I wonder if overall quality of execution may be a part
of the "big Mellotron vs. little Mellotron" debate. It's immediately
obvious just by appearance that the big beasts are designed to be beautiful
works of art, and I'd be willing to bet that the attention to exterior detail
extended to the interior of the instruments as well. The M400 series is
clearly a "working class" instrument designed for the rigors of the stage rather
than to be set up in a wealthy person's music room. Add in the palette of
sounds that is twelve times larger in the big ones, the built-in speakers and
amplification, and clearly there is an instrument that is designed to be a
statement in and of itself. All I can say is that the first time I
actually touched a Mellotron (a new M400 in a music store in Albany, New York
around 1973 or so) I recognized THAT SOUND as being inside that little
box. Maybe it's not as warm or as versatile as the big one, but it's
still THAT SOUND and NOTHING else makes
it.
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2002-09-26 by JS