Selmer Paris Supreme Alto Saxophone 

Thank you @GrotrianSeiler, really appreciate your kind words! We hope to be able to film more for you all once lockdown has ended.

Congratulations to you! It looks like a great masterpiece by Selmer.

Great idea, we'll try to get this organised soon

@@saxworldwide We are looking forward to you bringing all of this together. Thank You Jim

Haha- it’s all about money- this is a cheap piece of crap saxophone with a bunch of nice little bells and whistles. It’s a Covid horn - a horn that will make them some money after getting rid of all of those expensive processes to make all those other garbage horns like the reference 54 in the series III - I heard that the brass they using this is a high zinc variant much like the Yamaha‘s

Maceo and David are my two fave sax players!!!!! Those guys would be huge endorsements for this alto sax!!

How do you like you aw02? I recently got mine was thinking to upgrade to aw020 or maybe a selmer

​@@op14435 First, it has a weight to it as its bronze. It is freeblowing and I found notes just play with an immediate response. I had the spring tension on mine lightened when I bought it. The keywork fits my slightly short fingers well. The build quality is excellent. From day 1 to now, I never once had any issues with it and it still plays as good as it did when I bought it. The sound is warm and rich with a resonant zing (Best way I could describe it) but it might sound a little dull as it doesn't have the brightness of the AWO1 or other modern saxophones like Yamaha's or the solid silver Yanagisawa models. I think it is a little brighter than the AWO20 but the AWO20 has metal resonators over the plastic ones in the AWO2 to help the projection. So far I find that it is freeblowing. Sound just comes out when you play a note, it doesn't feel like you have to work hard to get the note out. The tuning is very good too as it has a more centred tone. Build quality is excellent. In the whole time I have had mine, it never once had an issue and it played as good as it did from day 1. The sound is warm and rich, but some might think its a little dull as it lacks the brightness of other modern saxophones like the other brass or silver Yanagisawa models or Yamaha's. I do like that with mine that it doesn't go over bright. I mainly play classical and some Jazz and have played some ballads and like the warm sound I got when playing Ballads. I recently had mine upgraded with Roo pads and Airtight silver plated brass resonators. I noticed after I did that, it played louder, even when I was playing at normal volumes and it had more depth in the sound and maybe slightly more brightness due to the size and weight of the resonators. I could feel the weight of the resonators when pressing the keys.

@@DynamixWarePro thank you for the in depth explanation! Much appreciated. I bought one recently now thinking to return it. I like the selmer series ii. I think your so right about the dull. I prefer it to be somewhat brighter. Should have tried playing it before purchasing.

Hi Ole, I can answer your question, as I’ve played a SA80 alto for 27 years and just bought the Supreme. In short, if you still love the SA80 then keep it; it’s a great horn. I’m keeping my SA80 for all of my jazz/blues/pop playing. The Supreme to my mind is the ultimate classical saxophone. The only people who need to consider this horn are those for whom a classical tonal conception is very important. I play both, so it’s nice to have two altos that excel in different ways. Of course, the SA80 can achieve a wonderfully complex classical tone, but it’s more soloistic, whereas this Supreme instrument is so finely graduated tonally that ensemble blend is taken to a whole new level.

I agree; but I don’t think it would be commercially successful. Got to go SA80 or similar vintage for a dark Selmer sound.

Do you know .are they working on a tenor sax ??

this prior video from Selmer demonstrates their investment on advanced 3D scanning to make their mouthpieces. from here it's easy to imagine how they'd transfer that approach to making saxes as well. I hope in some future video they show that too. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F8Sb62FUq50.html

For me the price is too high but, it is a very good instrument.

You might have a point there Nick, I've seen a few videos of this new horn and nobody ever lets rip on it, they all lay back and play pretty. Looks lovely though. I wonder if they are going to make a tenor version?

I’m gonna have to agree. So far it’s mainly been the classical players gravitating toward this horn. Haven’t seen many, if any, jazz players really giving it praise. Was hoping that wouldn’t be the case for this horn.

Light resistance 21:18

@@brianlange3675 someone take my money!! ;-)

@@brianlange3675 thank you. I appreciate your feedback. I am hoping to try out this horn (along with a few other brands and models) sometime soon.

I totally agree. Too much emphasis on technique kills the individuality of the instrument. I prefer a vintage Buescher or Conn at any time compared to this one

Have you listened to Baptiste Herbin, Jaleel Shaw, Claude Delagne, and others who currently play it? The sound you're talking about might have something to do with the studio.

​@@sergej100qca4 I listened to the official Selmer's video featuring several players, and I listened to this test by Sax co uk. I also watched the Chinese video; it seems that this super-expensive instrument is aimed at rich Chinese public too. Or to anyone who has more money to spend. The 'Supreme' should rather be called "Concept" or "Experiment" because that is what it is: a wild experiment. It has perhaps 20-25% of the curved saxophone sound, the rest of it sounds like a muffled oboe, and a straight soprano. Other Selmer's alto lines are, in fact, far superior to this instrument. They are maybe less 'technically perfect' but the sound is there. Here, the technology is great, but the sound is not there.

@@zvonimirtosic6171 I think Baptiste sounds great on this horn, but I do think there are much better instruments for a better price (Mark VI, SBA, Ishimori).

