Saxophones; Tenor, Alto, Setups

Tenor

My current tenor sax is a Yanagisawa from the 80’s. Lately I’m on a vintage Berg Larsen hard rubber piece modified by John Yoakum paired with Plasticover 3 reeds and an Olegature, though I’ve been recommended to try a lig from Saxxas. The Berg is much louder and projects better than my also-very-good prior setup, an unmodified Otto Link 7* hard rubber + Rovner ligature with 3-soft Roberto’s Winds or Rigotti Gold reeds.

Alto

When I play alto, I use a Yamaha YAS-62 (as good as it gets IMHO, maybe except a MKVI) with Rico Plasticover reeds and a Beechler Bellite in the 7-8 range customized by John Yoakum. That said, I have started using a Ponzol M2 (Brass) with either a wood reed or a Plasticover as the Ponzol is much easier to play than the notoriously-brutal Beechler. This Ponzol plus Plasticover setup is what I use for OTG shows. There aren’t many settings where it’s permissible or helpful to really push the volume of a mouthpiece like the Beechler or Ponzol to its limits — but in a room with ear-bleedingly high levels of sound like that of any electro artist, I’ve had good results. I feel I could use either piece but the modified Beechler is rare and expensive so I keep it at home. Plus the Ponzol is more free-blowing. I’ve also had good results for more straight-ahead stuff with the Morgan Excalibur mouthpieces.

Soprano

I have a Runyon 8 for soprano as well as an Otto Link HR piece, but I don’t have a need for a soprano right now so I don’t own one. For me, the endgame soprano is the YSS-62.

Bari

Someday. I really want one. Too expensive.

FX

I also use a T.C. Helicon Correct pedal for various effects including adaptive compression and tone shaping, “warmth” and pitch correction. Some may frown on autotune, but I think some tasteful pitch correction helps the sax gel with produced, pitch-perfect instrumentals. A quick note; pitch correction only really works for larger venues where the sound coming from the actual sax isn’t too audible. If the venue is too small, the sound of the sax PLUS the pitch-corrected sound will be audible and sound AWFUL. Some producers I’ve worked with intentionally aim for a hard-tuned sound -- it’s all up to them once I hand off the tracks.