Mellotronists

In a message dated 7/27/2004 1:08:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jkorb@... writes:

> Depends largely on the circuitry.  Ken Merbler's MK-II #247 
> has choir  voices, going thru valve-preamps, and Hi-Z heads. 
> That combination yields that bright "King Crimson" sound. 

I have male choir, female choir, boys choir and 8 choir on my MKII, #247.  
When you crank it up and play through the Wharfedales, it will make the hair 
stand up on the back of your neck.  I rarely get to do that because of where I 
live, however.  The MKII is very bright, almost painful to your ears past a 
moderate volume level.  When I play through headphones at lower volume, it sounds 
more like my M400.

> 
> And Frank Samagaio's Pindertron MK-II #134 , also has 
> choir voices. But the preamps within have NO equalization 
> at all. The Moodies' choice back then. The upper registers 
> are more subdued than an M400,and much less than my 
> MK-I #124 "Julia." 
> 
> 

Definitely a difference here.  You can hear a comparison on Ken Leonard's web 
site when we played Jerry's "Julia" MKII alongside Frank's "Pindertron" MKII. 
 Frank's MKII didn't have the painfully bright (Crimson) sound found in most 
MKIIs, but it did have a nice Moodies sound, due to the unique preamp in his 
machine.  You can hear the comparisons here, as I captured some of it on a 
minidisc player I brought along.

http://www.kleonard.com/mellotron/vt0304/pindertron3.htm

The MP3 files are about 3/4 down the page, under the heading "MP3 Audio 
Samples".

No choirs on Julia, so you can't make the comparison there, but you can hear 
some on the Pindertron.

This was all done at Jerry's "Mellotron Fantasy Camp" last March in Vermont.

Ken M.