[arya44]

I'm wondering if someone has experience with SA, SAII, SAIII tenors.
I like to know the similarities and differences in their mechanism and sound quality.
Someone was commenting SA80 II has a dark sound but III sounds too thin.
Is SA80 better sounding than SA80 II or vice versa? Which one of those have more of that nasal solid core character of Mark VI with lots of harmonics? Is there any annoying or prone to problem mechanism in SA80 that they tried to improve in SA80 II or III? I'm trying to find the rationale why they came up with different versions.
There are a couple of options around the same price for SA, SAII, SAIII. Earlier I was trying to see if I budget higher to get a Mark VI but I think I need a middle ground for time being. I try to find a warm and resonating sound with lots of core to be a step up from my Yamaha YTS-61. One good thing for SA / SA ii / SA iii is that they all have high F# and generally they are newer designs so I assume it would be less of the vintage tweaking that my city repairmen are capable of. I'm hoping Selmer SA family have more similarity to Mark VI sound compare to some other options I heard which are either pretty rare or old and subject to more surprises.

BTW do you know if Beaugnier has more Mark VI sound than Selmer SA 80 / 80 II / 80 III? It's a vintage one but I'm wondering soundwise it's worth it to get that instead of one of the Selmer SA family.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Tom Walsh]

Series 3 is my pick of the bunch, thats why i bought mine. and just for the record im yet to find a VI that can hold a candle to my 3.

If you want a mk VI sound (not that it exists or can really be pidgeonholed like that) get a VI. You wont be happy with something else

 

[Tzadik]

Why considering only Selmer Super Actions?

Buy a Mauriat System 76 tenor.

 

[arya44]

Because they have newer mechanism but price-wise I can find affordable ones (for my budget) rather than Mark VI or Reference 36 / 54.
I don't know about Mark VII. Some people felt disappointed with that, I guess because it came after Mark VI and didn't have that great sound.
There are other saxes with sort of same solid core with focused nasal character with lots of harmonics but I don't know them.
I just listened to an SML that I did mix for (a quintet) and actually felt it had a decent focus but slightly less expressive and more warmth than Selmer sound. I found with Selmer you can hear that buzz right up to the high C# but there are lots of nice sounding horns including my YTS-61 that harmonic-wise you don't have much buzz on the higher part of the high octave and it sounds sort of smooth. I even tried it with high baffle mouthpiece and the different between the body of YTS-61 and some other European made tenor saxes are easily distinguishable. What else is there that gives that buzz in the high octave while having a warm and relatively fat sound (not some of the newer ones made in Asia) with a good core and focus (Rampone & Cazzani, Borgani, Grassi, may be Keilwerth, may be B&S, I don't know any modern French ones other than Selmer that is lasted this long (not a vintage).

Thanks.

 

[Tzadik]

Keywork is modern from SBA to these days instruments... just need to be tweaked by a skilled technician.

Mark VII doesn't have a great sound because most of people consider "great" a sound if the sound is as much closer as an avarage Mark VI sounds.
Mark VI has been produced for almost 20 year... and you can find lots of differences between different Mark VIs of different periods.

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The buzz doesn't depends by the instrument itself... but from how you blow into the horns and what setup you use.
If you want a buzzier nasal sound... you just need a proper setup (not necessarly a high baffle piece) and a good practise.