Mellotronists

Say,

What does an "SM" after the serial # and model number mean on my tron 
400?

Max

Max,

The "SM" designation means that you have a particularly stubborn Mellotron 
that will occasionally need to be beaten and humiliated in order to work 
properly. No big deal. Once it knows that you're the BOSS, it will function just as 
indifferently as every other Mellotron.

Enjoy!

Actually, I think that you probably have a "Sound Sales" Mellotron. It may 
have an SMS 3 instead of an SMS 2 motor control card in it but other than that 
it is just about the same as most others.

Send it to me. I'll teach it to behave properly and send it back.

Frank Stickle (Mellotron Wrangler)

Frank,

 >On Monday, April 5, 2004, at 01:29 AM, lsf5275@... wrote:

 >Frank Stickle (Mellotron Wrangler)

Funny you should refer to yourself like that. Attached is a JPEG of my 
business card...

Servo Motor

the lineage is: CMC4 (OK in good condition), CMC-10
(piece of junk), SMS-2 (original design from
Mellotron), SMS-3 (slightly altered US design from
Sound Sales), SMS-4 (Mellotron Archives first
upgrade), SMS-5 (Mellotron Archives upgrade with dual
speed select) SMS-6 (Mellotron Archives MK-VI unit)

Mark.
--- maxwellhiller <maxwellhiller@...> wrote:
> Say,
> 
> What does an "SM" after the serial # and model
> number mean on my tron 
> 400?
> 
> Max
> 
> 


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>What does an "SM" after the serial # and model
>number mean on my tron 400?

Sado Masochism

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

From: "Robert Cervero" <robertc@...>
To: <Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 6:22 PM
Subject: [Mellotronists] Serial #'s


> 
> >What does an "SM" after the serial # and model
> >number mean on my tron 400?
> 
> Sado Masochism 


Just 'masochism', surely.

Andy T.

Someone (was it Frank?) said that Sound Sales didn't do much to the M400s 
when they got 'em.

I'm just thankful that neither of my M400s was "improved" by those guys.  :-)

 From what I recall of the Sound Sales mods...

1) They tied down the tape take-up box differently using parts from 
elsewhere in the machine.  They got rid of the wooden wedges, and didn't 
they then take the L-brackets from the bottom of the take up box and put 
them on the top sides of the box and tied it to the frame instead of the 
side boards?  (This alone would weaken the side boards, resulting in the 
need for (2).)

2) The side board where the motor is gets some kind of treatment---I don't 
remember what they did there, but I seem to recall it was an attempt to 
prevent the side board from flopping around during transport and only wound 
up making the thing more unreliable.

3) They put a sticker on the power supply.

4) They sold it for twice the price of an M400 ordered from the UK.  :-)

I was unaware that they devised and put in the SMS-3, but that alone is a 
huge improvement over the CMC-10, so that's A Good Thing.

What else did they do?  Anyone got one and can share a few pics with me for 
the web site for a page about "Sound Sales M400 Modifications"?

...kl...
M400 #805 - SMS-4, UK original
M400 #1037 - SMS-2, ditto

Did Sound Source do these?

* Black control panel with the ugly black-and-pus-yellow knobs

* Single preamp circuit board which replaces the two circuit boards in the
London units

The different pramp design uses a 741 opamp for the lineamp section, but the
preamp is the same circuit as the original. I haven't done any A/B
comparisons regarding the sound quality, but I'm not sure if a 741 gives any
benefit over the original simple transistor push-pull output amp. Maybe they
just wanted to be able to say "upgraded to modern integrated circuit"
because it sounded more space-age. "Downgraded to vacuum tube" was not "in"
at the time.

On another note, this weekend I spent some time driving around in the search
of a spare light bulb for the Orchestron. The old one still works, it's just
the roadie in me calling out the heads-up. Not wanting to subject the thing
to adverse G-forces, I traced it on a piece of paper. Hmmm looks like an
aquarium bulb... the aquarium store employee was (understandably) filled
with wonderment when I described the machine. Buncha weird people out there,
he musta thought. Anyway no luck there - the size/shape was a match but the
filament needs to run the length of the bulb, or at least I think it does...
another fish store, same story, but then I was buying groceries later and
what the heck, let's look on the light bulb isle. Bingo. I hope the original
is 25 watts. How to find out? If it's too strong, will there be overdrive?
Distorted Orchestron - hey that might be cool. Gotta be careful not to melt
the disk, though.

