Message
Re: A good time for Mellotronists
2006-07-02 by Tony Swettenham
--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Marshall" wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Just thought it was time to reflect on what a good time this is for all of us who have an interest in, or own, Mellotrons.
> I bought my M400 for £120 at a time (DX7s, big hair, shoulder-pads and Miami Vice) when the instrument was regarded as a relic, a joke or both. Streetly MkI had just folded so no information, spares or other support was available.
Same here - I bought my first M400 in late 1986 from an ad in the back of Melody Maker (wish I still had that one as well!). The prevailing attitude towards Mellotrons at the time always reminds me of when I went scouring around every London music shop I could think of (in about 1987/88), asking if they knew where I might be able to get hold of Mellotron tapes. The classic response I always remember is the one I got from an assistant in Rod Argent's Keyboards in central London, when he grinned at me in a "who's this weirdo?" sort of way and said "oh no, you don't want THOSE, do you? You do realise that Mellotrons are practically worthless now!?"
There were no affordable samplers or Mellotron samples available either. But I had to have THAT sound, despite slogging on with a Mellotron which was already neglected and performing far below its true capabilities.
>
Exactly - even if there were samples available at that time, I knew I had to have the real thing and nothing else would do. (Luckily my then fellow band members didn't mind driving it around in a Ford Fiesta to our gigs and recording sessions, but with us being primarily into a mixture of psychedelic/prog stuff at the time, they liked having it in our setup almost as much as I did, which made life a lot easier!)
Tony S
M400S #581