I just got a series 3. Love it. Lightning fast action, spot on intonation on all notes, effortless response from low Bb to high, and refined french selmer sound. It's great for jazz, classical, and pop. Selmer has moved the sax forward again like they did with the mark vi. Don't know why anyone would buy 30+ year old mark vi for $7K+ when they could get one of these horns brand new.
I played a 1938 Balanced Action for almost 35 years and retired her (still a great sax) and bought a Series III. The intonation accuracy is astounding. I am fortunate enough to have had Ron make me an RPC custom mouthpiece before he died, and I play Fibracell reeds. I find the III an absolute joy to play and listen to. This comparison is Gold in as much you can actually hear the subtle differences in these horns. The keyboard on my Balanced Action is the only better feature between the two. Thanks for doing this, very informative.
I have owned and played all of these. The Series II which is my favorite I use it for funk, rock, loud blues. I concur with Jim that the Series II is more resistant and that is the reason that if you want to go for the big sound you have to push the horn. But by all means it can deliver amazing power. 125 dbA and up when needed! The Series III has for my taste too much white noise around and I do not like the C# tuning mechanism it has. The Reference has too much of its own sound and wasn't as good for me for developing my kind of sound. The blank canvass view Jim has expressed is in my opinion very accurate toward the Series II and the main difference in projection resides in that the Series II demands you to work. Once you do it it is the best of the three models as far as I have being playing Selmers for almost 30 years.
Would love to hear some discussion of ergonomics: palm key placement, left pinky keys, differences between how in or out curved the keys feel, concave / convex pearls, heavy / light / high / low action, etc
Wow... I'm really glad I found this video. I've been trying to decide between a Series III and Yamaha 82Z. The Series III sounded incredibly dark and well.... dead...compared to the Series II and the '54. You helped me scratch that one off the list. I'm going to add the '54 to the list, a horn I never even considered. Thanks guys!
Very subtile difference between series II and III...I’m a tenor player and to me they sounded very much “ordinary alto saxophone”. Ref 54 on the other hand had something extra! Fuller, rounder and more complex sort of..the long note Jim lands on in the first phrase. So sweet. Here’s an idea on saxophone sound: Almost everybody wants a full rich complex sound might it be bright OR dark. Isn’t it true to say that you mostly shape you’re sound (talking bright/dark spectrum) with mouthpiece and reed. So to me, full, rich and complex are the adjectives to look for when buying a new sax. And regardless if you’re looking for a very bright “Sanborn-type” of sound or a dark, warm Phil Woods- type you can always work on that with choice of mp’s and reeds and ligatures. (and a lot of practice of course)There are also different necks and heavy mass screws etc. But if the horn in itself has that complex, full and rich sound it’s gonna come through anyway...
Purely based on Jim's playing experience, it seems as though the Series II and III had quite a bit of resistance where as the Reference 54 had this ease of play and potential to do so much. So I'd probably go with the Reference 54
I've had a Reference and currently have a Series III and would say they're about the same resistance wise. I had an Axos as well and it was the closest to a "free blowing" Selmer that you're going to get.
These are all beautiful horns. I’ve had them all. The series III has the best intonation of all of them. The reference horns are incredibly flat in the lower register upper stack but has all three frequencies mid, high, and low
I have tried all 3 and I think the series 2 is much rounder and better than the 3. The 3 felt a bit forced in terms of sound. Also the series 3 was not tuned as perfectly as the 2. The reference model did not suit me so I decided to buy a series 2. I'm in love with it.
Definitely agree that the series 2 sounds sweeter. Was pleasantly surprised with it. The reference sounded how I expected it to. Thanks for these videos.
The reference 54 is probably my favorite modern saxophone. The tenor I got to play one time was unlike any of the custom z's or any cannonball saxes. Its definitely not a mark Vi but it's an incredible horn
Interesting to talk about the actual key geography. I find that the right hand palm keys are so much closer to the body of the sax. So have to really move your hand a long way to get to them. If i remember correctly the other two horns have their palm keys placed higher up off the body so you can get to them (IMO) more quickly and in a shorter movement. Would be cool if you gents would confirm the feel of the horn in your hands? These are nuances that are important when choosing a sax.
