Mellotronists

> Each board plugged into a mother board mounted under the keyboard.
> They plug in from the front for easy servicing. The motherboard had the
> (19) heads connected to it.

On the subject of Birotrons, I'm just back from my bi-annual visit to
Streetly and had a chance to play the Birotron (number 7) that they have
in for repair/servicing.

Don't get over excited about them. The only thing interesting about them
is their rarity. The tapes had been removed and replaced with Tron
sounds, so the sounds themselves were substantially better than normal,
but the artifical attack/delay is - for the most part - lousy. The keys
are all springy switch-types (much like my 1970s electric piano, I
thought) and considering that it's pretty small it weighs an absolute
ton. Compared to the Birotron, the Mellotron is a hi-fi snob's wet
dream.

They also have a very rare Mellotron 4-track in for repair (which is a
good idea housed in a pretty horrible metal cabinet) and a Chamberlin
300. Trust me - if you ever think that the mechanism in a Mk II is
dodgy, wait until you have a look inside one of *these* things!!

Mike Dickson (tron@...) M400 #996
The Official Cynic of Streetly Electronics
Streetly Sample Library http://www.blackcat.demon.co.uk/tron/samples.htm