Saxophone Forum


by Spunky2sax75
(75 posts)
20 years ago

Reference 54 Questions

Has anyone played the Reference 54 saxes? I want to look into one, but I'm not sure if they are worth it or not. Any info would be helpful. Thanx

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  1. by saxophoneplayingistight
    (13 posts)

    19 years ago

    Re: Reference 54 Questions

    I have and man the one I played was terrible it was a tenor. Man it sounded really stuffy and it just really didnt seem to me like a pro horn. I had a otto link metal and 3 strength reeds it really was just awful. Definetly not worth the price tag. I ended up getting a yamaha custom black and man it is just so full and warm. I definetly recommend you try out the yamaha horns. Good Luck

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    1. by johnsonfromwisconsin
      (767 posts)

      19 years ago

      Re: Reference 54 Questions

      That was actually my impression of the tenor as well: stuffy, with no resonance. Funny, the reference altos I've tried don't share it's tendencies at all, and in fact I regard it as the best new horn on the market for my purposes. Likewise, the Reference 36 Tenor I find to be very nice. I wonder wtf is the problem with the 54?

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      1. by SaxMan
        (559 posts)

        19 years ago

        Re: Reference 54 Questions

        I dotn knwo what it is about the ref 54 - all the people that I know who own one, are either professionals - not REAL players, (miles osland sold his right after he got it by the way.) or bought them off of wwbw or some place like that out of hype and didnt do any research - the III tenor is by far, we sell a lot more of those than the 54's - I think we have sold 2 actually since they came out.

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        1. by Goldref18
          (145 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: Reference 54 Questions

          What about the 36 Tenors? I know the 54's are crap because selmer didn't put enough effort into them when desigining, but i haven't tried a 36 tenor. The reference altos i tried were good but they had no range off the staff they only worked within the confines.

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        2. by SaxMan
          (559 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: Reference 54 Questions

          the 36's are supposed ot be better, but the amjority of americans are dumb, and they hear mark VI and get a hard on - so I imagine that is why the 36 isnt as sucessful. Funny, I got two octaves above the range on the one I played - probably on a rousseau too - but then altissimo is almost totally uselss anyways.

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        3. by Goldref18
          (145 posts)

          19 years ago

          Re: Reference 54 Questions

          Altissimo isnt at all useless. It's very good in a lot of commercial music when composers who don't primarily play sax score notes that are too high for the staff without realizing.

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