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Super 20 Fan Club

318K views 1K replies 236 participants last post by  Instrument Attic 
G
#1 ·
We're baa-aaaack! Super 20 players, stand up and be counted.

Super 20 tenor, 364xxx, silver neck, brass bell, no pearls on the side :(

I've had this horn since 1974 (sophomore year high school). Dad paid $75 for the horn, then another $100 for a complete overhaul/relacquer (it needed it).

Despite what you may have read, these are very flexible horns, adaptable to all musical styles. The combination of the sterling silver neck along with bore taper/neck curve/bow curve allows the Super 20 tenors to bring out the best in a variety of mouthpiece setups.
 
#77 ·
No big deal. I was president of the He-Man Selmer-Haters Club for many years. Couldn't stand the way the Mark 6 tenors played, sounded, looked, felt, or anything else about them. Funny thing now is that the only new horn I've played in years that I've actually liked is the Selmer Series III. Go figure. Either they wised up, or I did. :wink:
 
#78 ·
Oh yeah, and there's this guy that works in the local music store that drives me nuts. I only go in to this store about every 3 or 4 months, and he's always there, and he never remembers having seen me before. He's a trombone player who gigs locally, or so he claims, so he always asks me what I play. When I tell him sax, he always asks what make of horn? When I tell him King Super 20, he gets a sad look on his face, and says, "not a Selmer Mark 6? All the sax players I play with play Selmer Mark 6s". I just sigh and say, "That's too bad...".
 
#79 ·
Yeah, I know what you mean. I gave up a faultless Yani for my S20. The reason was the sound. Mechanically and technically it was perfect and a nice sound of its own. The series III is a really nice sounding horn. Lively and strong like the king with similar back pressure. There's a guy here in toronto (my age) who has an immaculate '60's Mark VI silver plated tenor. He thought that Selmer was the only way to go and that Kings weren't good. He tried my tenor and almost wouldn't give it back to me! He liked the sound esp in the palm keys. King tenors are kind of like playing altos because they have that same amount of resisance (the good kind).
 
#82 ·
I'm not a Super 20 or King player, I've been a 6 player man and boy all my life but this sub forum devoted to King is my favourite part of SOTW. The warmth and cameraderie that you guys share with your love of these great horns is beautiful, you can almost hear a beer being poured as you settle down to chew the fat, content 'cause you have an All American piece of art , probably the most beautiful horn ever designed with a pedigree and sound to match. I salute you .
 
#84 ·
Somebody sell him a Super 20!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Funny thing about people who always ask if you play a MKIV, it seems it's the only horn they know about. I've been asked the same, even after they've seen the horn. Only horn players seem to know the difference. I quess the fact that it says 'Super 20' accross the bell in big letters is not much of a giveaway. I've told people my alto is a Selmer SBA........the usuall reply........"what's that"?

I've played keyboards in bands over the years, and I had the same experience with that. The big thing a few years back was the M1. "Hey you play key's, do you have an M1?" Bascially the same thing, the only board they know the name of.

Usually if it's a guitar player I'll ask him if he plays a Les Paul. "I thought all guitar players play one". If I know he doe's I'll ask him if it's a Strat instead. Half the time, they have both and 10 different others, then I'm sorry I started the conversation.

But that's the way it goes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#88 ·
I am now a proud owner of a King Super 20 tenor s/n 488xxx. It is an all brass East Lake Model. The previous owner, a big band leader who plays mostly alto, was very reluctant to sell it, but I nice guy'd my way into making a deal with him.

After playing the horn I can see why the King Super 20's are so highly regarded. It is the easiest to blow into tenor that I have ever played. I'm presently using a Yanagisawa #7 metal mouthpiece with a Plasticover #3. I get a nice rich sound that isn't too edgy from this setup. I know I can probably get more volume with a different setup, but for now it's plenty loud.

The horn has a large area of laquer wear on the engraving in the front below the bell, and it looks like this wear is from being taken in and out of case. It seems as though the case could have been designed differently to prevent that wear. The sax looks cool to me the way it is. It is defintely a players horn, and was just what I was looking for.

I notice after reading the postings on this section of the forum that the Super 20 owners, like their horns, are spirited. :D
 
#89 ·
I recently got a 360XXX Cleveland Alto to A/B with my 470XXX Eastlake alto. Both are Silversonics w/ gold inlay in cherry shape. Even with different pad/reso set ups the horns sound and feel virtually identical. I've got the Eastlake up for sale as it's got the newer pads and big brown domes. Also just got a 1940 Zeph special alto that has just been completely re-furbished. I'm totally blown away by the quality of the modern re-builds. The horn looks absolutely BRAND NEW, the extensive Deco engraving is so sharp and crisp that it looks like original. I got this alto for resale and it's untouched, so I'm not playing it. With full pearls and a sterling silver neck (also mint) it's one of the most gorgeous altos I've ever seen.
 
#90 ·
Have me one. After all these years...

I have an all brass 488,XXX Super 20 Tenor with the underslung. Up here in Canada reputable vintage tenors are harder to find than in the U.S.A. Every once in awhile a MK VI pops up, usually a later model. The idea of owning a Super 20 Tenor was for me a pipe dream. For the longest time I'd never seen a Super 20 Tenor up close, not in a store, not even played, then one day I wonder into a local music store and just what should be on the wall? King Super 20 in the flesh (or rather brass)!

Well y'know I was kinda partial to my then horn a "Ladyface" Conn 10M. It had a big warm tone. But I traded it in and financed the Super 20. It'll be paid off in 3 or 4 more payments as of this month. I love this horn. The action is smooth, nice warm even tone throughout the registers. I love it.
 
#93 ·
AW c'mon dan, I only got 4 KINGS right now..besides the Eastlake altos' on Ebay right now, I can't feed both those silver ladies so one has to go..The Zeph I just wanna drool at for awhile..BTW I'm spoiled, Tenor Madness did my 385xxx tenor just before I got it, can't wait to give my 390xxxAlto the same treatment.
 
#94 ·
Jason, that's a beauty..I enjoy your website a lot too..such beautiful work !!..A Q?? how are Selmer Yana and some of the other really fine engravers able to be so perfectly perfect time after time??....are they all still little old folks engraving away :roll:
 
#95 ·
Thanks Cash! It's a mix of having a stencil to work from every time, and repetition. I can engrave an exact duplicate of the Mark VI pattern in about half an hour. That kind of work doesn't really take that much discipline or skill. Anyone with a resonably steady hand can engrave over a stencilled pattern. The real art is making it up as you go and incorporating straight cuts.
 
#96 ·
Hi there, this is my first post - I stumbled upon this forum after reviving my sax playing and was looking for sax exercises online.....anywayyy!!..... I own a King Super 20 tenor (282xxx) which is the first in the series and a Super 20 alto (319xxx) - 2nd series. I totally love the Super 20 sound, having once owned a Selmer Mark VI, I prefer the warmer, more open and definitely raunchy sound of the Super 20! I tend to swap round mouthpiece/reed setups but at the moment am happy with my old Dukoff D7 and D9 mouthpieces with a normal cane reed (prefer LaVoz).

Now to go browse through all the topics to find tips....! :)
 
#101 ·
Hi Super 20 player,
I bought it in 1995 at a music store in Karlsruhe (Germany)
I had some problems with my repadded Yanagisawa Alto and went back to the repairman in that store.
I had to wait a while.
The repairman told me to try the King Super 20 he had in stock for a few days.
And that was it!
I sold my Yani an bought this wonderful Super 20!
-Mike
 
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