How to recognize a Refurbished OB-6

[Jim.B]

Hi Everyone,
First time poster here, and I would hope to get some feedback from the more experienced Sequential community on my situation.

I just bought myself an OB-6 from a well-known retailer in Belgium (delivered by bax-shop.nl), but after opening the box and removing the plastic bag around the synth I noticed that it had quite a lot of dust. This made me take notice of three more issues with what was supposed to be a brand new synthesizer.

1 - the largest red led screen in the middle has two noticeable scratches, not very deep but clearly there (maybe these could be buffed out if the screen could be removed, but not like this)

2 - on the back there is another scratch about 1cm horizontally – not down to the metal – but deep enough to catch the light and not have the relief from the paint anymore.

3 - the black keys on the left & right of the keyboard seem to be scoffed – with irregular dull, spots (middle section is fine)

Packaging wise - the OB-6 box arrived without any external box around it and got a some bumps and broozes (shame on Bax for not double boxing this), but it was clearly the original box and only a single layer of the brown paper tape (with string mesh) that I have verified seeing on other unboxings on youtube.

I wouldn’t  be surprised that Bax-Shop would repackage a showroom model, but I can’t believe a retailer would have an original OB-6 box and the original tape lying around right?

So the only thing I could think of was this was a refurbished OB-6 from the factory that Bax-Shop.nl sold me as Brand New.
 
I found a post from the US on another forum where they mentioned explicitly buying a refurbished OB-6, so it looks like this is a thing – does anyone know about this also happening in Europe? Bax might be selling these as new…

Additionally if I would return the synth, the conditions from Bax-Shop state that if they notice any scratches, they will only refund 90% of the purchase price… (or less depending on the state)
 
Hope someone can shed some light on this situation – the synth sounds great and I would really like to own one, but I feel like I got played here.

Kind Regards,
Jim

[tarekith]

When I was living in Luxembourg I used Bax twice to purchase gear that was supposedly new, and both times it arrived clearly used from their showroom.  Sent both back, switched to Thomann and no more issues.

[Jim.B]

Thanks for your reply.
Must confess that I've had a similar experience like yours with Bax before too - but that time the situation was very clear - the box re-sealed with regular tape. Since then I take pictures and video opening their deliveries.

This time however , I'm quite sure it was not a re-sealed box (see picture)
Look like the only way this could have been a re-seal by Bax is that they had a new empty OB-6 box and a roll of that paper tape with string mesh.

Another Possibility is that this was factory sealed by Sequential as "Refurbished" - and Bax just sold it as new.
Main question is - does Sequential "refurbish" at all?

Final possibility is that... maybe Sequential just isn't that careful with their synth in the factory to start with? It was clearly recently upgraded to OS 1.6.6.

Cheers,

Jim

[MeAndMyKeys]

Hello Jim,
Sorry see you received you new ? OB-6 in this condition. The box sure does look like factory taping, however I suspect you did not receive a new unit with dust and scratches. If you paid for a new unit, you should receive a new, perfect condition unit or ask for a discount.
I just had a similar experience with a Waldorf quantum, which arrived in a single box with severe damage to the box and synth. The retailer has been fantastic to deal with and is sending me a brand new unit.
Hoping your unit can be replaced with new, or a fairly compensated discount given.
best of luck,
Craig.

[Jim.B]

Thanks for the reply Craig. Just to confirm - yes, I bought the synth as "brand new" from Bax-Shop.be.

In the meanwhile I've been in contact with Sequential Support and they provided me with some information:

- Based on the serial number, they could tell me there was no history of any repair by Sequential Factory.
- The serial number 054xx apparently is quite high according to support - which means that it is quite recent and the 1.6.6 could be from the factory.
- The scoffed black keys are a known issue with keyboards coming directly from Fatar like this.
- They ship to Bax in bulk with units single boxed on large, secured pallets
However - I'm still faulting Bax here, because they did not put their own brand box around the original box, which they normally do with everything including another synth I bought before.

However - the scratches remain unexplained. They asked me to make pictures of the scratches - so I'll attach them here too.

Finally - They recommended me to contact Bax to try and work out a return or replacement - this will be fun :s

[Quatschmacher]

Bax stopped using outer boxes after December 2020, at least on my purchases. My first Pro3 had an outer box (December 2020) my Prophet 10 and replacement Pro3 had no outer box (January and February 2021 respectively). Wonder if it’s a brexit-related cost saving.

[Jim.B]

Interesting Quatschmacher, may be around that period they stopped using outer Bax boxes indeed.

Last synth I bought (with Bax) before this one was a Novation Summit on January 10th 2021, so that is right around that period. That one did have a Bax Shipping box , then the Novation outer cardboard box and then inner Box with artwork - good times

But in the end, the cosmetic issues with the OB-6 itself are the main issue that are making me consider returning it - and which will be tough to explain to Bax that these scratches were already there when I opened the box...

Looks like you've had your share of Sequential Synths - any such cosmetic issues? Why did you have to replace the Pro-3?

[Quatschmacher]

Interesting Quatschmacher, may be around that period they stopped using outer Bax boxes indeed.

Last synth I bought (with Bax) before this one was a Novation Summit on January 10th 2021, so that is right around that period. That one did have a Bax Shipping box , then the Novation outer cardboard box and then inner Box with artwork - good times

But in the end, the cosmetic issues with the OB-6 itself are the main issue that are making me consider returning it - and which will be tough to explain to Bax that these scratches were already there when I opened the box...

Looks like you've had your share of Sequential Synths - any such cosmetic issues? Why did you have to replace the Pro-3?

If the scratches were present when you bought it and it’s not something you can live with (I’d likely be the same), I’d simply photograph them, report them and return the item for a replacement through the official channel.

I haven’t had cosmetic issues. I used to own a Pro 2 but returned it when the knobs went wobbly after two weeks.

My Pro 3 had a faulty encoder. I actually still haven’t opened the replacement!

P10 has been fine.

I have heard of others who have had scratches present on the new keybed.

[smerny]

Let me take a sec here and praise Sequential.  I broke a key on my Pro3, and within a week they sent me a free replacement and instructions.  She's back like new!