Saxydude,

For years, I played next to a guy who had a Varitone Tenor which his parents had bought new for him in 1966 or 1967. He had the whole setup...the horn...the controller...the amp. But the whole time I knew him, he never played it electric. His neck of course had the pickup in it and there was a brass tube running down the body that contained the wire that was supposed to connect to the controller.

I have been interested in Varitone stuff as well and bought a wired neck for Alto and Tenor. I also bought a controller and an amp. I am missing the cable that goes from the controller to the amp so I can't play my setup quite yet.

I have used the necks before and just ran the signal into a pre-amp (I think...I just gave the cord to the piano player and he plugged it into his mixer and somehow got it to work) to just get straight amplification.

The Varitone is kind of an oddity of '60's Selmer history. I want to keep trying to get my setup fully operational someday and try it out myself.

So there you have it...I know a little about Varitone...I have some of the stuff...but I have never actually played mine or even actually heard someone else play one live.

 

Dont know anything about the saxophone itself but I believe there is one (a tenor) at www.junkdude.com if you want to see a picture of one or something.

 

Go out and listen to some Eddie Harris if you want to know how they sound. I think the guy from Traffic (Chris Woods) played on one as well and ran it through a wah pedal. I also have a record of Sonny Stitt where it sounds like he's playing through the octavizer on a Veritone. I'd love to get my hands on one. I think it's a very cool idea.

 

I did forget to mention that it is just a regular Mark VI with a factory installed sound transducer soldered into the neck and with a tube soldered to the body in which the wire is run. There is a bracket somewhere near the bell which the controller clips into so that you can reach down and turn the switches and knobs.

I believe that the full Varitone setup was only available for Tenor though I find and buy a wired neck for an Alto.

The guy who I knew who played one without using the electronics...it sounded like any other Mark VI to me.

 

Info here is correct as I understand it, basically a Mark VI with a neck pickup and controller box that gave an additional 1 octave up and 1 or 2 octaves down, in addition to the fundamental sax pitch. Played acoustically would be the same as a VI, except for the variation caused by drilling a hole in the neck.

The Eddie Harris record was Listen Here, I believe, and he mostly used the octave below setting. Don't remember the name of the Sonny Stitt album, but I vividly remember waking up from a nap on a summer afternoon while hearing him playing Stardust on alto Varitone - it was almost surreal.

 

Eddie Harris recorded with it quite a bit. I have some stuff with him using it with Jimmy Smith...

 

Check the SOTW archives under Electronic effects, Varitone thread for additional input.

 

Since this topic seems to be getting some revived interest and 'read' traffic...does anyone have an extra cable that goes from the controller to the amp ???

I believe that this cable is the last piece-part that I need to try to get my setup operational.

If you have one that you would be willing to sell, please either post or respond to me privately.

 

There are a couple of listings on eBay under Saxophone for old Varitone ads. One ad states that the Varitone is (was) available for alto and tenor, on the Signet and Mark VI models.

 

... also have a record of Sonny Stitt where it sounds like he's playing through the octavizer on a Veritone. I'd love to get my hands on one. I think it's a very cool idea.

Sonny Stitt used to use something called a Gibson Maestro on his axe.
Did so out of the fear that he wasn't loud enough until an old timer told
him his tone was was too good.

On some of the tracks I have, he pretty well overwhelmed the Maestro,
pretty much like Nefertiti pretty well sounds the same on any mouthpiece
he uses (at least to my ears).

 

I see people talking about pickup-necks for mark VI's
Is there any chance of finding one of these to fit a 1934 Radio Improved?
Just curious really, wondering if such an item would be available.
I'd love to try different effects on it

 

Radio,

I doubt it but I don't see why you couldn't get a Mark VI Varitone neck and have the Tenon re-sized to fit your horn and then the octave key tweaked to fit your horn's operating mechanism.

 

There was also the Barcus-Berry transducer pickup that some guys affixed into their necks or mp's by drilling a hole therein. I would think that placement was hit or miss, but would provide similar output to an amp or filter system such as Varitone or Maestro as did the Varitone pickup neck. I used both tenor and alto Varitone Mk 6 necks on my 6s from the time of the intro of the Varitone, buth direct to amp and also through a Maestro W-2 unit. The mike out plug was a mini and required an adapter so I used a Radio Shack mini to 1/4" mono cord and it worked fine while providing additional "tether" length. Multiple horns were no problem using a small 1/4" mixer with sufficient ins to handle the number of doubles. The Maestro had an adjustment to vary the input depending on the strength of each horn's signal strength. The early days of "electronic" music were always works in progress.

 

All you want to know about the Varitone...

