Mellotronists

Well I was just coming rounding to thinking of planning to buy a Mark VI until these posts starting appearing, how many hours a week do you have to spend keeping these things going? My electronic and engineering skills are pretty limited and Streetly's are 12000 miles away, I think I'll stick to samples for now.

Mark

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----- Original Message -----

From: Mark Pring

To: mellotronists@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:13 PM

Subject: [Mellotronists] Loss of Playback and PML1

Well I was just coming rounding to thinking of planning to buy a Mark VI until these posts starting appearing, how many hours a week do you have to spend keeping these things going? My electronic and engineering skills are pretty limited and Streetly's are 12000 miles away, I think I'll stick to samples for now.

Mark

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--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Mark Pring
<mellotronmadness@...> wrote:

>
> Well I was just coming rounding to thinking of planning to buy a

Mark VI until these posts starting appearing, how many hours a week
do you have to spend keeping these things going? My electronic and
engineering skills are pretty limited and Streetly's are 12000 miles
away, I think I'll stick to samples for now.

>
> Mark
>
> Send instant messages to your online friends

http://au.messenger.yahoo.com

>

RE: Hopefully I can speak for the majority of the owners who own
RELIABLE units whatever the model. First if you read the posts of
unit problems/ mishaps that appear on this site, consider this: the
reason for posting problems or remedies on this site is to try to
find a solution. Do people post messages when everything goes well?
These instruments have gotten a bad rap over the years and for the
most part by those who do not understand or take the effort to know
the workings of these units, with the exception of units that were
inferior from the start, like the EMI on ebay, again repairable.
Second, there are enough people on this site with the knowledge to
solve almost any problem and there are enough tech tips available
that you should be able to assemble one from the ground up
blindfolded.
I also fell for the hype somewhat until I bit the bullet and took it
out in a live situation and guess what? with all the shortcomings of
30 years of aging it still went the distance with no mishaps and now
that it is refurbished, it behaves so much better. Took it out in
50 degree weather last week and had no adjusting to do after warm-
up. Refer to the MONEYPIT article of June 2006 to see before and
after, real "basket cases" that are back to life and making
themselves useful again.
As for the poor fella's mishap with the audio board, it was'nt the
fault of the machine as an honest mistake.
It is hard to draw a total picture here unless you have one in
front of you but please do not be intimidated into believing these
are unreliable, they are not, and if you ask anyone here who has
done their homework on these units, they will I'm sure agree. And
if you are planning on a Mk VI then all the shortcomings of it's
predecessor have been addressed. Hope this changes your outlook. --
---Doug

Thanks Doug and Mark, I feel reassured and have put a real mellotron back on my todo list. Mine will have to be shipped from Canada to New Zealand, is that likely to cause a problem?

Mark

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>
>
>
>> You will
> be the envy of all of your friends. Pretty girls will be calling on

you day

> and night and offering to have your babies. And more importantly

still, the

> roughnecks and vagabonds on this list will be foaming at the mouth

in utter

> jealousy and admiration>



>>>>Hmmm....buy a new one, girl has my baby, girl leaves, I get hit

with child support, new tron goes on ebay......er..no thanks !! Doug

I have to second what Doug and Frank said. If the machine is set up
right and doesn't have any nasty problems (such as the issues with
the machines we've seen at the Mellotron Ranch), you won't be
spending a lot of time on maintenance.

Keep a flat blade screwdriver and nut driver handy to adjust a key
once in a while, and that's about it for anything semi-regular. You
may want to maintain the tape path by cleaning it up a bit and
demagging the heads, same as you'd do with a tape deck, but this is
every once in a long while and not a constant demand. Now and then
check out and oil the motor. Else these things require little
maintenance, provided they're good/stable to begin with (and there
are several people on the list who can help set a machine right if
it's in rough shape).

If you're moving the machine around a lot, using a variety of tape
stock, experiencing humidity/temperature changes, and so forth, yes,
you'll probably do some additional adjusting of the pressure pads and
pinch rollers to compensate for this.

But it's not like these things blow up all the time or fail
miserably. They're probably just like anything else for reliability.

See what Duncan has to say about this topic:

http://www.kleonard.com/music/concerts/rmi040508.htm

...kl...
M400 #805 - knock on wood
M400 #1037 - reliable...? tell that to my first motor...

Hi Andy

I assume you are referring to the M4000, as yet I haven't totally convinced my wife that an Mark VI is essential for my continued existence, so I'll probably be able to wait for the M4000 to appear, however I can now show her your email and at least negotiate down to a Mark VI!

Mark

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----- Original Message -----

From: Mark Pring

To: mellotronists@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 10:40 PM

Subject: [Mellotronists] Reliability

Hi Andy

I assume you are referring to the M4000, as yet I haven't totally convinced my wife that an Mark VI is essential for my continued existence, so I'll probably be able to wait for the M4000 to appear, however I can now show her your email and at least negotiate down to a Mark VI!

Mark

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damn it Jim...I'm just a simple country doctor...

--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, kinchmusic@... wrote:
>
>
> In a message dated 19/04/2007 23:20:37 GMT Standard Time,
> mellotronmadness@... writes:
>
> Thanks Doug and Mark, I feel reassured and have put a real
mellotron back on
> my todo list. Mine will have to be shipped from Canada to New
Zealand, is
> that likely to cause a problem?
>
>
>
>
> Mark. Do yourself a favour. Wait just a while longer..... Something
rather
> wonderful is about to appear from just north of Birmingham here in
the UK....
> Something so wonderful, it will address all of your doubts and
more. You will
> be the envy of all of your friends. Pretty girls will be calling
on you day
> and night and offering to have your babies. And more importantly
still, the
> roughnecks and vagabonds on this list will be foaming at the mouth
in utter
> jealousy and admiration..... Go on...you know you want too...Give
old Martin
> Tronbros a call.
> Andy K
>

> damn it Jim...I'm just a simple country doctor...

Uh-oh. If your Mellotron is wearing a red shirt you are in deeeeep shit.