Electro Harmonix MEL9 Tape Replay Machine 5-stars Reviews

Mel 9 pedal - a dream came true

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???

Much better than the real McCoy!

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