Melos echo

[Icarus]

Does anyone have experience with this echochamber.
Would this be suitable for Shadows music ?
Happy to receive comments.
Eddy

melos.jpg

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[Didier]

This is a transistor tape echo unit, which was also sold under other brands : Univox, Apollon (and BST in France). It uses a tape loop cartridge of the "8 tracks" kind. Replacement ones can be found here : http://www.mytapeecho.com/tape-loops/apollon-hd-5000



As it's of the single playback head type, it doesn't provide multiple echoes, so it's not perfectly suited for Shadows music.

Didier

[JimN]

I used to have one, bought new about 1976 for about £50.

I thought it sounded OK, and it was replacing a WEM Shadow (2 head) machine which had disappeared during a gig. But after a couple of years, I got a secondhand Copicat which sounded a lot better than either of them. I eventually swapped the Melos for a Shure microphone (a good deal for me, I thought).

The real problem with the Melos is that while the tape cassette, containing a long endless tape loop, gives reasonable-enough reproduction, it is almost impossible to find a replacement at a price commensurate with the value of the machine.

I often wonder why no Japanese manufacturer ever based an echo unit on a Compact Cassette with an endless loop (they were available).

[dave robinson]

I had one of these in the seventies and I thought it did a reasonable job for some stuff ( eg the solo in Band On The Run) but as it only has one head there are limitations. Also, the tapes became troublesome, I remember having to wedge them in place with a beermat to get the tape directly onto the head for a pure sound playback. Wouldn't recommend.

[RayL]

Agree with Jim and Dave. I had a couple in the 70s for solo work (one for voice, one for guitar) but the tape loop cartridges were unreliable and hard to get. As soon as I could I replaced them with solid-state in the 1980s.
Ray

[Billyboygretsch]

Didn't like it for guitar was ok for vocals. Bit too simple