R1 Jazz Tenor - Old fashioned 24 carat gold plating for a warm,
dark, deeper sound & a truly vintage look. Made from red brass.
Available with or without top F# key.
Rampone R1 Jazz
Tenor Sax
The new R1 Jazz is made from top quality red brass, then plated with
extra thick 24k 'old fashioned' gold plating producing a
very appealing, understated look. The gold has a buffed, 'soft
focus' appearance, with a tasteful hand chiselled decoration over the bell.
Selmer & Yamaha will make you take out a second mortgage to pay for gold
plating but Rampone provide it for the price of lacquer. When it first
arrived I gave it a good general blow and was so impressed I couldn't wait
to test it against some other top end tenors.
Just playing the R1 Jazz is a rewarding experience - one I didn't want to end but I had to get back to the serious business in hand, so on with the comparisons. I tested it alongside some of my favourites such as the Yanagisawa 991, the Keilwerth SX90R Nickel Silver, the Selmer Series II and Series III.
It has an immediately powerful and rich tone, with strikingly good intonation. At first it did take some initial adjustment around the upper octave, but I'll come back to that later. It has its own characteristic sound which is, as always, hard to put into words! (Not very helpful for a reviewer!) Out of the above-mentioned saxes, I feel it compares most closely to the Selmer Series III. Selmer tenors have their own special sound – a certain depth and illusive X factor quality to the tone, and I feel that a similar thing is going on with the Rampone. This sax has charisma!
The Rampone Jazz has similar body and depth to the sound as the Keilwerth SX90R, but without the same bright edge. The modern Japanese sound produced by Yamaha and Yanagisawa has a smooth and free blowing quality to it, with a certain amount of 'middle' and brightness to the sound. This is great for certain types of music, such as pop and funk, for example. The R1 Jazz is a free blowing horn in general with a little more weight and presence to the sound than the Japanese saxes. This is a quality that I like in a tenor sax, closer to the Selmer, only with perhaps a little more punch and breadth to the tone.
Back to the issue of intonation as this is obviously very important. The instrument is remarkably well in tune, although when I first played in the second octave I was surprised at how flat I seemed to be playing. This was interesting as normally the upper range of a saxophone naturally wants to blow a little sharp, particularly around the octave C, C# and D area so I lip down. However, after some quick adjustment, and testing against the tuner, I found I was playing these notes bang in tune with a very slight lip-up. Moving back to a Yani or Yamaha (coming fresh from blowing the Rampone) I found myself playing sharp in the top-end so I just had to remember to start relaxing the embouchure.
The crook is very distinctive on the Rampone – the swan-neck shape is more exaggerated, and I sense that this may have a lot to do with the different intonation. It's just a case of adjusting the way you 'think' when you play this tenor, and you soon find yourself playing very accurate octaves. Around the break area, Rampone seemed to have done wonders with the traditionally out of tune C# to D leap. Going further down into the lower octave, the B, Bb and A aren't flat in pitch either! This is extremely satisfactory.
As for the action and ergonomics of the R1 jazz, this is where I have minor reservations. The keywork feels solid enough with nicely dished pearls on the keys but there is a slight sense of spungyness. It is easy to operate, and the keys are generally well positioned to suit the hand shapes, but I did feel that the action could have been a little crisper and more even. In comparison, the table keys on the Yamaha Customs have a wonderfully, defined action and a nice 'pop' to the sound when closed against the tone holes. I also found the gap between the b and the bis key a little on the large side, making it difficult to smoothly slide between the two keys with the forefinger.
In summary, I found the sound quality, intonation and overall character of the sax to be so good that I would be able to overlook the lesser issue of the action and would seriously put the R1 Jazz right up there with the very best. - Jim@saxophones.co.uk
From: "Janine Davies"
Janine.Davies@momentum.co.za
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 6:38 AM
Subject: Rampone R1 Jazz Tenor
Just to let you know that I have received my tenor yesterday afternoon
already (!!). Thank you very much for the fast and efficient service!
I must say, I am very impressed. As you described in your sax test,
the upper register takes some getting used to regarding intonation,
but it has lots of character, a great sound and is very powerful. I am
sure we'll be getting on very well with one another!!! Thanks again,
Janine Davies (South Africa)