I wrote an article about the Varitone a while back:

http://www.saxophone.org/varitone.html

 

Tharruff,
I have a Varitone cable. Call me at 781-326-9557 and we'll see if we can work it out.
Les Arbuckle
Boston

 

From 1969 to 1976 I played my alto and soprano thru a similar device made by Hammond called the Condor. My mouthpieces were drilled and threaded to accept the screw-in pickup holder. The Condor had colored tabs that looked like organ stops. Each gave a different sound - oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet, banjo, organ, tuba, french horn, trumpet, flute, etc. The Condor would play as many as 3 octaves at one time, each with a different timbre. There were controls for volume and tremolo. I ran the output through a vox crybaby wa-wa pedal and on to an Ampeg V-4 and 2 speaker cabs each with a pair of Electro-voice 12" SRO speakers. I played the orchestra/synth parts in Yes and Moody Blues tunes, horn parts in Chicago tunes, and the harmony guitar part in Allman Brothers tunes. The wa-wa was cool. I played Traffic's "Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys" and Frank Zappa's stuff off the Chunga's Revenge album. I stopped using it because it was a pain to carry all that stuff and because the natural sound of the sax was not as good through the system.

 

Varitone

I have a Varitone tenor. #139,XXX. The horn plays great. I had the effects box removed about 15 yrs ago. As we speak Saul Fromkin is removing the brass that runs down the side of the horn and the neck pickup. He said that a lot of guys in the 70s had all that stuff removed after the fad ended. The neck that came with it was very stuffy. Maybe when I get it back with my "playing" neck, it will play better without the pickup.

I still have the amp. It's solid state(no tubes). I used it a few times. It was very primitive sounding. I'll let you know what it sounds like when I get it back.

 

Another Varitone sighting

The Chico O'Farrill album Married Well on Verve features a big band with a Varitone or two in the sax section. To me, they just sounded like badly miked saxes.

 

Thanks to lesax above, I now have all the piece-parts to make a complete Varitone set up including necks for both Alto and Tenor.

Unfortunately, there are some wires in the control box that have broken off of their terminals so I haven't been able to actually get it to play yet. My amp powers up but I do not know if it actually works or not. It was an e-bay 'as-is' purchase.

I have another control box to use as a wiring sample plus a wiring diagram so as soon as I can find my soldering iron (I moved late last year and haven't found that box yet !!!) I will try to re-attach the wires and have a try at electric sax.

I still have some hurdles to get over but I'll let ya' know in a little while if I can get it working or not.

 

Rusty Bryant plays a varitone on a couple of cuts from an album called "Acid Jazz." Sounds kinda cool, but overall I prefer the sax without the electronics.

 

Here's a pic of a Varitone ad featuring Sonny Stitt:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2524942842&category=16234

 

I am considering selling my 144xxx alto varitone. It was bought for me by my parents in 1973. How can I find the value of the horn.

 

I bought a 140xxx Alto that had the varitone on, but it was removed by Tenor Madness & had an overhaul, this involved removing the wire which is soldered to the body and runs down to the bow, where the bow meets the bell there is a small ring on the brace. ( never seen these on non-varitone V1s ) and then I presume was attached to a box on the bell, There was also an insertion made in the neck around 2-3 millimeteres dia, which is where the pickup would be placed.

Saxomaphone: Does your horn still have the Varitone intact?

Value wise I payed top $ for mine and have never looked back. Of course each MV1 can be different but the 140xxx-150xxx altos have a solid reputation. It will cut jazz/r&b/legit equally well.

I always wondered about how it may have sounded with the varitone intact, especially with the pickup in the neck, would it effect response ect.

Does anyone have an Idea how many of these were made??

 

Saxomaphone: Does your horn still have the Varitone intact?

Value wise I payed top $ for mine and have never looked back. Of course each MV1 can be different but the 140xxx-150xxx altos have a solid reputation. It will cut jazz/r&b/legit equally well.

I always wondered about how it may have sounded with the varitone intact, especially with the pickup in the neck, would it effect response ect.

Does anyone have an Idea how many of these were made??[/QUOTE]

The Varitone pickup is still intact, but the wire leading from the neck to the rail on the side of the horn is just about completely broken. I never received the control box when the horn was bought for me. I'm going to have the horn evaluated for intonation before listing it on Ebay. Through the years, many people thought that the pickup was added after the horn was made,and because it had the darker lacquer, they thought it was relacquered.

 

I am considering selling my 144xxx alto varitone. It was bought for me by my parents in 1973. How can I find the value of the horn.

Well, after having the horn checked over by a Selmer Mk VI specialist, I found out that the horn has excellent intonnation, through the entire range of the horn. He said that Selmer went through extreme measures to make sure that the Varitone models were as good as the conventional models. He says the horn should go for between $4000 and $6000, but we all know it will only sell for what the market will bear...