Yani S-6 (Artist Stencil) v Buescher TT sop

1604 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Hurling Frootmig, Jun 17, 2007

potiphar

Discussion Starter · Jun 16, 2007

Having recently acquired a 1927 TT from a forum member, and had that and my 1975 Yani serviced by the same Tech, it seemed worth trying to compare the two.

In appearance the TT wins hands down. Not only is the silver/goldwash finish elegant, but the design is more stylish than the utilitarian (Mk VI cloned) Yani’s.

Ergonomically, both have “vintage” in-line fingering, which I don’t find a problem having never played modern horns. The Yani has a lower action, but the TT’s small pearls and positive feel actually seem slightly quicker if anything, though the tiny bis key is a little far from the B. After half an hour you forget that, though. The low-set TT palm keys I found much easier to negotiate than the Yani’s (the Mk VI is infamous for these), but the pinky clusters were about equal.

Intonation is reasonable on both, but the Yani is near-perfect throughout. The TT’s Bb and open C# are a little flat, and the palm keys a little sharp. Top C and C# are a bit muffled, but much less using a Vandoren S-15 mp than my more open Bari 62. This seems to match Stephen Howard’s online review so maybe it’s the design.

Regarding tone, as you play the TT feeds back a wonderful, warm buttery sound compared to the more nasal Yani, especially in the lower register. To my surprise, however, when I recorded both via an AMT clip-on mic, the tones were almost indistinguishable, particularly with the more open mp. Careful listening revealed the TT to have a more woody, breathy sound, whereas the Yani had an completely unexpected sweet centre to the sound which is much less obvious to the player.

The question is, which should I sell? For playing at home I can admire the Buescher on the stand, cosset myself in the velvet sound, noodle around dexterously and feel good about owning a piece of history. An audience, though, might prefer the sweeter and better-tuned sound of the Cinderella stencil, whilst other players think me a cheapskate.

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Dave Dolson

· #2 · Jun 16, 2007

Interesting. Thanks for the effort.

I have two TTs (both from '28) and they differ slightly in overall response and resonance, but both are superb sopranos. My favorite has an after-market coat(s) of lacquer over the matte-silver finish and it is clearly the more resonant (another slam at anti-lacquer/finish-matters advocates).

I have a MKVI-clone (Taiwanese, probably Antigua) and it may have a better tone, but not nearly as good of a scale as either TT.

I've recently taken up with my S992 over the TT. The scale is better, the response is equal, the keywork is equally easy, and the tone is so similar that I doubt anyone cares. No slam on the TT, mibnd you - I still love it. The S992 is just better for me now.

Your comments about the palm keys were correct, as far as opinion goes. My favorite TT has a cork riser on D-3, making it SO much easier to hit than my stock second TT. The MKVI-clone's palm keys continue to bug me, but I realize others don't suffer from them.

And your comments about tonal differences from in front of the horns makes sense. We as players hear and feel all the differences, the audience does not (with rare exceptions).

Among my six sopranos, after about a minute of playing one after the other, I can easily forget most of the previous horn's attributes and negatives. The only exception there is when I play the MKVI-clone or my Antigua 590LQ. The VI-clone's scale and palm keys make a huge negative difference, and the 590LQ, as good as it is, doesn't have that smooth, classy feel of my S992.

Thanks again for your post. DAVE

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AmSaxPlayer

· #3 · Jun 16, 2007

Glad you like the TT sop; they're great players, I wouldn't have sold it if it weren't for my lousy hand problems. The S15 was one of the better mouthpieces intonation wise I found, though I think with alot of horns, especially different style horns (by this I mean not a Mark VI and Mark VI clone), intonation takes a while to adjust to, eventually becoming natural habit. As for the sound, while the audience may not hear a huge difference, I find that when I play on a horn that sounds better to me, I play better in general, as I don't work as hard to produce the sound I imagine, and really find that I enjoy playing this type of horn alot more.

Of your horns, I'd say stick with the Buescher! It's pure class all the way

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potiphar

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 16, 2007

AmSaxPlayer said:
Glad you like the TT sop; they're great players, I wouldn't have sold it if it weren't for my lousy hand problems. The S15 was one of the better mouthpieces intonation wise I found, though I think with alot of horns, especially different style horns (by this I mean not a Mark VI and Mark VI clone), intonation takes a while to adjust to, eventually becoming natural habit. As for the sound, while the audience may not hear a huge difference, I find that when I play on a horn that sounds better to me, I play better in general, as I don't work as hard to produce the sound I imagine, and really find that I enjoy playing this type of horn alot more.

Of your horns, I'd say stick with the Buescher! It's pure class all the way

Thanks - the horn plays even better after a bit of adjustment. I certainly have had no trounle with intonation: my tech mentioned it was a little less exact than the Yani he worked on last month, and the weaknesses were confirmed by tuner. But who plays to a tuner? I suspect I'll end up not getting around to selling either...

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potiphar

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 16, 2007

Dave Dolson said:
Interesting. Thanks for the effort.

I have two TTs (both from '28) and they differ slightly in overall response and resonance, but both are superb sopranos. My favorite has an after-market coat(s) of lacquer over the matte-silver finish and it is clearly the more resonant (another slam at anti-lacquer/finish-matters advocates).

I have a MKVI-clone (Taiwanese, probably Antigua) and it may have a better tone, but not nearly as good of a scale as either TT.

I've recently taken up with my S992 over the TT. The scale is better, the response is equal, the keywork is equally easy, and the tone is so similar that I doubt anyone cares. No slam on the TT, mibnd you - I still love it. The S992 is just better for me now.

Your comments about the palm keys were correct, as far as opinion goes. My favorite TT has a cork riser on D-3, making it SO much easier to hit than my stock second TT. The MKVI-clone's palm keys continue to bug me, but I realize others don't suffer from them.

And your comments about tonal differences from in front of the horns makes sense. We as players hear and feel all the differences, the audience does not (with rare exceptions).

Among my six sopranos, after about a minute of playing one after the other, I can easily forget most of the previous horn's attributes and negatives. The only exception there is when I play the MKVI-clone or my Antigua 590LQ. The VI-clone's scale and palm keys make a huge negative difference, and the 590LQ, as good as it is, doesn't have that smooth, classy feel of my S992.

Thanks again for your post. DAVE

Thanks for that, Dave. I too had discovered the value of a riser on the D side key. Having read your "unimpressed" comment about the S-6 on another thread I was actually quite surprised at the sweet tone. Since I posted I've tried out both on my wife (fount of all auditory wisdom) who agrees about the tone but likes both. Perhaps I should try a Martin...

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Hurling Frootmig

· #6 · Jun 16, 2007

I think the S-6 is a nice enough horn and have owned a couple. My preference was to keep an Antigua Winds A-590SPC when I had the S-6's. It has been replaced by a killer Rampone & Cazzanni R1 in silver plate. It has a huge sound that reminds me a lot of some of the better Buescher's that I have played.

I think the True Tone soprano is one of the all time classics. Frankly, I haven't played any true tone horn that didn't sing.