I found the Series II dark, a bit sweet and a middle of the road sound, to me like a Yamaha 62, without its own sound, but the series II is a bit darker. The Series III seemed a little darker tone the series II to me. George mentioned the Series III like using a slightly softer reed, and I could hear Jim almost squeaking on some notes and perhaps a slightly harder reed might have helped? To me the best is the Reference 54, broader tone, warm, more body with some brightness and a bit louder. I would have liked it if you had added the matt finish Reference 54 also as well as the lacquered one as the sound of it is a little different than the matt finish. Although Selmers aren't my favourite saxophones, out of all the modern Selmer saxes, I like the Ref 54 the most.
Very informative, but given that the player is 90% of the tone, it would have been good to hear George playing them, too - particularly as he's a Mk VI player!
Until your second go with the Reference I was pretty much lost. I feel the Reference is a very warm, solid sounding instrument with lots of body to the sound. I didn't hear that familiar aspect when you played it the first time. I would choose the 54 over the other two. It might possibly be the product of your mouthpiece, reed and tip opening combination that compliments the Reference more that the other two.
ABOUT TIME A CO STARTS SYSTEMATICALLY COMPARING MODELS. IF YOU HAVE ALL THE SAXES IT SHOULD TAKE YOU A SINGLE DAY TO MAKE A VIDEO COMPARING ALL THE MODELS WITHIN A BRAND. THANKS! NEXT MAKE A VIDEO OF HOW AMERICANS CAN BUY YOUR HORNS - IT IS A MORE COMPLICATED PROCESS GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS AND CURRENCY DIFFERENCES ETC.. OR WHO ARE THESE ADS AIMED AT?
Hi Stan, glad you're enjoying the comparison videos! We'll get many more filmed soon. That's a great idea regarding international customers buying our instruments. To put in simply, you pay the EX VAT price (which is -20%) on our website and you will need to pay your local import duty. This is usually somewhere between 4%-8%. Therefore you can get some unbelievable savings on our instruments compared to a lot of US prices!
@@saxworldwide How would that work if a person happened to be in your store's area on holiday, bought a saxophone from you, then returned back to their own country with their new saxophone? Any savings there? At least get to try before buy.
I had a series 2 alto, a series 2 tenor and now honun series 3 alto. My experience with the series 2 alto was very bad, an instrument that never fascinated me as the intonation was bad and the sound always muffled. . A different thing about the series 2 tenor, he was a fantastic instrument and very in tune, even if he had some small limitations to make pop music. On the other hand, I can only speak well of the 3 series alto, tuned, powerful and extremely versatile. I play it with lavoz reeds and an HR * 6 jody jazz and the sound is frighteningly big, sometimes I feel like I'm playing a tenor.
You probably have a not so good serie 2 , my its a very good horn, but tune in left hand register a litle louder.., my Tenor mark 7 its another level horn...best then all the new Selmers
I think the series II's achille's heel is the neck. I have a series II tenor and the stock neck honestly sounds kind of dead in a jazz setting. I got a Boston Sax Shop Heritage neck, and now my horn sounds fat and warm, and projects well. Not sure if this applies to altos too but i'd assume so
Do they sell tunner in this store? How about saxophone books with transcriptions or tunes? How hard is it to tune up the instrument and just play a few bars of a transcription or your favourite riffs on all saxophones? , The series 2-3 are so auto of tune (mouthpiece not far enough) in the lower register makes me wonder what is the point of so much bla bla bla. Doing riffs according to the “vibe of the moment” just doesn’t…. Anyway, how they enjoying playing this saxes
A III alto? I’ve never played a III alto I liked. However, I played a III tenor in the Selmer office/showroom in Paris. It was one of the best tenors I ever played! Maybe I just am too acclimated to my II alto to prefer anything else.
