 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2006-12-30 05:16
I recently was given a barrel with a mike pickup installed on the barrel but i'm having trouble finding out what mike or system to insert in the hole. The pickup has a removable metal screwable tab. i've done a little research about these and find that the lower notes are offendingly loud.
anywho, does anyone know where to begin going about finding out how to get this up and running??
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
Post Edited (2006-12-30 05:42)
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Author: Kalakos
Date: 2006-12-30 05:26
Hi: I'm not sure from your description if the pickup is actually working or not. If it is, you plug it into an amp or sound system and see how it works for you. If you want to see a really new and improved one, Mr. Poullath at his website has a newly engineered one that is really good. You might check it out and/or contact him. Good luck.
http://www.greek-turkish-clarinet.com/product.htm
Kalakos
Kalakos
Kalakos Music
http://www.TAdelphia.com
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2006-12-30 05:55
http://www.windsynth.org/iwsa_labs/non_commercial_controllers/Elect-RO-Clar/
you answered my question. but while i was searching, i did discover a good read. check this out. super modified clarinet. probably sounds terrible, but the idea is there.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: ghuba
Date: 2006-12-30 13:11
I have an L-series Selmer A-clarinet, discovered and restored by Donald Hinson, that had two oddities -- it has a Stubbins-Kaspar key for throat Bb and it had a Selmer Varitone pickup installed in the barrel it was discovered with. I bought the clarinet; Donald kept the barrel and pickup. The Selmer Varitone was a "box" attached to an amplifier that produced octaves and other musical effects and was marketed in the 1960s; I believe it to be the earliest attempt at a commercial electronic wind instrument. [To the best of my knowledge, the "most famous" user of this device was the tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris, and that this helped revitalize his career about the time he made his most popular recordings with Les McCann. On saxophones, the control box was installed on the side of the bell for right hand control; to the best of my knowledge, while pickups were offered for other instruments, it was primarily used on Mark VI Selmer saxophones. Note that a few examples of the special Varitone amplifiers and Mark VI saxophones with the control box appear at the big auction site on an occasional basis.]
The instrument I own is the only exemplar I have ever heard of in which a Selmer clarinet was fitted with a true Stubbins key -- as opposed to the Leblanc patent key with which it is often confused -- and a Varitone pickup.
George
Post Edited (2006-12-30 13:15)
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-12-30 19:42
George,
You are right on about the Varitone. A friend had his tenor rigged up and I really enjoyed playing it a couple of times.
I did see one Mark VI alto that had the neck pickup and a special tube for the wiring on the back of the body that went down to the lower area about where the right had is placed. There was a connection at the end that probably hooked up to the "box" you describe.
I do have an old setup by King that included a small mic as well. I have a barrel with the vent that the mic was attached to. My backup flute also has a port of the mic added. There is a volume control on the pickup and a control box then an output to an amp.
It would seem that I need to get up in the attic and see what I have stashed there.
HRL
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Author: cuscoclarinet
Date: 2006-12-31 19:40
I've come across, at various times, several different types of devices for amplifying horns, the Selmer Varitone being one of them. However, from his description, I'm thinking that C2thew's mic might be part of a "Maestro Sound System for Woodwinds" which included a resonite barrel with a screw-in transducer.
The Varitone looks a bit more like a stethescope head, and (as I understand it) various types of braces were required to affix one to a horn.
I've used both of these, as well as the "Hammond Condor" and have found the Maestro to be the most "even tempered". The Condor is almost impossible to find parts for (it has a very unique cable) and yes, the Varitone has a tendency to "blow cones" on the bottom end.
Of course, without seeing a picture, I couldn't say for sure what it is.
Aside from Eddie Harris and Sonny Stitt, these sorts of effects were/ are used extensively in progressive and contemporary rock. Ian Macdonald, the tenor player from early King Crimson, Ian Underwood, who played various saxaphones with Frank Zappa in the 70's, and Skerik, who plays with Critter's Buggin', Les Claypool, and a host of other projects, all have played with these boxes.
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