Vintage Saxophone Reviews

I tested all of these tenors with the same mouthpiece and reed set-up; an early 60's Super Tone Master Florida and LaVoz medium reed. 1958 King Super 20. This horn just SCREAMS!!! Very bright, powerful sound with enough volume and projection to wake the dead! Like another person here said, the Super 20 is a great horn for jazz, rock, funk or blues. It seems to lack the low-end bark that my Conn 10M and Chu have. It has a raspy tone that is a little harder to tame than the Conn 10M or Buescher 400. The action is fairly light and smooth, and the intonation is very good. Like the Conn 10M and most vintage horns, the King Super 20 performs best with a large-chamber mouthpiece. 1948 Conn 10M This is my main sax; partly because it's like an old pair of shoes. I have been playing it since jr. high school, and it fits me well. The 10M is an easy, free-blowing horn with a big, powerful sound. The 10M is loud and bold, with great projection, and a great tone from the lowest lows to the highest hi's. It's a great horn for blues, jazz, funk, rock, or just about everything else. The 10M is my favorite, because depending on my set-up and technique, I can make the sax scream, or sound as smooth as silk. The action, although a bit clunky, is fast and precise. The intonation is somewhat touchy. 10M's need large-chamber mouthpieces and do not perform well with some of the newer small-chamber high-baffel mouthpieces. 1949 Buescher 400 Top Hat & Cane This sax has excellent intonation and like the Conn 10M, it's a very free-blowing, easy playing horn. The action feels a little stiffer than the Conn or the King, but the feel is very similar to the Conn. The Buescher is a sweet horn with a sweet and silky sound. The Buescher sounds like a slightly more civilized 10M. It can scream, snarl and growl too, but this sax really shines on blues and sexy ballads. 1954 Selmer Mark VI One of the earliest Mark VI's, this horn is a fantastic player. The intonation and the action are perfection. It has a light feel like the Super 20, only with better keywork. The sound is very well centered. This horn sounds great in a big band setting, playing Duke Ellington or Glenn Miller songs. It also sounds great on rock and pop. I recorded a collection of Latin music a while ago. A couple of the songs that we recorded were Girl From Impanema (Stan Getz) and Smooth Operator (Sa`de) and the Mark VI really shined. It has that classic Selmer sound. It's silky smooth and sexy. It's a great sound, but it's not the bold, "in your face" tone that makes you jump up out of your seat like the Conn 10M and King Super 20 have. 1929 Conn New Wonder Series II (Chu Berry) I thought I would mention a few things about this horn too just for comparison. This horn is silver plated, has the split bell keys, nail file G# and rolled tone holes. It's a very free-blowing easy playing horn; even easier than the 10M. The action is clunky and a bit cumbersome at times, but it's a 77 year old horn! If I were to compare it's sound to the Buescher 400 and the 10M, I would say I think it actually sounds more like the Buescher. It has a warmer, "lustier" tone than the 10M. The intonation isn't quite as good as the later 10M, but there again, for a 77 year old horn, it's good. No horn by itself is going to play in tune; it's up to the player to play it in tune! Jim

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