Review Tenor Superior Class Powerbell-R by Bruno Vansina

My name is Bruno Vansina. I studied jazz with John Ruocco (USA) at the Conservatory’s of Den Hague and Brussels. I play mainly traditional and contemporary jazz. I am also involved in some more avant-garde music (Flat Earth Society) and on occasions pop music. I consider myself an alto player. Like many other saxophone players, reality requires me to play all four saxophones, clarinet and flute.

As a jazz player I always preferred vintage horns. On alto I played on a Selmer Balanced Action, Buescher Aristocrat, Selmer M6 and back to Buescher Aristocrat. Baritone I played a King Zephyr and Selmer M6. Tenor and soprano I played Selmer M6. Over the years I played on, borrowed, tried many other horns like Conn Lady Face and Chu Barry, Buescher 400, Martin ... If the horns where in good shape and properly set, in a way, I liked all of them. Some more then others but that’s a question of taste and the type of music I mostly play. This can change over time.

Of course I tried all new, more up to date models as well like Selmer, Yamaha, Keilwerth, Yanagizawa, Borgani etc ... All of these play great to. There intonation is often much better then the before mentioned ‘vintage’ horns. They play much more even bottom to top, have way better ergo dynamics ... Objectively I would say they are better constructed horns.

But after some time, sometimes only minutes, I get bored on them. They just don’t inspire me the way I think an instrument should. It’s almost like they are to perfect? Sometimes beauty can be imperfection?

Recently I got back into Buescher alto’s and really needed money. So I went out to my local saxophone shop DEP in Antwerp. I was going to sell my Tenor M6 and get myself a not-to-expensive tenor.

Again I tried many known brand’s, different models ... The tenors I kind of liked where still very expensive and not really inspiring.  I even considered buying a cheaper vintage horn. Still, interested in trying them all, I played over 15 saxophones, the entire shelve left to right. Near the end I got this pure brass saxophone I had never seen before. I pop up the mouthpiece and played on it .... wow .... I like this one ... it’s a new, modern horn but it really makes me think of vintage horns. It has a kind of bouncy feel to it. Before I know it I am playing some fast bebopish  rhythm change’s. I hardly need time to adapt to the horn. It plays it self, sounds good, feels good. I am playing a Jody Jazz HR 9* with Rigotti nr 3 reed’s. I tried my other favorite tenor mouthpiece a Lebayle 8* Jazz, sounds great to. I tried my friends Otto Link 9*  reworked to a Florida model, sounds good to!

What kind of horn is it?

I look half way on the left side of the horn  for the price tag ... wow ... I did not expect to have such a good horn for this price. I tried other

system 54 models as well. They are great horns but personally I really dig the powerbell-r pure brass ... For my style of playing it really fit’s. By nature I sound realy bright. I sound much rounder on this horn then my own Selmer M6 without loosing projection.

In my experience one should try a horn on a gig before buying. This was not possible so I took a bit of risk and bought it after going to play on the horn for five times. I took it to the gig next day. I am not a full time tenor player but really enjoyed the horn. It worked well, even playing in hard conditions (jazz gig in a bar).  Playing with a real drummer is always a good test for a horn!

By now I tried the System 54 Baritone & alto. I really like this horns to.
Maybe I will even buy them!

Check out these horns! You will be surprised and not only because of the price tag !