Ref. 54 vs. Ref. 36

Grantonsax it looks like from what you wrote that your horn is in dire need of a visit to the shop to check for leaks and various other things that might be out of adjustment. If your 36 has never been set up by a really good pro than your not really playing a ref 36, stock Selmers bite the big one when it comes to their set ups.

I have both of these horns, the ref 36 I've had for about three years. I've had a ref 54 for about two weeks. I'm currently in the process of going through and completely resetting up my 36 to play like my 54 that I just recently set up.

You'll find different opinions on the playing characteristics of both of these horns. Some people say the Ref 54 is darker, others say the Ref 36 is darker.

Basically the big difference between these two horns is the necks and the bow/bell size.

The ref 36 has a low arch neck, making altissimo a little bit tougher. Of course if you're playing a high baffle mouthpiece you'll never notice and the two will complement each other quite well. If your playing a rubber link than you might notice some stuffiness up on the high notes. Of course we've argued up and down on this forum about these matters and come up with all sorts of claims that there was never a problem....that I must suck if I have had problems and the fault is entirely my own. And then there are those that go on the new neck search to get the altissimo popping....series III neck for me and a few others fixed the problem. I've measured my neck aperture size with a micrometer and it comes out to .512 which is about correct opening for a responsive neck. I'd like to try a bunch of Ref 36 necks in the future as I'm certain that they do work.

The other part of the Ref 36 is that it has a bigger bow/bell section. Low notes will fall out of the Ref 36 like a hot knife through butter. Really easy to get a very fat velvety tone down low.

Ref 54 has a slightly darker sound than my 36, has a little easier altissimo, plays the overtone series a little easier. Doesn't have quite the bottom end that the 36 has. Of course the middle D is a little less stuffy than a 36 as well.
The Ref 54 has a slightly higher arch to the neck....not as high as a Series III mind you, so it makes sense that the thing is a bit less resistant than the 36 at times.

I would describe the Ref 54 as having a tone like a room filled with cigar smoke, thick and heavy. The Ref 36 is the same room stunk up with cigar smoke, only with an air filtration system that sort of malfuctions. Hows that for a description that means nothing?

Intonation is about as good as you can get on both of them. Both have a homogeneous tone compared to a good VI. No quirky notes that can make a horn sing and sound interesting.

Both of these horns are played with a NY Link 105 refaced by Mojo and RJS 3M reeds.

When it comes to these two horns you can't just try them out for 30 minutes and really know how they play until you've spent a few years with each. I'm still learning about the quirks of the 54, so take my review as worthless if you want.