Mellotron M400

Tony Banks had a Mellotron M400, which replaced the Mellotron Mk. II. He reportedly started using the Mellotron on Selling England By The Pound.

Tapes used for the Mellotron were strings, brass and choir ones. By the time of the ..And Then There Were Three, the bass one was only needed for the "Supper's Ready" encore.

He used to occasionally run the Mellotron through a Leslie speaker to give the "Leslie effect". Apart from that he also used a Parametric Equalizer on the Mellotron, plus the Echoplex - these helped add another dimension to the sound. By the time of Wind & Wuthering the Echoplex was substituted with the Roland RE-201 Space Echo.

The Mellotron used on the ...And Then There Were Three tour was a European one, featuring modifications made by Sound Sales, the new owners of Mellotronics. The other Mellotron, used on the Wind And Wuthering tour, was an American one that was literally falling to pieces; so Banks lost interest in it even after modifications had been done to it.

By the time of Duke, the Mellotron was replaced by the Roland VP-330 Vocoder Plus.