Rampone & Cazzani is an Italian company that has been making instruments for well over a century. Recently they have been putting quite a bit of work into their saxophones, and my opinion is that this is one of the finest modern baritone saxophones available anywhere. In this era where there are more new saxophone companies than ever before this is quite an achievement.
One of the key things that makes the Rampone horn different is that it is completely hand built. It comes from a small artisan workshop in Italy. The bells are hand hammered and everything made by hand. Many of the newer saxophones are all built in factories in Asia. Even ones that claim to be hand assembled have quite a bit of machine-based work in them. Repairmen have grumbled about build quality, materials, and repair-ability of these horns, although that is not something I’m overly qualified to comment on.
The modern Asian horns all play pretty well, they are generally priced fairly well and look great – but they all play exactly the same. (To clarify I mean the horns coming out of China and Taiwan, less so Japanese insturments). If you blindfolded me I’m not sure I could easily tell them apart. None of them really stands out as different and honestly they are all basically copies of Selmers – with some small differences here and there and a huge range of aesthetic finishes and options. Not to mention more and more keys (do you really need a high G key?). As baritone players even the companies that are making decent horns these days either don’t put as much time into their baritone, don’t offer a professional level horn, or only offer a Low A option.
Rampone offers their baritone with many different options, finishes, materials and offers both a Low A and Low Bb variation. I’ve had a chance to play the horn many times and it’s by far my favorite modern horn to play and very comparable to my vintage Conn baritone, albeit with modern keywork and so many fewer dings and dents. I also recently had a chance to speak with Claudio who along with his father are the makers of these new horns. He is incredibly knowledgeable about saxophones and modern players and did not have the snake-oil salesman aura about him that a lot of other modern horn manufacturers do.
The folks over at Rovner are handling the US distribution for Rampone horns and have been travelling around to some shows with them to let people try them out. If you get a chance, I would really recommend trying these unique horns.
You can take a look at them over on their site as well:
http://www.ramponecazzani.com/eng/2009j_ag.html
The R&C horns look very nice, I think there is definitely a market for a hand Made bari to Bb. Something with as much character, charisma, as my old Conn, yet more functional and ergonomic keywork, That’s a win.
I feel the need to correct some assumptions, though. I don’t know about Yamaha, Selmer, Keilwerth, but Yanagisawa are built in a very small shop, by career employees, who learn to build every part and eventually a complete saxophone. They have no CNC machines, only a couple of lathes, and a lot of hand tools, Yanagisawa builds ONLY saxophones, and all are pro quality. The early designs positively were Selmer copies but they regularly do design improvements, and I think now are delivering a signature sound, especially on soprano. I guess I’m a broken record on this, but not all saxes are made by an automated process. Try a Yani,
Thank you for the comment. I agree completely and modified the article to specify that I was referring to the recent influx of newer horn companies from China and thereabouts. I actually would consider Yanagisawa’s boutique and artisan horns because they are carefully assembled in small batches, and play fantastically! If Yani made a low Bb model I would have one already!
I played a Yani B 901. It played very similar to my Selmer super action 80 series I baritone made in 1983. Tone was slightly drier but keywork was really close to the Selmer.
I own a Rampone R1 Jazz low Bb in polished gold plate. Super flat mid C#, Sharp from high G-C#. Flat high F#. Somewhat soft keywork. Big fat conn like sound. Plays the best with big chamber mouthpieces.
Really that out of tune, eh? Does it sonically compare to the Conn 12M? What do you mean by soft keywork – bends easily? I”m considering one of these horns, to the point to taking a trip to play test one. Thanks….
Hi David Krall,
You still have your R&C bari ?
Its’ been a long time since I last chatted with you.
I’ve had my Yani B992 for years now, and its’ getting to be to much for me to handle, and there is no need for an ‘A’ horn. Thinking about picking up a lite weight (relative) Bb bari to play with. From what I’ve heard (no personal experience), the Conn M12’s over certain years, had some pretty serious intonation issues. 3rd party manufacturer is even offering a new design neck as a retrofit to correct some of this. Any ideas ?
BWylie
Hi Brett, Still have it. Using a Jody jazz DV bass sax mouthpiece with it. Sounds great with that. Jody’s mouthpiece can be used with bass or bari. I have a levante Bass sax. And yes the keywork is a bit soft.
I own a Mk VI bari and recently acquired a Conn 12M. The neck on the 12M is indeed too short for both of my former MkVI mouthpieces (Larsen & Francois Louis) and I believe this is just a matter of de-facto standards for necks vs. mouthpiece shank dimensions that did change as time passed.
Rather than purchasing a longer neck or chasing old mouthpieces with a longer shank, I decided to take a chance by asking SYOS to build a custom bari mouthpiece, and after calling them they just told me “okay, don’t worry, we know the 12M dimensions issue, just put in your product description / spec that the target sax is a 12M and we will add the missing shank length”. I received it a few days after placing the order and have no intonation issue with the 12M beyond what everybody else reports for this vintage instrument (sure, the MkVI is closer to perfection, the SA80 II being in my opinion the ‘perfect bari’ in that respect, much better than the Serie III that I tried in the Selmer showroom and doesn’t compete with the former model SA80 II, and I tried three models of each type of instrument with very consistent / reproducible outcomes).
Long story short: mouthpiece with a longer shank cheaper / faster than a longer neck and the 12M intonation problem is solved. Hope this helps…
I recently play tested a Conn 12M bari and a Mark VI bari. I’m a long time Mark VI tenor player.
I video taped myself, and the Conn sound is huge and much clearer than the Mark VI. But the keybed is difficult and I had an odd problem switching octaves on it – maybe because the left hand thumb rest and key are so small (I have really big hands).
I used a rubber Berg 130 tip for the play test. I like big tips, but I use Francois Louis on my tenor. But this is what the store had available.
I may have a change to play test the R&C bari – and it’s in silver (maybe it’s the exact same horn as here…).
As to SOUND, any thoughts on comparisons to the 12M? I thought the 12M took / required more air than the Mark VI – same with the R&C? Does the R&C have that singing, clear, huge bari tone?
Thanks,
– Jeff
Hi everyone …. bit late to the party on this thread but hey ho . I was lucky enough to play a R&C low Bb a good few years ago now *98ish* ? Bill Lewington’s London …went there to buy a new mouthpiece. I took my regular horn *Chinese low A* and mp along with for comparison . About 30 mins in I was offered a few other horns to try out … a MKVI low Bb*really nice* and a R&C low Bb *blew my socks off* ! been chasing that sound and feel ever since . Don’t know if it was my imagination but the gauge of material just felt heavier and denser although the overall weight didn’t seem any different…strange ? …. One day maybe ££££