🤨🥴 As opposed to the *Selmer* models SA, SA-ii and SA-iii?? You just disqualified yourself. Selmer thought they sounded enough like Selmer horns to design & mass produce them globally. Must be a *"Referrnce or nothing."* guy who doesn't even own a Selmer and is a beginning band student player and playing a used Bundy or Jean Baptiste brand and stock student mouthpiece. Whatever, mate.
I just got a series 3. Love it. Lightning fast action, spot on intonation on all notes, effortless response from low Bb to high, and refined french selmer sound. It's great for jazz, classical, and pop. Selmer has moved the sax forward again like they did with the mark vi. Don't know why anyone would buy 30+ year old mark vi for $7K+ when they could get one of these horns brand new.
I played a 1938 Balanced Action for almost 35 years and retired her (still a great sax) and bought a Series III. The intonation accuracy is astounding. I am fortunate enough to have had Ron make me an RPC custom mouthpiece before he died, and I play Fibracell reeds. I find the III an absolute joy to play and listen to. This comparison is Gold in as much you can actually hear the subtle differences in these horns. The keyboard on my Balanced Action is the only better feature between the two. Thanks for doing this, very informative.
Thank you for the comparison. I like the 3! The Reference 54 sounded more old school / darker. The 3 was brighter.
I have owned and played all of these. The Series II which is my favorite I use it for funk, rock, loud blues. I concur with Jim that the Series II is more resistant and that is the reason that if you want to go for the big sound you have to push the horn. But by all means it can deliver amazing power. 125 dbA and up when needed! The Series III has for my taste too much white noise around and I do not like the C# tuning mechanism it has. The Reference has too much of its own sound and wasn't as good for me for developing my kind of sound. The blank canvass view Jim has expressed is in my opinion very accurate toward the Series II and the main difference in projection resides in that the Series II demands you to work. Once you do it it is the best of the three models as far as I have being playing Selmers for almost 30 years.
I agree, the series 2, offer more versatility, fot all kind of music styles...
But, i have a new...old.. Tenor mark 7 from 1980, its another kind of brass...another level of sax mutch better
I fully agree. I play a serie 2.
Would love to hear some discussion of ergonomics: palm key placement, left pinky keys, differences between how in or out curved the keys feel, concave / convex pearls, heavy / light / high / low action, etc
Awesome video! Please do the same with Yamaha 62 , custom z and the EX.
Wow... I'm really glad I found this video. I've been trying to decide between a Series III and Yamaha 82Z. The Series III sounded incredibly dark and well.... dead...compared to the Series II and the '54. You helped me scratch that one off the list. I'm going to add the '54 to the list, a horn I never even considered. Thanks guys!
Buy the serie 2
Very subtile difference between series II and III...I’m a tenor player and to me they sounded very much “ordinary alto saxophone”. Ref 54 on the other hand had something extra! Fuller, rounder and more complex sort of..the long note Jim lands on in the first phrase. So sweet. Here’s an idea on saxophone sound: Almost everybody wants a full rich complex sound might it be bright OR dark. Isn’t it true to say that you mostly shape you’re sound (talking bright/dark spectrum) with mouthpiece and reed. So to me, full, rich and complex are the adjectives to look for when buying a new sax. And regardless if you’re looking for a very bright “Sanborn-type” of sound or a dark, warm Phil Woods- type you can always work on that with choice of mp’s and reeds and ligatures. (and a lot of practice of course)There are also different necks and heavy mass screws etc. But if the horn in itself has that complex, full and rich sound it’s gonna come through anyway...
Reference 54 hands down. Great horn.
Purely based on Jim's playing experience, it seems as though the Series II and III had quite a bit of resistance where as the Reference 54 had this ease of play and potential to do so much. So I'd probably go with the Reference 54
I own the series iii and yes there is a bit of resistance but less than the series ii I have not owned or played a reference 54
I've had a Reference and currently have a Series III and would say they're about the same resistance wise. I had an Axos as well and it was the closest to a "free blowing" Selmer that you're going to get.
