Jimmy's FX Console

Home Toronto - May '00 Philly - May '01 Toronto - Sep '01 MONEYPIT - Mar '03 MONEYPIT - Oct '03 MONEYPIT - Mar '04 MONEYPIT - Apr '04 MONEYPIT - May '04 MONEYPIT - Jul '04 Gatherings - Dec '04 MONEYPIT - Apr '05 MONYEPIT - May '05 MONEYPIT - Jun '05 MONEYPIT - Sum '05 MONEYPIT - Jan '06 MONEYPIT - Feb '06 MONEYPIT - Jun '06 MONEYPIT - Sep '06 MONEYPIT - Aug '07 MONEYPIT - Nov '07 MONEYPIT 2008 MONEYPIT - Sep '11 Mellotronists Mellotronia ...kl...'s Web ToC

Up

M4000
The Mellotron Book
Mellotron Links
'Tron Tech Talk
Mark I vs Mark II
'tronecdotes
Mellotron Myths
MA Tape Frames
Jimmy's FX Console
MusicMaster
Strobotron
EBay Mark II

JIMMY MOORE'S FX CONSOLE, #10006

To: The Mellotronists YahooGroup
From: Jimmy Moore (JMoore6397 over at AOL)
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2002 15:19:18 EST

Jimmy and Nancy Moore are proud to announce the arrival of F/X console serial # f/X 10006 to our family. Other than 27 years of dust and a few scratches and scrapes on the cabinet the machine fires up and sounds fine.

FORMICATRON #285 GETS BIG BROTHER

Exciting news from the Moore household, down there in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania:  There's  now an FX Console in the family!

Jimmy (along with Joe Ferrainola) hosted our Philly 'Tron Symposium in May '01.  Jimmy and Joe are in possession of  the infamous Formicatron, the M400 suitable for your kitchen, s/n 285.  Well, the Formicatron now has a big brother!


Jimmy Moore and Mark DeClemente:  Mellotron Roadies

And during a trip to Pennsylvania in May 2004, Your Webmaster caught up with the FX Console #10006...

FX Console #10006 was discovered in a college in Ohio.  It had been used for sound effects and still had its original sound effects tapes!  Although some tapes are missing, the remaining ones are all quite playable and sound great.

Click here to hear the FX Console behaving like an animal!
Windows Media, 220KB, 0:35

The FX Console has a different control surface when compared to the standard Mark I/II, and there are other differences:
bulletThe headblocks are in four sections; each keyboard is split between keys 18 and 19
bulletTrack selection is A, B, or C; you cannot mix adjacent tracks
bulletThere are four faders and a master fader (volume controls)
bulletHeadphone output with volume control
bulletNo reverb
bulletNo tubes (all solid state)
bulletShielded motor housing
bulletVery thick wood or plywood painted black (the ones for the BBC were gray); nothing fancy here--it's all business

The keys are numbered so you can quickly find the sound you want in the accompanying sound book.  The book calls the stations "channels", so you'd find a sound at Channel 3, Track A, Key #15.

A view from the top.  It is decidedly uncluttered.
This unit appears to have been fitted with an amplifier and a speaker, and it may have been a special order at the factory.  The speaker is attached to the removable back cover of the machine and is a Wharfedale.

There are no provisions here for internal amplification or speakers as in the Mark I/II.  Note that there aren't even any holes cut for the speakers in the side panels.

Although the power supply says #259, this is FX Console #10006.

The two cards top left are the SSCUs (the "brains" behind the station select switches).

The card in the lower right is the CMC-4 motor controller.


Shielded motor housing

As of my visit, the left hand manual plays and cycles properly.  The right hand manual's keyboard lock comes up when you turn on the machine, and the cycling motor has been disconnected, so there's a little work to be done there.  Other than that, this machine is very clean and in near mint condition.  It is truly a find! 

Jimmy plans to have it fixed up and fitted with tapes that are more the standard fare.

SEE THE RESTORATION OF FX CONSOLE #6!
Mellotron Professor Jerry Korb restores the FX Console.  Check out these MONEYPIT adventures:
 
bulletSee the FX Console arrive in Vermont!
 
bulletSee the restoration and unveiling!