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A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-02 by Paul Marshall

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. 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.

I have just received my machine back from a week's pampering at the Streetly spa, gym and salon complex. One or two members on this list may recall that my Mellotron is the guts of M400 #1380 (d.o.b. 1st May 1974) installed in a highly portable road case by myself. When I did this in 2000, I needed various items including new tapes. Because of Streetly MkII this project was actually feasible and was a great success. Earlier this year I decided to install an SMS2, but I felt that the machine could be further improved... so I let the lads loose. Result: amazing! I have a Mellotron with a ruler-flat keyboard, rock-stable pitch, an action like my Hammond and everything is in tune (I was one of the requests for 'tuned tapes'). Not cheap, but worth every penny, and the service is second to none - highly recommended. Thanks to Martin, John and Brian.

Go back to 1998, when my M400 was in bits and I was using short samples of it in a cheesy 12-bit sampler. Suddenly I find Dave Kean is there with the Pinder CD, which I had to import from Mellotron Archives in the USA. Dave was very helpful during my enquiries and ordering, and I ended ;up with a great virtual Mellotron which I was happy to use for the next few years. I note with interest that a second MA sample CD has been announced; I will be one of the customers when this is available. Thanks, Dave and Markus.

The point of all this rambling is that we now enjoy an incredible level of support for our cherished instrument, whether real or virtual, thanks to the efforts of all these guys, who have actually got off their arses and done things over the years, culimnating in the production of new machines! I was very happy to learn of the Streetly/MA reconciliation for this reason.

Finally I know that attachments are not kosher within this group but I couldn't resist a jpeg of my completed machine (well nearly, foam insert for me to fit under lid). It's only a VGA-resolution one anyway. Martin came up with the 'T550-ette' and I have now officially named her.

Best regards

Paul Marshall

T550-ette #1380 'Melissa' (tuned flutes, 3 violins and 8 voice choir)

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

Re: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-02 by Andy Thompson

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

From: Tony Swettenham

To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 1:41 PM

Subject: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists

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!)

What was the band, Tony? Any recordings?

Andy T.

BTW, picked mine up in a Fiesta when I bought it. :-)

Re: A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-02 by Tony Swettenham

> 
>   What was the band, Tony? Any recordings?
>   Andy T.

We were called The History Of Gardening - as far as influences go, we
sounded like a cross between The Damned, The Bonzos, Gong and King
Crimson if you can imagine that! I think the closest we got to any
sort of 'fame' (if that's the right word) was having some of our tapes
reviewed in The Organ magazine in the late 80s :) .... 

There are several recordings of our stuff, but right now they're all
still in their original cassette format. One day soon though, I'm
aiming to transfer them to CD, or mp3 at least! 

> 
>   BTW, picked mine up in a Fiesta when I bought it.  :-)
>

Ahh, so that makes two Fiestas with dodgy suspensions after carrying
trons then! ;) - No actually our 'group Fiesta' seemed to cope quite
well with driving my tron around all the gigs we did at the time.
Speaking of when you bought yours, I think I remember your story of
when you went to pick that up - you got yours out of the back of the
Melody Maker as well, didn't you?

Tony S
M400S #581

--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, "Andy Thompson"
<andy.thompson@...> wrote:
>
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Tony Swettenham 
>   To: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com 
>   Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 1:41 PM
>   Subject: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists
> 
> 
> 
>   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!)

Show quoted textHide quoted text

> 
>   What was the band, Tony? Any recordings?
>   Andy T.
> 
>   BTW, picked mine up in a Fiesta when I bought it.  :-)
>

Re: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-02 by Andy Thompson

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

Show quoted textHide quoted text

From: "Tony Swettenham" <tonkev66@...>
To: <Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2006 10:44 PM
Subject: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists

> >
> >   What was the band, Tony? Any recordings?
> >   Andy T.
>
> We were called The History Of Gardening - as far as influences go, we
> sounded like a cross between The Damned, The Bonzos, Gong and King
> Crimson if you can imagine that! I think the closest we got to any
> sort of 'fame' (if that's the right word) was having some of our tapes
> reviewed in The Organ magazine in the late 80s :) ....

Ah - Sean and Marina are still good friends of mine. The name rings a bell,
now I come to think of it.

> There are several recordings of our stuff, but right now they're all
> still in their original cassette format. One day soon though, I'm
> aiming to transfer them to CD, or mp3 at least!

Aargh! Not the dreaded 'squash 'em flat' format? Since you'll have to get
them into a sensible digital format first, please let me know when I can get
CD-Rs from you...

> >   BTW, picked mine up in a Fiesta when I bought it.  :-)
> >
>
> Ahh, so that makes two Fiestas with dodgy suspensions after carrying
> trons then! ;) - No actually our 'group Fiesta' seemed to cope quite
> well with driving my tron around all the gigs we did at the time.
> Speaking of when you bought yours, I think I remember your story of
> when you went to pick that up - you got yours out of the back of the
> Melody Maker as well, didn't you?

Didn't we all?  :-)   I rather excitedly posted the follow-up last autumn,
when I won a 'Tron flightcase on eBay, and it turned out to be the one that
used to belong to my machine... Thoroughly bizarre, but reunited after 20
years! Not that they've been anywhere near each other yet, but you know what
I mean...

Andy

Re: [Mellotronists] Re: A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-02 by lsf5275@aol.com

In a message dated 7/2/2006 4:47:32 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, andy.thompson@virgin.net writes:

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,

I might have minded the Ford Fiesta :)

Re: A good time for Mellotronists

2006-07-03 by Tony Swettenham

> > > What was the band, Tony? Any recordings?
> > > Andy T.
> >
> > We were called The History Of Gardening ...[snip].. I think the closest we got to any
> > sort of 'fame' (if that's the right word) was having some of our tapes
> > reviewed in The Organ magazine in the late 80s :) ....
>
> Ah - Sean and Marina are still good friends of mine. The name rings a bell,
> now I come to think of it.

Yes, I think Sean and Marina reviewed a few of our tapes over that period, they seemed to like us! (They used to refer to our music as 'citric acid rock', which still makes me smile). Must get in touch with them again sometime soon.

> > There are several recordings of our stuff, but right now they're all
> > still in their original cassette format. One day soon though, I'm
> > aiming to transfer them to CD, or mp3 at least!
>
> Aargh! Not the dreaded 'squash 'em flat' format? Since you'll have to get
> them into a sensible digital format first, please let me know when I can get
> CD-Rs from you...

This is true - I'll certainly keep you posted on the CD-R front....

>
> Didn't we all? :-) I rather excitedly posted the follow-up last autumn,
> when I won a 'Tron flightcase on eBay, and it turned out to be the one that
> used to belong to my machine... Thoroughly bizarre, but reunited after 20
> years! Not that they've been anywhere near each other yet, but you know what
> I mean...
>

Yes - that was it, I remember now, utterly bizarre indeed - a bit like a Cilla Black 'Surprise Surprise' of the 'tron world. Or actually no, best not to think of it like that ;) ...

Tony