[rispoli]

Scored recently a Raven tenor on ebay for really cheap and I got to say I am really impressed.
I thought to resell it likely at a profit but perhaps that's not what will happen...
I prefer already by quite a margin to the other high-end taiwanese tenor I used to own, a P.Mauriat 66R, which sounded certainly more vintage but was way more resistant in the high register.

This must be the easiest blowing saxophone I've ever tried (quite many so far...) and certainly the most in tune. I hardly believe my tuner...
I really wish I had started on this tenor, would have really simplified my life: totally recommendable to any beginner (and not).
The tone perhaps it's not the most impressive but certainly solid and focused, sort of Selmer meets Keilwerth with the volume of the latter. Somehow edgy with metal mouthpieces, but also really mellow with a Link Tone edge. It's actually quite darker than I expected (I briefly played in the past a gold lacquer model in a store and it's was really bright).


Overall very impressed.:shock:

 

[tjontheroad]

I thought you'd be liking the Raven. I found the two I tried very lively, but not overly bright.

 

[saxguy007]

All my CBs (tenor, soprano, bari) are black lacquer with gold keys. I seem to have gravitated to their dark finishes because they also have a dark tone. The black soprano especially helped me avoid the tinny, nasally soprano tone, and have a more introspective, plaintive Branford-like tone.

I brightened up my tenor a bit by getting one of Cannonball's new Fat Necks (silverplated), and it is the bomb. Might want to keep an eye out for one of those to try if your tone is not quite where you want it (aside from trying other mouthpieces that might "gel" with the dimensions of that horn better.

Glad the horn worked out for you. Ebay horns are always a crapshoot. There is just no substitute for trying an axe first hand.

 

[Ryan427]

Branford-like tone

Interesting you should mention a "Branford-like tone" from a cannonball sax - my friend just saw Branford perform with the Boston Pops a few weeks ago, and he said he was almost positive Branford was playing a CB Raven alto. That's the one with black keys and a frosted black finish, right? IMHO, if Branford is playing one, you're probably looking at a decent horn.

I wish I would have been there to hear it - it must have been an amazing show . . .

 

[rispoli]

I thought of selling my Raven but after playing it with my new Zagar SBB it's going nowhere! It now sounds nearly identical to my Buescher Aristocrat Big B.
Perfect match for this sax, you should check it out.