Mellotronists

Geez,

Wouldn't a Roland Vintage module be easier to haul? :)

Man, I hated to align the friggin
thing, every time we moved it two inches.

The Roland unit is a wee bit more reliabale, too ;)

Hey, wait a sec.

I haul my Mellotron around in its road case in the back of my Expedition. 
When I get where I'm going, I uncrate it and plug it in. It always works and 
sounds great. The reason for that is that I perform regular maintenance on it and 
I handle it right. Mellotrons can be transported and be expected to work 
reliably. Even the ones that are wrapped in blankets or in one of those special 
black bondage outfits (protect-a-muff). The reputation for unreliability was 
based on two things. One, the general orneriness of the CMC 10 and two, lack of 
regular and proper maintenance. Once the SMS series of motor speed control 
boards were introduced, then it really just came down to proper care. I've had 
really old motorcycles that were the same way. Even when they were new, they 
required a maintenance schedule that was far more involved then today's machines. 
New Harley's, for example, are really nice. I however, like the nasty old ones 
as well. They need constant care, and they often throw out a little oil, but 
nothing, not even the new ones, sound quite like them or can really deliver 
quite the same thrill.

The only real drawback to putting Mellotrons on stage is that they are 
somewhat unweildy.and are somewhat of a nuisance to drag up and down stairs ... 
especially if it's just you doing it.

Just my 2 cents

Frank Stickle - 400 SM #1562 and occasionally known to drag around a couple 
of others. (that all work just fine)

Ooops as of Saturday my work email server is labeling list emails as "JUNK".
Sorry didn't catch that sooner...

The story of the microphonic M400 - same machine as Baja Prog back in March
03, the one that nobody wanted to use because it had a "funny hum"
sometimes. Same machine at Claremont '91 that had a pretty big feedback
problem. Got brought over to my place a couple weeks ago. As I was messing
with it I finally noticed something strange. When the headblock was all the
way over to C, all the way, there was a motor whine in the output. Not as
loud as the program material, but if I cranked up the volume on the PA, I
could see why it was a problem at Baja (I was never around during the
soundchecks when it got sidelined). Also, if you knocked on the lid with
your knuckles, you could hear it in the speakers.

I discovered that when the head channel was cranked over to C track, it was
shorted to the frame. Move it to B or A, short gone. I traced it down to one
of the spring clips. There was an intermittant short where the clip was held
with the insulating washer. Took it apart, reassembled, short gone,
microphonicity gone.

Another thing for the maintenece checklist!

- Gene

On 8/18/03 4:10 PM, Gene Stopp wrote:
>I discovered that when the head channel was cranked over to C track, it was
>shorted to the frame. Move it to B or A, short gone. I traced it down to one
>of the spring clips. There was an intermittant short where the clip was held
>with the insulating washer. Took it apart, reassembled, short gone,
>microphonicity gone.
>
>Another thing for the maintenece checklist!

You may be on to something here.  A maintenence checklist of stuff to 
check monthly, annually or at each power-up to keep your tron in tip top 
shape would be really handy to have.  I wonder if anyone has written 
something like this already?

On 8/18/03 6:52 PM, lsf5275@... wrote:
>The three Mellotrons all fit in the Expedition together. If they had all 
>been 
>in the bondage get-up instead of one being in a crate, I probably mighta 
>coulda got four in there.

Wow, you live on the edge, my friend!  I think if I had two or more trons 
I would never let them ride in the same car together, sort of the way 
they never let the (US) President and Vice President ride in the same 
airplane together, in case there is a crash.  :-)

-jim/m400#680