[Hurling Frootmig]

While it is difficult to decide on a particular style of VI so I will leave that to your discretion for the poll. Choose the era you like the best and tell me which horn you would prefer.

Money is no object in this exercise. Assume you have all the funds you need to purchase the horn of your choice.

 

[Tryptykon]

Based on some exceptional VI tenors I've played I would look in the 86-110,000-ish range.

 

[Hurling Frootmig]

I have a killer 170k tenor but it was a matter of playing with the key heights a bit to get it to really sing.

 

[jimmitch]

I just love my 82xxx tenor wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

[hakukani]

I just slap a RJS 3s on my RPC 115B, Get out my VI 161,xxx, and GO TO TOWN.

The only thing I would add would be maybe a super20...

I'm sure the ref 36 and 54 are fine horns.

 

[sopranosaxman]

I like my 120xxx mk.VI and i have heard a lot of praise about the 120xxx series

 

[Yellowhorn]

What are you asking?

Wait a minute! The mashead of this thread is "MK6 vs. Ref 54 or Ref 36, but then Hurling Frootmig went on to ask what era of the 6 we like.

Well, on the first question, MY response is MK6. Despite Selmer's marketing gimmick that the Ref. 54 is the NEW MK6, it is just not true. I recently played a brand-new 54 with a friend's 6 and, as expected, the 6 kicked a..ss!

On question of what era of the 6 is good, I have read many comments saying that the 5-digit 6's are better than the later one, but I don't think it is necessarily true. The fact is: NOT all 6's are good, even if they have 5 SN digits!

Just my two cents!

 

[Randall]

A question I would like to weigh in on~

I used to own a killer VI...everyone who played it loved it. It was a late VI..210,xxx and I used it for 13 years.

I then played a Ref 54 and 36 side by side with my VI. All 3 horns in perfect adjustment by the same tech.

The 54 blew my "killer" out of the water. The 36 was nice but did nothing for me.
3 days afterward I traded my VI flat for the 54 and have been very happy since.

Since then, I landed a silver closet VI in the 184,xxx range and had it overhauled and had the body to bow soldered. I have to say that, if memory serves me correctly, this VI is head and shoulders above my old one. It has a resonance or ring to it that my 54 comes close to, but doesn't match exactly.

I have also changed mps and reed set ups since I used my old VI, and this no doubt affects things a great deal, but I would have to say that amongst the Selmer line, a well-set up and in good condition VI can be hard to beat.

I am not saying the VI is the end-all-be-all of saxes. If it were, I wouldn't have sold all mine in the past.

I wouldn't sell my Ref 54 ever, especially since I had the ultimate Jason engrave job, amd side key pearls added.
That being said, had I not customized it so, I may be selling it instead of the VI I just put up for sale.

 

[RandyJ]

My MK VI's are fine horns, purchased in the 60's. They also have that mystique, or emotional aspect that will always be there.

But for timbre, intonation and overall quality of sound my new-ish Ref 36 honestly outshines the VI's.

 

[Hurling Frootmig]

I found that Reference Horns tend to be just as variable as VI's with the difference being that I prefer what the VI does. As Randall points out, a great VI is hard to beat. But I'll let everyone else weigh in on this.

 

[johnnysax]

I have a 1962 VI alto and a Ref 54 alto. I play both on alternating days and have a slight preference for the Ref 54 based mostly on differences in sound that are probably perceptible only to me. I choose not to vote.

 

[wersax]

Off and on I compare new horns to my 62,000 MK VI tenor and I've just not found one better for me. The Ref 54's I tried out were great horns, though..........

 

[Hurling Frootmig]

I just love my 82xxx tenor wouldn't trade it for the world.

I have an 87k alto with the same wonderful color to it. Beautiful horn.

 

[Dr G]

Since then, I landed a silver closet VI in the 184,xxx range and had it overhauled and had the body to bow soldered. I have to say that, if memory serves me correctly, this VI is head and shoulders above my old one. It has a resonance or ring to it that my 54 comes close to, but doesn't match exactly.

Have you also had the body to bow soldered on your 54? It made a tangible difference on my 36. When it came back from that trip to Randy Jones, it really was a different horn - and it was no slouch to start.

 

[Randall]

G Not yet, but I plan to.

 

[Al Stevens]

This is a tough one. I can't vote because I can't choose. I have a '56 mark vi and a ref 54 LE. Both tenors. Because I don't need two top-of-the-line tenors, I've thought about selling one or the other but simply cannot choose between them. So, for now they both stay here.

If I was buying a tenor today, knowing what I know, I'd buy the 54 because I could get it for many fewer dollars. So I guess that's kind of a choice.

 

[Pgraves]

I just love my 82xxx tenor wouldn't trade it for the world.

How about the world plus $100?

 

[speyman]

Post changed!!!!!!!

While it is difficult to decide on a particular style of VI so I will leave that to your discretion for the poll. Choose the era you like the best and tell me which horn you would prefer.

Money is no object in this exercise. Assume you have all the funds you need to purchase the horn of your choice.

Hey Hurl, I just noticed that you modified this post with the addition of the words "Money is no object in this exercise. Assume you have all the funds you need to purchase the horn of your choice." after you started the pole. Trickey............:!: I wonder what the pole would say if the price of the 36 and the Mark VI had to be the same?

 

[Hurling Frootmig]

Yeah way tricky that Hurling. Before I made the change over 68% were saying Mark VI. Something of a landslide.

I didn't want people to have to consider costs as part of the exercise. If that were the case we would see more guys playing on vintage True Tones.

 

[speyman]

So what's the big deal about the "landslide"? Who said there wouldn't be a landslide. Everyone on this forum knows about the MK VI and what it stands for and what they are. Everyone knows that the 54 and 36 don't compare as well do a lot of different horns. This thread was just an attempt to hijack another thread regarding the Ref. 36 and the 82Z, wasn't it?