These are all beautiful horns. I’ve had them all. The series III has the best intonation of all of them. The reference horns are incredibly flat in the lower register upper stack but has all three frequencies mid, high, and low
I have tried all 3 and I think the series 2 is much rounder and better than the 3. The 3 felt a bit forced in terms of sound. Also the series 3 was not tuned as perfectly as the 2. The reference model did not suit me so I decided to buy a series 2. I'm in love with it.
Exactly same experience.. I've tried all 3 models.. and I purchased 2.. I love it too!!!
Definitely agree that the series 2 sounds sweeter. Was pleasantly surprised with it. The reference sounded how I expected it to. Thanks for these videos.
The reference 54 is probably my favorite modern saxophone. The tenor I got to play one time was unlike any of the custom z's or any cannonball saxes. Its definitely not a mark Vi but it's an incredible horn
Reference 54 was my favorite. Would love to hear it head-to-head with the Mark VI, the horn on which it's based.
SAX UK DOES A VIDEO LIKE THIS CHECK IT OUT
Interesting to talk about the actual key geography. I find that the right hand palm keys are so much closer to the body of the sax. So have to really move your hand a long way to get to them. If i remember correctly the other two horns have their palm keys placed higher up off the body so you can get to them (IMO) more quickly and in a shorter movement. Would be cool if you gents would confirm the feel of the horn in your hands? These are nuances that are important when choosing a sax.
I found the Series II dark, a bit sweet and a middle of the road sound, to me like a Yamaha 62, without its own sound, but the series II is a bit darker. The Series III seemed a little darker tone the series II to me. George mentioned the Series III like using a slightly softer reed, and I could hear Jim almost squeaking on some notes and perhaps a slightly harder reed might have helped? To me the best is the Reference 54, broader tone, warm, more body with some brightness and a bit louder. I would have liked it if you had added the matt finish Reference 54 also as well as the lacquered one as the sound of it is a little different than the matt finish. Although Selmers aren't my favourite saxophones, out of all the modern Selmer saxes, I like the Ref 54 the most.
Very informative, but given that the player is 90% of the tone, it would have been good to hear George playing them, too - particularly as he's a Mk VI player!
1- Reference
2- Serie II
3- Serie III ( too much bright to me)
Until your second go with the Reference I was pretty much lost. I feel the Reference is a very warm, solid sounding instrument with lots of body to the sound. I didn't hear that familiar aspect when you played it the first time. I would choose the 54 over the other two. It might possibly be the product of your mouthpiece, reed and tip opening combination that compliments the Reference more that the other two.
Love to see comparisons Between 👉Selmer S2 &Ref54 Vs. Yanagisawa wo01 Wo10 please 🙇🏻♂️
Can you do a comparison of the Yamaha 62, 82z and 875 next, maybe on tenor?
Noted! We'll get this arranged in the next few weeks
@@saxworldwide I would love to see the yamahas compared on alto!
Man I love the reference Alto if I could get one into my local area I might even be willing to trade my Mark VI for one.
I have one for sale, mint condition. Where are u from?
Tudor Baba Florida
@@benhostetler268 a bit far away from me .. I'm from Romania 😅
Tudor Baba 😂 yeah I don’t think that’ll work. I’d have to play test and I’d want you to do the same too before a trade happened.
Don t do that...
El Reference tiene el mejor sonido para mi, tremendo saxo!!
I play series 3. Just a good horn overall
Do a supplemental Part-2 and include the 36, Jubilee, Hummingbird and Supreme.
Do a review of the reference 36
Reference 54 #1
fun review, thanks. love my Ref54 alto, great horns.
Can you do a comparison of Yanagisawa A991 and AWO-10? Thank you!!
Please do a comparison on the Selmer Sopranos. I am interested in a Series III Jubilee.
