Mellotronists

Hey!
     Just a note to publicly thank Ken for the kind
words, history and further clarification.  Ken you are
a prince among 'tronists.  I'll keep y'all posted on
new developements.
-Jack Younger
EMI103s  "Missing a one-night stand with the SMS-5"

--- Ken Leonard <ken@...> wrote:
> 
> >      There has been a touch of confusion as to my
> >response to a link of my EMI's previous exploits. 
> I
> >would like to make it very clear that the recent
> work
> >done on my machine was my own hard sweat and toil,
> 
> Absolutely.  Jack has taken #103S from the previous
> owner and is bringing 
> it back with his own skills.  Jack is into the
> vintage scene and is 
> interested in preserving it.  We're lucky that a
> machine like #103S wound 
> up with someone who has carpentry and electronics
> skills and loves to do 
> this kind of work.
> 
> The EMI's history since 2003, in short:
> 
> - The former owner of EMI #103S contacted me via
> Jerry Korb to see if I'd 
> have a look at the machine.  Jerry sent him to me
> because I happen to live 
> pretty close to where the machine was.  The machine
> had a re-capped power 
> supply and an SMS-5, but it had been handled by
> people who didn't know too 
> much about 'trons.  Aside from wonky adjustment and
> buried adjustment 
> screws, the biggest problems were unstable pitch,
> knackered rollers due to 
> misadjustment (and age), an out-of-square frame,
> some cabinet issues, etc.
> 
> Even after I did some basic work on it, it was
> playable but still showing 
> signs of promiscuity:
> 
> http://www.kleonard.com/emi/EMITest.mp3 (w/ its
> original DK tape set...some 
> improvement was noted w/ a brick red set, but you
> still got the chugging in 
> the pitch and pitch sags especially on anything more
> than a close triad)
> 
> Bleccchhhh!!!
> 
> - I did what I could with the machine and improved
> it to be fully playable, 
> but it was not enough to get the pitch entirely
> stable, even w/ an SMS-5.
> 
> http://www.kleonard.com/emi/EMITest.mp3 (3:43-end is
> the best I could get 
> it w/ the original machine (including original pinch
> rollers) w/o tweaking 
> the SMS-5...note the pitch sag when chords were
> played)
> 
> It turns out that the remaining work was indeed the
> SMS-5, which I was 
> advised not to tamper with as the SMS controllers
> are generally set right 
> from the factory.  The thing I should have realized
> was the person who put 
> in the SMS-5 could have diddled with it, so it
> should have been 
> checked.  (Jerry Korb and I had a look at the
> controller later on in the 
> M400 to which it was transferred anyway and sure
> enough it needed to be 
> tweaked.  There's a test point on the controller
> where you look for a 
> particular voltage, and it was way off.  Eventually
> Jerry and I got the 
> voltage right, and the machine sounded much more
> stable.)
> 
> - The EMI's former owner purchased a nice M400 to
> replace the EMI.  Per the 
> former owner, I moved the motor controller and power
> supply over to the 
> M400 to replace the CMC-10 that was in the M400. 
> The EMI was left in a 
> disassembled state at that time.
> 
> - The owner asked that the EMI and the M400 be taken
> to Vermont where Jerry 
> and I worked on the machines.  We got the M400
> working nicely, and I got 
> the EMI into running condition with the M400's power
> supply and CMC-10 
> motor controller.
> 
> - The EMI was sold, and Jack is now the new owner.
> 
> - Current work on the EMI is all Jack.  He's getting
> the parts and doing 
> the work.  The machine has been brought even more to
> playable condition and 
> is waiting for an SMS and refinishing.  It's great
> to see the machine 
> improved---and it'll get plenty of use.  If you
> listen to the MP3s from 
> when I was diddling with the machine and can ignore
> the instability, it has 
> a very 'tronny tone to it which I like, full but not
> harsh.  The single 
> card preamp, perhaps?
> 
> Much of this is documented on my web site, and Jack
> will have a web site 
> going at some point as well to document his work on
> the machine.
> 
> No more confusion.  :-)
> 
> ...kl...
> M400 #805 - got an sms-4 from someone, somewhere,
> sometime
> M400 #1037 - got an sms-2 and new motor from kl  
> 
> 
> 


		
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