Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Mellotron Group

After Bernie's post I was thinking maybe we could talk about differences in the machines- probably done before but alot of new folks posting. Frank's book gave general overviews but I still have questions. The earliest mellotrons MKI MKII , and M300's had high impedence tape heads- I'm assuming the Musicmasters did too. The M400 and Chamberlin M1 switched to low....I wonder why.
The M1 has eight track tape heads and uses 1/2 inch tape. With eight sounds that gives each track 1/16" of the tape. The M400 has three tracks on a 3/8 inch tape= 1/8inch per track. Normally that would be considered better, right? The tape heads of the M1 are stereo, the M400 are mono. I have heard that the quality of the heads in the M1 are better. They do sound different when played side by side- the M1 seems brighter. I don't know how much that has to do with the preamps.
The return system on the M1 is completely different. Using a seperate motor and "capstan" weird little rings engage when you stop playing a note and pull the tape back. I am slightly mechanically inclined, can adjust these but have no idea how they work! This feature allows the chamberlin to be considerably smaller than the M400- not having to house all the springs.
Maintainence! In order to clean the tape heads on an M1 you will need to take off the keys one by one and then remove the pinch roller and pad assembly of each note. You then can carefully lift the tape away from the head and clean it. Whew! If any of the more experienced users on this list have figured out how to demagnetize an M1 please let me know. I think that Richard Chamberlin must have made alot of house calls back in the 70's!
MkII owners -how do you clean and demag the heads? The genius of the M400 design becomes so clear...4 thumb screws and the keyboard comes off. 4 thumb screws and the tape rack comes out! Hurray!
You have 8 sounds in the M1 altogether and six possible stereo combinations- really nice. You are going to really need to love those sounds for a long time because changing them will not be easy. I DO love the 8 in my machine and will for all time but am glad I have an m400 for other sounds.