John H. Thompson And I’d like to hear a Jubilee along side of a late issue Mk VI.
Are the series II and III the Jubilee edition
ABOUT TIME A CO STARTS SYSTEMATICALLY COMPARING MODELS. IF YOU HAVE ALL THE SAXES IT SHOULD TAKE YOU A SINGLE DAY TO MAKE A VIDEO COMPARING ALL THE MODELS WITHIN A BRAND. THANKS! NEXT MAKE A VIDEO OF HOW AMERICANS CAN BUY YOUR HORNS - IT IS A MORE COMPLICATED PROCESS GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS AND CURRENCY DIFFERENCES ETC.. OR WHO ARE THESE ADS AIMED AT?
Hi Stan, glad you're enjoying the comparison videos! We'll get many more filmed soon. That's a great idea regarding international customers buying our instruments. To put in simply, you pay the EX VAT price (which is -20%) on our website and you will need to pay your local import duty. This is usually somewhere between 4%-8%. Therefore you can get some unbelievable savings on our instruments compared to a lot of US prices!
@@saxworldwide How would that work if a person happened to be in your store's area on holiday, bought a saxophone from you, then returned back to their own country with their new saxophone?
Any savings there? At least get to try before buy.
Series III is the best!
I had a series 2 alto, a series 2 tenor and now honun series 3 alto. My experience with the series 2 alto was very bad, an instrument that never fascinated me as the intonation was bad and the sound always muffled. . A different thing about the series 2 tenor, he was a fantastic instrument and very in tune, even if he had some small limitations to make pop music. On the other hand, I can only speak well of the 3 series alto, tuned, powerful and extremely versatile. I play it with lavoz reeds and an HR * 6 jody jazz and the sound is frighteningly big, sometimes I feel like I'm playing a tenor.
You probably have a not so good serie 2 , my its a very good horn, but tune in left hand register a litle louder.., my Tenor mark 7 its another level horn...best then all the new Selmers
@@ruicalcada6149 In the end each of us has his own way of playing. You just have to be lucky to find the instrument that best suits your playing. 🎷
I think the series II's achille's heel is the neck. I have a series II tenor and the stock neck honestly sounds kind of dead in a jazz setting. I got a Boston Sax Shop Heritage neck, and now my horn sounds fat and warm, and projects well. Not sure if this applies to altos too but i'd assume so
Masahiko Goto is the mightest!
I love the sound of the Series II, even if it is a bit introverted
Serie 2, its the most versatility..
Do they sell tunner in this store?
How about saxophone books with transcriptions or tunes?
How hard is it to tune up the instrument and just play a few bars of a transcription or your favourite riffs on all saxophones? , The series 2-3 are so auto of tune (mouthpiece not far enough) in the lower register makes me wonder what is the point of so much bla bla bla. Doing riffs according to the “vibe of the moment” just doesn’t….
Anyway, how they enjoying playing this saxes
My Super Action 80 Series II tenor sax is from the early 90's. Is it old enough to be considered vintage yet?
I’ve had a series III for years and I absolutely hate it.
A III alto? I’ve never played a III alto I liked. However, I played a III tenor in the Selmer office/showroom in Paris. It was one of the best tenors I ever played! Maybe I just am too acclimated to my II alto to prefer anything else.
Reference for me. A proper Selmer sound.
🤨🥴 As opposed to the *Selmer* models SA, SA-ii and SA-iii?? You just disqualified yourself. Selmer thought they sounded enough like Selmer horns to design & mass produce them globally.
Must be a *"Referrnce or nothing."* guy who doesn't even own a Selmer and is a beginning band student player and playing a used Bundy or Jean Baptiste brand and stock student mouthpiece. Whatever, mate.
@@JunkMailBoxStuff why'd you get so mad lmao
The 3 sounds stuffy
Series 3 for me all day long. Its the only Selmer that I've played that I liked.
RUSSIA !!!
And?