TM Custom/"M'Lady" Blind Shootout vs. Vintage Selmers

[saxxsymbol]

We are all still waiting for the experts to weigh in here...................................................... Only a few brave souls have dared to guess so far.

[tonyg]

My guess would be similar to William's

1. M'lady lacquer
2. M'lady matte
3. Mark VI
4. SBA

5. Mark VI
6. M'lady matte
7. M'lady lacquer
8. SBA

[Zootfan]

Zootfan, you and I have an almost identical list!

Not any more!

I had limited time earlier today and so didn't listen to the "Soul" clips as carefully or as many times. I have now edited my responses to reflect this, and feel I may be pretty close. But who knows? I feel pretty sure about the SBA is about all I can say, in that it sounds the most free and spread. But the M'Lady that I think is either 1 or 2 in the Body clips must be a VERY good one because I keep going back and forth between those two over which one is the Mark VI and which one is the M'Lady. However, the horn in Body D/Soul 4 which I think is the same horn in both cases and a M'Lady sounds like a typical Far Eastern horn to me--that is, dull and not as vibrant.

[BrianMitchellBrody]

These on-line comparison recordings do not prove anything. It is my opinion that the only person that will feel or hear a difference will be the player behind the horn. A good player such as is being used here could make a Maxtone Yugo sound good on these on-line shoot-outs.

However for fun.

body:
sba
ml
vi
vi

soul:
sba
ml
vi
vi

B

[saxxsymbol]

If a good player can make a Taiwan horn sound as good as a SBA or Mark VI that would speak volumes about those horns.

[andre251]

However, the horn in Body D/Soul 4 which I think is the same horn in both cases and a M'Lady sounds like a typical Far Eastern horn to me--that is, dull and not as vibrant.

That is the second time someone has particularly expressed dislike in sound for Soul-4. I wonder which instrument that is.......
:-/

[William Bua]

Not any more!

I had limited time earlier today and so didn't listen to the "Soul" clips as carefully or as many times. I have now edited my responses to reflect this, and feel I may be pretty close. But who knows? I feel pretty sure about the SBA is about all I can say, in that it sounds the most free and spread. But the M'Lady that I think is either 1 or 2 in the Body clips must be a VERY good one because I keep going back and forth between those two over which one is the Mark VI and which one is the M'Lady. However, the horn in Body D/Soul 4 which I think is the same horn in both cases and a M'Lady sounds like a typical Far Eastern horn to me--that is, dull and not as vibrant.

So, what you are saying is that you didn't take the time to listen to ALL the clips, yet you bash this horn as the normal east asia junk? You haven't listened to the clips and you don't know the batting order of the clips yet either. You should play one before you go here, or at the very least, listen before you show your expertise.

[cantoni]

ok, just for fun... I'm not even a tenor player, and really point out which model of ML is kinda silly.

Body A ML
Body B VI
Body C SBA
Body D ML

Soul 1 SBA
Soul 2 ML
Soul 3 VI (I doubted with this one, I'm conviced in the 2nd half of the file)
Soul 4 ML

I've been trying to discern the ones I like most... So, based on my own choices, my ideal tenor would be a SBA...

Next.

[andre251]

Would it also be interesting to add which track was your favorite sounding overall? Then maybe your least favorite overall?
I know I would need to say "soul" 4 is my least favorite overall! Whatever one I listed as the sba "soul" was my favorite overall.
Anyone else want to add thus extra personal opinion?

[CraigH]

I'm not going to guess which is which. The player made all 4 horns sound fantastic.

My favorite sounding clips are Body D & Soul 4.

[andre251]

Drew, are you going to post your recordings along with the modern and vintage for comparison like you talked about?

[hgiles]

Soul 1 stood out the most and got my attention. The others all sounded the same to me. Having said that, I think experiencing and evaluating horns in the third person doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It's like asking all your friends which girl is the hottest -- from photographs.

I'll say it again, just for the record -- I believe the M'Lady is just another 'best horn I ever played' , but to me not worth the premium due primarily to its precipitous depreciation.

[hgiles]

I would be surprised if more than 10% of the respondents can even match up the same horns. I 'think' Body C and Soul 1 are the same horn and the best sounding, fwiw. Couldn't really get much distinction from the others.

[mascio]

well i'm deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other, so no surprise that they all sound the same to me.

[gary]

I don't try to guess which sax make is which but I'll list my preferences:
Body D
Body B
Body C
Body A

Soul 4
Soul 2
Soul 1
Soul 3

[andre251]

gary, is that from best to worst, or worst to best?

[Zootfan]

I would be surprised if more than 10% of the respondents can even match up the same horns. I 'think' Body C and Soul 1 are the same horn and the best sounding, fwiw. Couldn't really get much distinction from the others.

Agreed. You have good ears, my friend. Time will tell but I think it's the same horn in both clips as well--and a real Monster at that. I was not sure if it was the SBA or the Mark VI, but of the two horns I was torn between for that option it sounded less focused than the other one, so I went with SBA and picked the other as the Mark VI.

[gary]

gary, is that from best to worst, or worst to best?

Always the best on top, my man. Always the best on top.

[magical pig]

Body A = SBA
Body B = M'Lady Matte
Body C = VI
Body D = M'Lady Vintage

Soul 1 = M'Lady Matte
Soul 2 = SBA
Soul 3 = VI
Soul 4 = M'Lady Vintage

That's my guess FWIW i.e. not much.

[Nefertiti]

As per request in the other THREAD, we're starting the first of a couple "shootout" style threads between the TM Custom/"M'Lady" and various other horns. This thread is a blind comparison of the TM Custom vs. VINTAGE Selmers.

I've created a bandcamp page to organize these short sound clips, and to allow you to hear them in .WAV as opposed to .mp3s or youtube. The album page can be found HERE.

The 4 different horns are being played by Christian Winther, a professional tenor player in the New Orleans area and a customer of ours. The horns in question are: his personal 42xxx SBA, his favorite Mark VI (72xxx) in the shop, a dark-lacquered TM Custom, and a Matte-finished TM Custom. The first four tracks "Body" and the last four "Soul" are varying interpretations of the melodies to Body and Soul. The last four tracks are the same horns, but played in a different order.

So far, one person out of 12 has been able to accurately guess all of them. We think the results are very interesting and a little bit confusing (in a good way...). I'll throw a poll up for the first 4 tracks, and after we get a significant number of replies/guesses, I will reveal the horns.

Happy guessing!

Hey Drew,
In this first post you stated that the clips were wav files but when I clicked on them they said mp3-320. An mp3 at 320 isn't shabby but there's a big difference between that and a wav file.When i record a mouthpiece clip as a wav it's 60-70MB. When i convert it to 320 mp3 it's 3-5 MB. I have to think a lot is lost with a size difference that great.

That being said, I really couldn't hear a big difference between the clips myself. I'll have to try again tonight with my headphones. i would love to hear the wav files though............