual hard drive of the mpc might need to be replaced.

same again the classic never had an internal hdd so not sure what he means

>or is the unit probably not even worth the trouble?

depends what's wrong with it, i'd imagine any repairs are likely to amount to a motherboard swap which apart from the enclosure is the most expensive bit in it

>at 150 i figure i could easily afford to fix it up and it still be cheaper

i would imagine not but if it's useable at $150 then you've got a bargain .. if it's in good cosmetic condition and the screen is nice and bright then yeah maybe it's worth $150 in parts ... although who'd buy them i'm not sure

thanks for all the info guys.

i'm gonna have to talk to him more based on what you're saying, and see if he's willing to pay me back if it's completely unusable. i'm gonna get him to boot it up again and tell me exactly what the error is and when it occurs.

based on that, i'm pretty sure i should be able to guess whether it'd be worth the trouble or not. if i do decide to pick it up, which i probably will at that price (it's not like i take a HUGE loss if it just doesn't work), then you guys are probably gonna all be my new best friends while i try to tame this beast.

along those lines, anyone have anything they wish someone had told them when they bought their first mpc?

lil foot wrote:along those lines, anyone have anything they wish someone had told them when they bought their first mpc?

Yeah ... don't buy an MPC1000

Although it was pre JJ OS days

I've owned a classic too. Lack of folder support in the file system seriously did my head in.

Save yourself the headache and buy one that works when you get it. The last thing you want is to buy something like an MPC (which you might not be able to fix yourself), send it off to be repaired, spend more money on it, and not even have a guarantee that it can be fixed after alot of sweat.

Just save yourself the trouble, spend the extra up front, and get one you can use when it's delivered.

get together four hundred more dollars and get a used 2KXL or 1K with the JJOS. I'd start off by checking around at any Guitar Centers to see if they have any used. Thats what I did. A bare 2000XL shouldn't run you no higher than $500.

f@$k that, just save up for few months and get a 5000

for real tho, I cosign on cheese. XL all the way $500-600.