Varitone

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The Varitone is an amplified saxophone that the Selmer Company introduced in 1965. The Varitone included a small microphone mounted on the saxophone neck, a set of controls attached to the saxophone's body, and an amplifier and loudspeaker mounted inside a cabinet. The Varitone's effects included echo, tremolo, tone control, and an octave divider. Two notable Varitone players were Eddie Harris and Sonny Stitt. Similar products included the Hammond Condor.

[edit] References

DuMars, Jason (1998). The Tale of the Varitone 'Electric Saxophone' (http). International Saxophone Home Page. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.

There is another Varitone in the music industry, a six way tone selector switch used on several guitars. Possibly the most well known is the Gibson B.B. King Lucille (or 345/355). Basically the switch is a chicken head rotary device that supplements the normal 2 tone controls on a Gibson (or Epiphone) guitar. By turning the Varitone the guitarist can subtract or attenuate bass tones. Torres Engineering markets add-on kits to add this feature to other guitars. The major benefit of using a Varitone is that it adds many more tonal combinations to a guitar.

The Bill Lawrence poleless "Super-Humbucker"Gibson L6-S had a very similar chicken-head rotary tonal switch arrangement, however is it normally not usually referred to as a Varitone-equipped guitar.