Mellotron M300
Discontinued 1970Released 1968
A single-manual attempt to shrink the Mk II, with 52 keys, no speakers and new, brighter recordings on two-track quarter-inch tape. The tape format made it unreliable, so tapes charged up and wrapped round the drums. Only a few dozen were made, but its solo-violin and two-violin strings are distinctive: listen to early Barclay James Harvest and Gentle Giant.
Specifications
General
- Manufacturer
- Mellotron
- Status
- Discontinued
- Released
- 1968
Instrument
- Type
- Tape replay
- Sound engine
- Tape replay: 1/4-inch two-track tapes (the only Mellotron to use them), six rhythm and six lead banks
- Polyphony
- Full polyphony (52 notes)
- Features
- Tape replay, Solid-state preamp, Hammond spring reverb, No built-in speakers
Keyboard
- Keys
- 52
- Aftertouch
- None
- Keybed
- Single 52-note manual split into diminished-chord, accompaniment, rhythm and lead sections
Size & weight
- Dimensions (W × D × H)
- 1070 × 670 × 920 mm
- Weight
- 113.4 kg
Heard on
Artists and records that used it, as Mellotron tells it.
- The Moody Blues, “Watching and Waiting” – the M300B solo-violin sound
