[Al Stevens]

Some time ago I posted comparison clips of the Ref 54 and the Mark VI tenors. More recently Pete Thomas did something similar with five saxes. Yesterday I had in my studio four vintage tenor saxophones, so I decided to do it again.

The horns are:

Selmer Mark VI
Conn 10M
King Silversonic Super 20
Buescher True Tone

Everything else is identical: Same backing track (one chorus of Blue Moon), same mouthpiece and reed, same player, same room, same recording setup.

The mouthpiece is a Doc Tenney slant link 7* with a Rico Royal 2.5 reed.

As before, you are invited to comment and give a guess.

1. http://www.alstevens.com/tunes/mp3s/shootout/Blue Moon 1.mp3
2. http://www.alstevens.com/tunes/mp3s/shootout/Blue Moon 2.mp3
3. http://www.alstevens.com/tunes/mp3s/shootout/Blue Moon 3.mp3
4. http://www.alstevens.com/tunes/mp3s/shootout/Blue Moon 4.mp3

Now this is certainly not a balls-to-the-wall wringing out of these horns. It's more like how I'd play them in a small room in a combo setting.

 

[Seasax]

my order of preference:
recording 1. nice, phat and smooth
recording 4. equal to above, nearly perfect!
recording 3. same as above, just slightly spittier.
recording 2. in places it sounded slightly weak, and in others it sounded too bright for my liking.

great playing! really nice sounds on all four.

my guesses would be:
1 -- 10m
2 -- truetone
3 -- silver sonic
4 -- mark VI
or--
1 -- mark VI
2 -- TT
3 -- SS
4 -- 10M

 

[selmer]

1 = mark VI
2 = king
3= conn
4 = Beuscher
?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????....i think no: 1 has the sweetest tone.

 

[Mike Cesati]

Hi Al,

You sound great man. I like #4 the best with #2 a close second.

I'd like to guess the horns but don't feel qualified. Whatever they are keep # 4 ( could that be the CONN ?)

 

[HUTMO]

tenor shootout

Blue Moon 1. Selmer
Blue Moon 2. Beuscher
Blue Moon 3 King
Blue Moon 4. 10M

Nice playing Al.

HUTMO

 

[Swingtone]

OK, I've listened to these again, and decided to change things around. The only ones I'm unsure of now are 1 and 4; since many think 4 to be the Conn, I'm tempted to go that way, but I also know that the SS is one of his favorite horns (back-up to the VI?) and it just seems like he would be foot loose with it here, and he definitely sounds like this on no. 4....

1. Conn 10M
2. Selmer Mark VI
3. Buescher True Tone
4. King Siver-Sonic (to my ears the one you sound the best on and seem to enjoy playing the most)

 

[Wind_Mill]

1. S20
2. Mk6
3. TT
4. 10M

[.... I had a perfect score in the Pete Thomas roundup ...... didn't get even one right...]

 

[milandro]

Al you sound great! And by the way I practice to the sound of your " blue moon" almost every day!
I found Horn 1 and 2 (bold and bright) very similar between themselves and 3 and 4 (a little deeper and less bright) similar to one another too.
I wouldn't venture as far as to say which is which, can't honestly say!

 

[jmm1713]

1. True Tone

2. Mark Vi

3. S20

4. 10M

 

[Redwood_Lenny]

Very nice, I have no clue which is which but #2 is my fav. kudos

 

[retread]

All I can tell is that they're all played by the same player. And a fine player he is.

 

[Off-kilter]

Frankly I haven't a clue but why should I let that stop me?:? By the way,I love your playing on this.

O.K., here's my take on it:
1/ Toss up between the TT or the S20
2/ Same here, these two tracks sound VERY similar
3/This sound is why I sold my MK6 tenor, really didn't care for it,all buzzy and thin
4/YESSSS!Got to be a 10M! As soon as that warm honeyed voice cooed sweet nothings in my ear, big ,deep and round.
So, how did I do ,Huh??? Boy am I going to look bad if I got the last two horns wrong!

 

[Swingtone]

Psychologically, what's really interesting about these things is that if anyone voting plays one of the horns in the running as their main axe they will often pick the best sounding horn as being that model. (I admit I looked at some of the voters' profiles to see their setups.) I don't know if this term applies to inanimate objects, but where people are concerned it's called the Halo Effect.

 

[pc1234]

#4 was my all-around favorite - I've not played any of these horns, but I'll guess it was the 10M.
#1 and #2 sounded almost identical to me. #3 had a cool raspiness to it, though I'm not sure I'd want it there always. You weren't doing anything different with your embouchure/throat on that one? It was just the horn?
Very nice playing.

 

[Al Stevens]

#3 had a cool raspiness to it, though I'm not sure I'd want it there always. You weren't doing anything different with your embouchure/throat on that one? It was just the horn?

I didn't realize it until others here mentioned it. There is probably a logical explanation. Something I was unaware of while playing. I'll offer my theory when I identify the horns.

 

[SactoPete]

1. King
2. VI
3. 10m
4. Tru-tone

It's obvious, really. ;-)

 

[hallkat]

You sound great Al I liked #4 the best and I would guess 10M

Steve

 

[Billt4mn]

First take without overthinking it:
1. Buescher True Tone
2. Selmer Mark VI
3. King Silversonic Super 20
4. Conn 10M

Tasty playing, Al.

 

[zxcvbnm]

I preferred #1, and #4 sounded the brightest
1. True-Tone
2. Mark VI
3. Conn 10m
4. Super 20

 

[qwerty]

1. True Tone
2. Silversonic
3 10M
4, Mark VI

I liked your playing a lot Al. I thought there were a couple of "pitchy" things in 3 and 4 that I didn't hear in 1 and 2. Despite that, I'd have to say I liked 3 or 4 best. 1 was a bit too dark, 2 was a bit thin up high..3 and 4 were both just right.

Steve