Best Regards,

- Gene

M400S #1023
M400S #1213
M400S #1289

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Leonard [mailto:ken@...]
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2004 1:12 PM
To: mellotronists@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Mellotronists] Sound Sales Modifications?


Someone (was it Frank?) said that Sound Sales didn't do much to the M400s 
when they got 'em.

I'm just thankful that neither of my M400s was "improved" by those guys.
:-)

From what I recall of the Sound Sales mods...

1) They tied down the tape take-up box differently using parts from 
elsewhere in the machine.  They got rid of the wooden wedges, and didn't 
they then take the L-brackets from the bottom of the take up box and put 
them on the top sides of the box and tied it to the frame instead of the 
side boards?  (This alone would weaken the side boards, resulting in the 
need for (2).)

2) The side board where the motor is gets some kind of treatment---I don't 
remember what they did there, but I seem to recall it was an attempt to 
prevent the side board from flopping around during transport and only wound 
up making the thing more unreliable.

3) They put a sticker on the power supply.

4) They sold it for twice the price of an M400 ordered from the UK.  :-)

I was unaware that they devised and put in the SMS-3, but that alone is a 
huge improvement over the CMC-10, so that's A Good Thing.

What else did they do?  Anyone got one and can share a few pics with me for 
the web site for a page about "Sound Sales M400 Modifications"?

...kl...
M400 #805 - SMS-4, UK original
M400 #1037 - SMS-2, ditto


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Ken Leonard wrote:

> Someone (was it Frank?) said that Sound Sales didn't do much to the M400s
> when they got 'em.
>
> I'm just thankful that neither of my M400s was "improved" by those guys.  :-)
>
>  From what I recall of the Sound Sales mods...
>
> 1) They tied down the tape take-up box differently using parts from
> elsewhere in the machine.  They got rid of the wooden wedges, and didn't
> they then take the L-brackets from the bottom of the take up box and put
> them on the top sides of the box and tied it to the frame instead of the
> side boards?  (This alone would weaken the side boards, resulting in the
> need for (2).)
>
> 2) The side board where the motor is gets some kind of treatment---I don't
> remember what they did there, but I seem to recall it was an attempt to
> prevent the side board from flopping around during transport and only wound
> up making the thing more unreliable.
>
> 3) They put a sticker on the power supply.
>
> 4) They sold it for twice the price of an M400 ordered from the UK.  :-)
>
> I was unaware that they devised and put in the SMS-3, but that alone is a
> huge improvement over the CMC-10, so that's A Good Thing.
>
> What else did they do?  Anyone got one and can share a few pics with me for
> the web site for a page about "Sound Sales M400 Modifications"?
>
> ...kl...  M400 #805 - SMS-4, UK original  / M400 #1037 - SMS-2, ditto

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Gang, To add to the "upgrades" by the Boyz from Cornwall Br,CT ,
Two pinch-rollers were sliced and added on each side of headblock
for "easier" lateral movement of the latter.  Hmmmm.

Personally saw this on Larry Fast's #725 in 1999. " What The..... ?!"
was my first reaction.  And of course, the newer ctrl. panel with "M" logo
and knobs.

The electr. additions were good ones. Besides the SMS3 (different edge
connector from SMS2),  Bill/Gary and company fitted the PML-1
to older Trons with WME289/WME290 preamp/lineamps.
And the "low-noise" mod (20V Zener diode) to the PS.

Jimmy Pishock's M400 which we saw in Philly-2001 was a "classic"
example of a Sound-Sales unit.   How's about it Jimmy  ? You have
some old pix you can share with us ??   Cheers, Jerry Korb

M300/037  (purch. from Gary Schwartz, former tech.of Sound Sales)

Oh, I forgot... The black control panel with the A-B-C track label reversed. 
Peal it off and the original Mellotron faceplate is underneath. A little 
acetone and a lot of patience brings it out. And don't worry, acetone will not 
damage the original graphics.

Frank