Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Bob,

This was Martin Smith of Streetly you were speaking about? I am confusedbecause you used the words "superb" and "proven" in the same sentence...

Rick (FX Console 10030--bad enough putting in just three new tapes afterTronto MkII!)

Robert and Suzanne Young wrote:

 Hi Ken, Hi Folks:

Yes, Ken M. and I embarked on a journey few have taken - swappingMKII
tapes !  Of course, I had a superb and proven guide watchingover me in
the form of Streetly Electronics (i.e. Martin Smith and, no doubt,JB in
the background going "What has that guy buggered up now ??"). Actually,
I haven't had time to work on the cycling glitch on MKII #118 although
I'm sure it will get sorted out. After the intitial anxiety attackof
getting into the guts of the machine has passed, the process is
straight-forward but a notable workout for the fingers and forearms. My
mishap with the tape vs Wharfedale was the result of a blatantbit of
carelessness on my part (i.e., not listening carefully to Martin).If
one avoids such activity, I don't believe that there is reallya need to
remove the speakers.  Considering the size of the magnet,the encounter
had amazingly limited effect - about a 1-1.5.second drop out onStation
6.

Most importantly, the new sounds are terrific !!!  The newLH roster
includes:
Station 1: Fairlight Swanee, Adrian Belew's sus. guitar, SteveHacketts'
sus. guitar
Station 2: Oboe, Russian Choir (IMPRESSIVE), St. John's wood organ
Station 3: Cello, M300A strings, French horn
Station 4: Gothic, Medieval woodwind, Orchestra (IMO, the bestsound
mix)
Station 5: Recorder, M300B strings, Ian McDonald flute (NICE !!)
Station 6: Woodwind 2, bass clarinet (rattles the windows), Cor
Anaglais/oboe split

The RH keyboard remain traditional leads.

Having now delved a  bit deeper into the workings of a MKII,I stand
behind my contention of some time ago regarding the ingenious designand
robustness of these MKII machines.  They're really quite impressiveand
37 years old !!!

Later

Bob Y.

kenmerb@... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 10/22/2002 6:18:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> kenmerb@... writes:
>
>      Regarding the cycling, Martin'stape replacement method
>      provided a way to bypass the timingissues. I replaced each
>      tape by attaching the new tapeto old, and pulling it
>      through the tron, using the existingtape as a guide.  This
>      way, I didn't have to take offthe cycling chain or the
>      drums.  That probably wouldhave been a nightmare to adjust
>      afterwards
>
> To clarify here, both Bob and I had cycling problems after replacing
> the tapes, but they weren't timing issues.  It was justthat, upon
> replacing the synch tape, neither of our machines could findthe tape
> bank index marks on the new tape as they passed over the synchheads.
> After a while, mine started working properly, but Bob's wasn'tworking
> the last time I heard from him.  Martin's sending him anothersynch
> tape with a stronger signal, in case that's the problem. Bob - if
> you're out there, let us know how it's going.
>
> Ken M.
Hi Folks:

Yes, Ken M. and I embarked on a journey few have taken - swappingMKII
tapes !  Of course, I had a superb and proven guide watchingover me in
the form of Streetly Electronics (i.e. Martin Smith and, no doubt,JB in
the background going "What the hell has that banjo-pickin' moron
buggered up now ??").  Actually, I haven't had time to workon the
cycling glitch on MKII #118 although I'm sure it will get sortedout.
After the intitial anxiety attack of getting into the guts of the
machine has passed, the process is straight-forward but a notable
workout for the fingers and forearms.  My mishap resultingin the tape
vs Wharfedale contest was the result of a blatant bit of carelessnesson
my part (i.e., not listening carefully to Martin; geeze, I hate
groveling like this). If one avoids such errors, I don't believethat
there is really a need to remove the speakers.  Consideringthe size of
the magnet, the encounter had amazingly limited effect - abouta
1-1.5.second drop out on Station 6.

Most importantly, the new sounds are terrific !!! (timed impeccablyI
might add). The new LH roster includes:
Station 1: Fairlight Swanee, Adrian Belew's sus. guitar, SteveHacketts'
sus. guitar
Station 2: Oboe, Russian Choir (IMPRESSIVE), St. John's wood organ
Station 3: Cello, M300A strings, French horn
Station 4: Gothic, Medieval woodwind, Orchestra (IMO, the bestTron
sound mix of all time)
Station 5: Recorder, M300B strings, Ian McDonald flute (NICE !!)
Station 6: Woodwind 2, bass clarinet (rattles the windows), Cor
Anaglais/oboe split

The RH keyboard remain traditional leads.

Having now delved a bit deeper into the workings of a MKII, I stand
behind my contention of some time ago regarding the ingenious designand
robustness of these MKII machines.  They're really quite impressiveand
37 years old !!!

Later

Bob Y.