Electro Harmonix MEL9 Tape Replay Machine

For years, I was hooked to the mellotron sound of many Beatles, Moody Blues and early Genesis classics. Well, as soon as I came to know of the existence of this toy and my finances were in good order, I could not resist it.

Imagine the goosebumps when I first played a chord on my guitar and had the orchestra mode full on.....I could not count the WOW's going through my mind.

I can advise this little baby to everyone with warm feelings for late sixties proto-prog and early seventies prog rock sounds,. you will not be disappointed.

Small con: the attack volume for, as far as I have tried and experienced, on my electric 6 string, acoustic 6 string and acoustic 1 string can be somewhat loud on playing first time when you put the effect know all way out. I advice to adjust the attack and sustain knobs when you try it out, on your own playing style.

Update on recent sound experiment in combination with the EHX keys9 pedal: this combination gives some wonderful sound textures somewhat reminiscent of Devin Townsends music. It is as if your guitar releases a cathedral-like wall of sound (especially with a creamy fuzz turned slightly open...). So this pedal is not just for the retro-prog enthusiasts...........

Update 2: this pedal on your bass amp, in combination with the Keys9 pedal on preset Dynamo, Tri-glorious or Organ and with the Dry button of that pedal half open, your bass can replicate the bass instrument sounds of Mike Oldfields' Tubular Bells.....EHX, when will you stop amazing me???

I purchased this for one particular project, to get a cameo Mellotron sound live, using a keyboard.
The alternatives using samples would obviously have a more accurate sound, the benefit of MIDI, switchability etc but also the cheapest of those would cost many times what the Mel9 does. And in a home studio, obviously the computer has the capability to run genuine Mellotron samples easily, so other than live, for me a module isn't needed.
So given that it is NOT playing samples but mutating the sound of the instrument you use (guitar, keyboard, anything) and using complex pitch-recognition to extract the notes you play in order to do this, I have to say - I'm extremely impressed!
In use with a keyboard, it's quickly noticeable that the type of sound you put in affects the "realism" of what comes out - you can switch waveforms on a synth, or try brass patches, flute whatever, and I seemed to find that more harmonically rich sound did the trick better for me. So, a string or brass patch sounds better than a flute, sawtooth better than a triangle, and so on. I haven't tried it with a guitar yet, but I did try it with my Boss SY300 on a string-like patch, and that came out pretty well.
So once you've decided on the sound to drive it with, how are the results? For me, the best are the flute and violins - these are pretty much my favourites from the real thing, so I'm pleased that those are in the bag. The choirs (one low, one high) are also pretty good, not quite as accurate to the original but certainly enough to fool the ear in a mix or a live context. I'd also give a special mention to the solo cello, which is very usable, and quite realistic, at least to the original 'Tron.
As a fan of progressive music since the dark ages, and being lucky enough to have a friend obsessed with the big white boxes to the extent of owning A Real One, the sound of the Mellotron always sends shivers down my spine, and I'm happy to say this little box, with the right sound going in, gave me a big dose of that thrill.
It won't quite stand up solo in the spotlight of a studio recording, in my opinion, but in a live mix I'd say few would really know the difference.
Now I'm off to re-learn Starless, Nights In White Satin, Watcher Of The Skies...........

This takes a little skill to use, but well worth it. The sounds are just what we expected and are really authentic. What's not to like? Well........
Small points but, I would prefer true bypass, not a buffer, but having tested it it seems to be pretty good at just passing the signal on in bypass mode. If I want a buffer I would use one. Too many buffers in a chain is going to cause problems, so now I need a switchbox.
I would also prefer a switch to turn the dry output off and on, as in it's current state you can't, so the dry output socket is useless, being able to live swap amps would be much better. I would definately buy the Mk II if these faults were corrected