In a message dated 3/13/2005 2:02:26 AM Pacific Standard Time, andy.thompson@... writes:
Speaking of which, are there any Mini owners out there who have as much
tuning grief as me? I've taken to hooking it up through a guitar tuning
stomp box with an option to cut the signal off while tuning (thankfully),
but it still managed to drift an entire semitone during one song (!) at a
recent gig.
It's been 50-50 with mine. My original Mini, an older one bought locally, required a major tuning tweak every time it was fired up, and stayed pretty much in tune, unless the planets were in a certain alignment or someone farted on stage. My current Mini, a newer one bought from eBay with no knowledge of its history, has been remarkably stable. My understanding is that oscillator drift was common in the earlier units was due to the inherent design of the oscillator itself, with later units being fitted with a more stable unit (and older ones retrofitted). Brian Kehew would certainly know the scoop on this.
Does anyone know if this was also problematic on the modular units (excepting Emerson's highly exposed and abused unit). I had the good fortune of meeting the late Paul Beaver in the early 70's and fiddling around with his 3P (almost identical to Klaus' unit on eBay - prayers for Klaus) and neither experienced it nor did he mention anything about drift (perhaps because it wasn't a concern).
Re: Andy K's response about the Mini being an icon with a more deserving place on the mantlepiece, that could easily be said of mellotrons as well, but look at all of us! ;-) Tell that to Rick Wakeman, who is again touring with 2 Mini's (but alas, no trons).
Frank Samagaio
MkII #134 / M400 #908 - Just like the Eveready Rabbit and Ol' Man River,they
just keep rollin' along!