Electro Harmonix MEL9 Tape Replay Machine - Effect for Guitars

I discovered this device whilst reading the letters page in a guitar magazine recently. Always on the lookout for something to add interest to my solo acoustic set, as a prog rock fan the mellotron-in-a-box concept appealed to me. This device is a little pricey but does exactly what it says on the tin. It would be worth it for the strings alone. Considering that to achieve what this box does used to involve special pickups, MIDI and annoying latency issues on the lower notes, the price tag suddenly looks more reasonable. Tracking is excellent with no latency at all. The cello voice is particularly good and I mostly use this, orchestra or strings as a pad behind my acoustic guitar with the attack about halfway and a long sustain. The voices are also good enough for recording and although they wouldn't be mistaken for the real instruments, they do sound very convincingly like a mellotron.These boxes are also available in organ, synth and electric piano so I expect my collection will expand!

Obviously not all of the sounds that potentially could be produced on a Mellotron or Chamberlain are here, but the classic ones are. For me, the MEL9 is a way of adding colour to my music, not an attempt to recreate Prog Rock anthems from yesteryear. That said, it's easily possible to do that, especially with the ORCHESTRA, STRING, FLUTE & CHOIR sounds, albeit the latter are bit over modulated. Of real use is creative possibilities of using a Guitar or Bass to control these sound: otherworldly Choirs and Orchestras growing behind arpeggio Chords. The case is metal, and robust with an old style footswitch and a very useful LED to let you know it's in use. I have an old 1979 EHX Clone Theory chorus and on stage an LED was really needed. Great device. And as it is not sample based, tracking is barely an issue. Works great with my fretless bass (down to the low A String). Like it a lot.

If I could have given this 3.5 I would! The orchestra and cello sounds are amazing - especially the cello with acoustic guitar. It works best if you use it with a compressor on the input to prevent loud notes coming through. It is good to put some reverb on the output to get a polished sound. There are a few less positive aspects - the sounds are better used into a computer than a guitar amp but I suppose that's to be expected. The EHX power supply that comes with it is great but its a pain I can't integrate into my pedal board power supply - this is a well known issue. Do I use it much? Not really but it's a nice option to have on acoustic - why don't I use it? The sounds can be a bit unwieldy and difficult to control which makes it more of a novelty for me. Glad I bought it but probably wouldn't buy any of the others in this range.

As a guitarist, I was looking for a footswitch that would provide some intelligent "pads" to my playing. It is alright using "pads" from place like youtube but they are a fixed musical key and in any case when going from one song to another you have to mess around changing tracks. No such problem here though. This footswitch is brilliant at following what you are doing on your guitar with enough different backing sounds to provide variety and some effects thrown in like attack and sustain to make it practical. I would recommend a compressor to even out the volume from each string on your guitar before the Harmonix but, it is not absolutely essential. Add in my "Trio" to provide bass and drums and I have a full artificial intelligence band at my disposal or even a choir and it sounds fabulous. You can have as much of your guitar in the mix as you like (or none at all) but this footswitch is smart, following individual notes or chords you are playing with no delay at all (unless you set it to delay using the attack settings). These "pad" sounds will work well in a variety of musical situations but they do lean towards orchestral and include strings, flute, clarinet, and sax with a couple of choirs. Rock, jazz, blues, pop but perhaps not heavy metal, work well. If I had a criticism it would be that there are only nine different sounds. I would have liked to have more but to get those you have to buy other footswitches in the range. Some users have reported background hum but I have none of that A highly recommended footswitch for those that want to add depth to their sound. I love this footswitch - one of my best purchases in a long time.

Great sounding pedal favourites are strings, the choirs and the cello sounds. Do dazed & confused, Kashmir, the hallelujah chorus and wonder wall on the same stomp box.Class pure class. Use it with a Mel9 for some incredible sounds.

Unfortunately had to return pedal. Bought this specifically because it powered from both mains and battery, as stated in the spec. It doesn't have provision for a battery. Very disappointed as this looked an excellent addition to my board.

Came quickly and with minimal tweaking I was able to get great sounds out of this pedal. I've had it for a year now and it still works perfectly. There is a setting like a male voice choir which can really add to recordings. Also, the strings / orchestral settings are incredible (similar to "Changes" by Black Sabbath). Definitely a good pedal for those who like to explore ambient territory or who want to thicken their sound.

I bought this after watching all the YouTube videos that demonstrate how it sounds. It sounded nothing like the videos and all the settings sounded the same with an awful plucking sound at the start of each notes. I returned it.