In ’06 or ’07 I found a Farfisa VIP 233 organ at the flea market. It languished at the market for a few weeks, but even I was surprised when the seller accepted my offer of $120 for the thing. I was taking a pretty big risk buying it, as these things are insanely complex and therefore not-really-worth-fixing if they have voice problems. As it turned out, the big heavy beast worked perfectly. I recently came across the original 1972 advert for the VIP-233 and it reminded me that I once owned one of these things:
It’s a versatile unit, and it sounded great… that being said, despite all its attempts to encroach on Hammond territory, it always sounds very Farfisa-y and can’t really do the Hammond thing very well.
I came across these photos of my actual unit, taken back in 2007: I shot some images of the thing so that I could sell it on Craigslist. At the time, we wanted more of a Hammond sound and the VIP-233 just was not getting used much. The piece sold in a matter of days for… i think… $650? A kid came up from Brooklyn and was thrilled at the deal he got. OK so gonna get nostalgic for a minute: in this series of photos, you see the 233 in the piano booth at my old studio on Bridgeport’s far east side – the American Fabrics Building – the same bldg that is now the home of the Preservation Sound shop. Subtle index of time-passing? Check out the ashtray and lighter on the little end table. I don’t think I know anyone who smokes anymore… and a mere seven years ago, pretty much everyone I knew, myself included, did. I suppose we have Mayor Bloomberg to thank for that?
The space depicted above was completely gutted and transformed into an art studio years ago; while my new studio has certainly been a major upgrade, it’s great to see the old spot. I don’t think I had the VIP 233 for very long; I could only find one production that features it. Check out the track below. This is the band Stylofone; you may know these guys from their later work with MGMT and The Acrylics. At about :30 in, you can hear a little moog-esque glissando; this is the unique ‘Slalom’ portamento effect the the VIP 233 offers.
7 replies on “The Farfisa 233 electric organ of 1972”
A Farfisa is not a Hammond, and neither will fill the billet of the other. But the only reason to have a Farfisa now is to sound like Augie Meyer or Jimmy Destri.
Another reason would be to be creative and create your own sounds with it 😉
I just got this organ, apparently sans pedals, for quite cheap. The keys are a bit stuck from lack of use but seem to be functional once you nudge them. I wonder how they should be cleaned. I haven’t plugged this in yet, but will this evening. These are sweet units and with modern PA and monitoring, can be powered up using suitable preamplifier pedals with a bit of dirt.
Had a Farfisa Compact and VIP300. Played them through a Sharma cabinet. Great sound.
I. Had a Farfisa 233 VIP on my high school band in just that time frame. Wound up giving it away in the mid 80’s. Always wanted a Hammond, but enjoyed the Farfisa when I had it
I owned one of these in the early 70’s. The main reason I had it was portability… the legs came off and stored in the lid which snapped onto the organ to form a square package. I ran mine through a Leslie to get the most Hammondish sound I could. It was all I could afford, and that motivated me to join the military out of hich school so I could afford to buy a B3. And I did.
Check out a Swedish band called gyllene tider. They use a farfisa on most of their tracks. They are quite popular and usually play for a few hundred thousand people on each of their tour…