>A while back someone mentioned that they were surprised that when they
>played their Mellotron for the first time it didn't have "that sound" they
>were expecting (which was absolutely my experience when M400 s/n 121 showed
>up here). I realize it's a personal thing, but to me "that sound" is King
>Crimson's, In the Court of... Anyway, seems to me the discussion ended up
>deciding that "that sound" has to do with the mellotron being amped by a
>Hiwatt amp with a touch of reverb. So...has there ever been any thought of
>producing tape sets of standard sounds played/mic-ed thru a Hiwatt with the
>prescribed amount of plate reverb?
I have recorded mellotron through assorted Vox amps, and it always gets an
edge it didn't have before. The old cello sound gets bigger and scarier
through an amp. And as with guitar, the amps is 50% of the sound, so
different amps do different things to the sound. I have recorded tron by
using two Vox amps with different reverb and amplification characteristics,
each in its own channel. The sound is huge and deep. By introducing a slight
delay beetween the two the sound becomes even huger and deeper. Don't use top
boost. It works for guitar, but doesn't work for mellotron. The amp should
rather have a less toppy high end.
/frank