@@sergej100qca4 I think along those lines too. The departure from the legacy of alto sound is so radical with this instrument, that I don't see all that "new technology" justified. I'll take any previous Selmer alto saxophone over this one.

In the U.S. it’s going for $7,300

@@aortasaxthank you, yes I’ve just discovered it’s £6,000 here in the UK (why the price is so hard to find is strange and irritating tbh).

The reason why they don’t publish the prices is so potential clients actually call on the phone to talk to a Selmer dealer so they improve their chances of convincing you to get one.

@@aortasax I’d have thought most Sax players would watch all the reviews then visit their favourite music shop to try one and then decide.

@@aortasax wow @ price...ill stick to my Yamaha 62...its been paid for since 1985!

You can find plenty of used Series ll & lll in great condition for great prices these days. Plenty of different online shops and sax boutiques you can choose from.

How is that ishimori?

@@georgebijacu7141 It is utter perfection. Every little thing has been considered and it has the perfect split personality. It plays ridiculously free-blowing but then when you want to make it shift gears, you just step on the pedal and it turns into a hot rod

@@KrisVComm thank you so much! I heard only amazing things about them but only saw them in action on RU-vid. I hope soon they will start selling them in Romania so i could try them. Greetings from Sicily

@@georgebijacu7141 They are hard to come by. I was very fortunate. I managed to pick one up at Long Beach Woodwinds in Long Beach, CA. Ishimori had brought over about 6 of them for the 2019 NAMM show. 3 of them went on the wall at LBWW. I managed to get the only silver one. When the shop owner (Rusty) played the sax, I was sold. When I got it home I could not believe what an amazing horn it was. I feel very blessed. They don't make many of them but I am sure that if you contact Rusty Higgins at LBWW he will find a way to help you out. Tell Rusty that I sent you over to him.

It sounds very nice, I had Vincent Davide play with that exact setup in a masterclass in my conservatoire a few weeks ago. His projection was insane. This is classical playing of course

@@b.smitty5273 I would have expected nothing less. I love the mouthpiece. I actually favor classical over Jazz, Also have a passion for classical played in a rock style.

I don't know about other microphones but for recording the saxophones they use a Neumann TLM 102.

I'm obviously not him, but I'm an alto player with a ton of research under his belt to get the right sound. I use a Selmer Paris S80 C* mouthpiece and a Francois Louis Ultimate ligature. It is truly a universal setup (with a great horn!) that has the best tone imo. I can easily go though any and every dynamic level, soar in classical like a flute, go buck wild in a fast paced jazz or samba, and make others weep with a ballad all in one. Vandoren V12 reeds are great to top the setup off too. I hope this helps, you can find this all on sax.co.uk.

For a different flavor, here’s my setup as well. Boston sax shop reeds (2.5) with a Theo Wanne NY Bros II (6)

@@brendan1888 I would love to hear how the jazz tunes sound with the S80. I love that mouthpiece too but I can't seem to get the sound with it.

@@bienchii what I do is constantly do pitchbends. It's not the best thing because it builds a habit you have to force yourself to stop during classical, but if you must, do that and the sound will come. Depends on the ligature too. Classical ones are classical because of how "strict" they are with the reed.

@@brendan1888 I'm a long time S80 C* player (who has had a Concept lurking in a drawer forever). The Supreme comes with a Concept too. I've played mine with both and the Concept is currently my preference.

Lmao!

I believe they sell for around $7.2k

@@gusmarrero Amen!

Meyer

Or a 1930's cigar cutter.

@@MrIggyPoop Or a 1930's Conn Conquerer 26M

Or the legendary purple logo YAMAHA 🤫

@@gohan3554 Yamahahahaha

The saxophone industry is tiny compared to the auto industry. Even a relatively big company like Selmer doesn’t have nearly the same resources as the average auto company.

Not very constructive comment. Ps im a 50;yr pro

​@@zangsax Carlos is correct. Every other year, some company comes out with a new alto saxophone while claiming "it's the best instrument with the most advanced stuff", or, "it's the cheapest and the best", or "it beats all competition" … It's boring. Alto saxophone market is full of marketing exaggerations and bought out performers (endorsers), who will say anything for a free instrument.

well the bridge between the body and the bocal is very inovative, the way of locking this two parts. Btw I used to ear the sound of the sax in real it's such an amazing instrument, also the fluidity when you push the touches is amazing So really new instrument instead of the S3/S2, where the changement was not crazy The Tenor version is in process !

​@@saxoetchocolat Any instrument has three sounds: what the player hears, the audience in front of the player, and how its sound is reproduced when recorded. Those are three different sounds. So far, Supreme does not impress in the recorded environment; it does not have much in common with the curved alto saxophone sound. It is shifted towards straight soprano and oboe.

@@zvonimirtosic6171 Yeah (i m sorry I don't understand everything I m not English^^) We talk about the sound so it can be very subjective but the mecanic system is very new for a saxo

Likewise have been playing an SA80 for past 25 years. I bought a Supreme this week. The intonation improvements are truly extraordinary vs the SA80 and the ease of playing is much greater. However, there is a small loss of volume overall and some of the individual character that different notes have on the SA80 is lost in service of a magnificent uniformity of timbre (which is stunningly complex and lusciously beautiful). Also, altissimo is much easier to produce. It’s a transition I’m happy to make.