Electro-Harmonix Mel9

The Electro-Harmonix Mel9 Tape Replay Machine is one of the more unusual and creative pedals in the EHX catalogue — a polyphonic, real-time pitch-tracking effect that turns a guitar (or bass, or keyboard) into a Mellotron without requiring special pickups, MIDI converters, or any modification to the instrument. Released in 2016, the Mel9 has earned a place on countless ambient, prog, indie, and post-rock pedalboards as the easy answer to "how do I get Mellotron sounds without owning a Mellotron."

The Mellotron, for context, was an early 1960s tape-replay keyboard instrument that became famous for its haunting, slightly unstable sample sounds — most notably the flute on The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the strings and choir on countless prog-rock records by King Crimson, Genesis, and others. Each key triggered a strip of magnetic tape, and the playback character (with all the wow, flutter, and pitch instability of running tape) gave the instrument a sound that has been imitated by samplers and synths for decades but never quite reproduced.

The Mel9 offers nine Mellotron presets, selectable via a single rotary switch: Orchestra, Cello, Strings, Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Brass, Low Choir, and High Choir. The Strings, Flute, and Choir presets are the most commonly used — these are the iconic Mellotron sounds that defined the instrument. The Brass and Saxophone presets work well in unexpected contexts, particularly for synth-style soloing on guitar.

Five knobs handle the controls: Preset selects the sound, Attack sets the volume swell speed (slow attack creates a lush pad-like response, fast attack tracks each note's onset more directly), Sustain controls how long the effect rings out after playing stops, Dry Vol balances the untreated instrument signal, and Effect Vol controls the overall Mellotron level. The Dry/Effect blend is particularly useful — a touch of Mellotron blended underneath a dry guitar can add a haunting layer without overwhelming the playing.

The pedal is genuinely polyphonic, supporting up to five notes simultaneously with a range from A1 to A5 (the open A string of a bass up to the high A on a guitar's high E string at the 17th fret). Tracking follows bends, slurs, dive bombs, and any other expressive techniques — bend a string and the Mellotron note bends with it. The two output jacks (Effect and Dry) make it easy to send the wet and dry signals to separate amps or mixer channels, useful in stereo rigs and studio applications.

Power is the included 9.6VDC 200mA adapter (the pedal draws 100mA), and the chassis is the standard EHX nano-plus format at 4.75" × 4" × 2.25".

Who Is This For? The Mel9 suits guitarists who want to produce string, choir, and Mellotron sounds without bringing a synth, Mellotron, or laptop on stage. It is particularly compelling for ambient, post-rock, dream-pop, prog, and cinematic players who use atmospheric texture as an integral part of their sound. Bass players also use it (within its A1-A5 range) for thick choir-doubled bass lines. Producers find it useful in the studio as a quick way to add Mellotron texture without programming a sampler. Players who want a wider variety of synth sounds might consider the EHX Synth9, B9, or C9 (each with different sound banks following the same architecture), or for guitar-specific synth voices the Boss SY-1 or SY-200 are worth comparing.