Mellotronists

In a message dated 1/9/2007 4:24:24 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
kornowicz@... writes:

Ken  Leonard's website, which seems to be down at the moment, goes 
into some  detail as to why Pinder's MkII sounds so much different 
than the KC Trons.  When it comes up again, look for the audio 
comparisons of Jerry Korb's MkI  to Frank Samagaio's Pindertron.

I noticed that on the live recordings,  Pinder uses what sounds to me 
like the Hammond C3 (left keyboard?) played  in unison with 3 Violins 
to reinforce them and give them more body. Has  anyone else noticed 
this? Could be my ears playing tricks again,  though.

Bernie



Basically, KC's MkII's had the stock tube preamp (as does Jerry's  MkI) which 
yields more of that "icy" sound.  The Pindertron (#134) has  Mike's 
custom-built solid state preamp which rolls off the high end, giving it  that "warmer" 
Moodies sound.  The audio comparisons definitely highlight  these differences.
 
Regarding the Hammond sound, I don't detect this combination in  listening to 
live recordings in my music library, and never heard Mike use it in  the 6-7 
performances I attended between '68-'74.  He did use the Church  Organ 
(Station 6) for pitch bends, i.e, "Have You Heard", etc.  The Church  Organ was also 
used in the bridge section of "Peak Hour", along with the Italian  Accordion 
for the verses and final coda (adjacent tracks on Station 6 on his  stock MkII 
tapes -- which I have).
 
Frank 1