Moog Taurus II Bass Pedals, Keyboard 1983

Moog Taurus II Bass Pedals full page colour advertisement from page 83 in the October 1983 issue of Keyboard magazine.

Okay - time to get back to Moog for a second or two. But, I have to confess, today's blog post has only marginally to do with this advertisement. This time... it's totally personal.

Sure, the ad is quite rare - appearing only two or three times in Keyboard in 1982/83. And, no question, the ad looks great - all futuristic-like and glowy and stuff. And even some name-dropping thrown in for good measure. The design is very similar to the Moog Rogue advertisement that was floating around during this time period, and which I've also blogged about. Both in ads and scans of Moog catalogues.

It also shared a similar design with the Memorymoog ad who's theme colour was pink. Taurus II - green. Rogue - blue. Memorymoog - pink. Cute.

The Memorymoog and Taurus II also ended up having something else in common - they appeared together in the July 1982 Spec Sheet section of Keyboard Magazine. It's a long one - so I'll save it for another day, because...

...like I said. This time it's all personal.  You see, a couple of weeks ago - I BOUGHT MOOG TAURUS II PEDALS.

WOOT!

If you follow my non-advertising blog that I rarely post to, Retro Synth Labs, you may already know that I have Moog Taurus I pedals. And I love 'em to bitz - especially since I finally got all that melted blue anvil case foam cleaned off.  :D

They sound as bass-y as... as... er... Moog Taurus I Pedals (what else can I compare them to?  :)

Yum.

So, when the chance to purchase Moog Taurus II pedals popped up - and locally too! - I couldn't pass up the opportunity to at least go take a look. Right? Just take a look! That's what I kept on telling myself any ways.

I contacted the seller and it turned out he lived a block away. One street over. No kidding! Too good to be true, Right?

I suddenly believed in fate.

But, because I was still on the fence to shell out the cash, I was upfront with the seller, stating that I was interested in the pedals, but if he had other offers, go right ahead and sell. BUT, if they were still in his possession the following Monday, I'd like to come over and take a look. Thinking he might be hesitant to let a total stranger into his home I sweetened the deal by offering to bring over the Taurus I pedals so we could compare the two.

And so the Taurus date was set for the following Monday!

Monday slowly crept along and I pulled out the T1s and drove them over. Yup - drove. One block. Don't judge.

He greeted me at the door and we walked down into his basement. And the first thing I saw... nope - not the Moog T2s - but Moog Taurus III pedals! Turns out he had bought the T3s to replace the T2s.

So, after checking out the T3s for just a moment or two (love the lighted footwheel controllers on that thing!), soon my eyes focused in on the T2s.

Embarrassingly, I really hadn't done my homework. So when I saw the T2s, I was actually quite surprised how closely they resembled the Moog Rogue synthesizer. I mean - almost EXACTLY like the Moog Rogue. Take a look at the controller in the ad, and then compare it to this image of the Moog Rogue on Vintage Synth Explorer. I know, right?!?! I'd heard they were similar. But didn't realize they were *that* similar.

Any ways, we noodled around for a while on all three pedals for some extreme BASS IN YOUR FACE. Looking back, I almost felt sorry for his PA system. And his girlfriend - but then I remembered that she actually left the house soon after I got there. Smart girl.  :)

Then the seller had the bright idea to take some photos. PHOTOS! And it was at that point that I think I finally realized the significance of this experience.

ALL THREE PEDALS.

In the same room.

Lined up in a row.

Plugged in.

Gah!

I was just soooo excited about the pedals that I didn't even think to bring a camera.

Lucky for us - he had his GF's iPhone handy.

Proof!

And yes - I have the T2 bar that connects the unit to the pedals at waist height. But for the photo, I thought I would remove it to get everything at the same level.


Well. That was that. I had to have them. We shook hands and exchanged some cash. Well, actually, cash exchange occurred over two days. But, point is, I finally had both the TIs and TIIs set up in my studio.

A friend came over that evening and rather than work on music, and we noodled around on the T2s. Especially fun was hooking up the TR808 as a trigger input and figuring out what exactly it triggered. Nice. We also put the XOXBOX through the external input - also sync'd from the 808.

Good times. Good times...

Time and money well spent. And, gotta say, I'm happy to report that good people and fair prices still exist out there.

Now time for me to get the new Taurus III pedals. If I can find a pair! Yum!