What is the best brand of saxophone?

[cinco_4_life811]

Well I use a Selmer Super Action 80 (the Series II) and it is fantastic

[gijoe316]

yea use a selmer...just about any kind. they work really well.

[Mculbert07]

I'm marching one of our schools SA80 Series IIs, but for concert season and All State Auditions, I'm using a Mark VII.

The horns I've gotten the play out of have all been Selmer Paris horns.

If you're getting a Selmer, don't get the American crud.

 

If you're going Yamaha, get a custom. They can work for all types of playing.

 

Keilworths are wonderful for jazz, but I havent tried one for any legit music.

 

Cannonballs are definately jazz horns, since they were modeled after Cannonball Adderly's design.

 

Old Conns are great for jazz, but make sure you get an old one. 10Ms are probably best.

 

What kind of setups are people using here?

[blusax]

Typical legit setup for me is Yanagisawa 992 as I mentioned in above post. A selmer S80 C* (had it over 10 years now) vandoren reeds strength 3 and a BG tradition ligature (gold plated). Pretty satisfied with this setup.

 

Lately we have had a big band going where I play same horn with a meyer 8m large chamber with vandoren java 3s and a rovner ligature. Blends very well and lets me be loud enough to support our lead alto at any volume. But I wouldnt be on that piece if I was playing lead cause the sound doesnt cut enough. Looking for a mouthpiece for lead alto playing atm. Dont get to do much big band though.

 

My tenor playing is currently limited to dixie band where I play reference 36 with an otto link 7* with stock ligature and vandoren 2 1/2s. Not pleased with mouthpiece sound in this group but its functional for jobs and no one says anything so guess its my problem.

[Mculbert07]

Tenor: Selmer Paris Mark VII

 

Legit- Selmer S80 C* (I'm looking for a Vintage soloist, but I can't find one for less that 200 bucks let me know if you are interested in selling?) Classic Vandoren size 4s.

 

Jazz- Otto Link New York 7* Rico Jazz Select 3M. I took a Rovner alto ligature and it didnt fit, so I thickened it on a spot with velcro. Sounds alright.

 

Alto: Selmer Paris Mark VII Circa 1977 (so cool) 98% original laquer.

 

Legit- Selmer S90 (yes, 90) Vandoren 3 1/2, Selmer ligature

 

Jazz- Meyer G 6 Stock Lig, Rico Jazz Select 3M

 

 

I love my horns...

[A_SAX _PLAYA]

SELMER THE BEST

[LordGiggles]

You should look into Unison as well, including the Steve Goodson Unison which is a custom build, really rare and hard to find these days. In my opinion, the standard models of Unison work really well compared to Selmer's. If you are looking at a budget of $1,000 - $2,000ish, i'd recommend getting a stock unison.. but if you are in the neighborhood for $3,000 to $4,000, i'd definatly go with the upper echelon's of the Selmer's such as the Mark VI.

[itsstephenyo]

  LordGiggles said:

$3,000 to $4,000, i'd definatly go with the upper echelon's of the Selmer's such as the Mark VI.

Haha if you can find anyone willing to sell a Mark VI for $3000. Anyone who DOES sell it at that price is a complete idiot. Those things fetch $5000 easy. My old high school band director has a Mark VI that he'd let me play every once in a while. He liked to get it out and get some playing time on it. It was so freakin' awesome playing on those things. Incredible horns.

[jrp10]

i have a yamaha. sounds great

[Arabella]

I play tenor sax in marching and jazz band, and I can give you this:

 

I have a Yamaha for marching and it plays just fine, I haven't had any problems with it that weren't my own fault.

 

I have a Yanagisawa that I use for jazz, and it's worked very well. I've also played a cannonball (not sure what model- it was black with silver keys?) and it had a beautiful tone, but some of the palm keys feel awkward to me.

[EODrillDesigner98]

 

 

Hey! sax5warrior

 

Have you gotten your saxophone yet? If yes, what brand did you end up with.

[sax5warrior]

  EODrillDesigner98 said:

 

 

Hey! sax5warrior

 

Have you gotten your saxophone yet? If yes, what brand did you end up with.

HAHA! Wow. Its been more than a year actually.

 

I am so happy with my Yamaha Allegro right now.

 

It has gotten me a Division 2 on my solo for TSSEC, a 21 chair improvement on All-Region, another trip to TSSEC, some amazing solos being played for @ UIL, and it has gotten me into Wind Symphony.

 

Im telling you, people say its the player, but I believe you cant have a good driver with a horrible car. It just doesnt work that way. I've seen players here @ SGP that are really capable of being in Wind Symphony, but they end up in 2nd band because of the instrument leaking air, pads being stuck, or STILL playing on a student/beginner instrument.

 

Its been an amazing ride with my Allegro teamed up with a Selmer C* mouthpiece.

 

My ultimate goal though, is to get the prestigious Yamaha Custom 875-EX

[Daylen007]

I've heard many good things about all these brands.. I personally have a Cannonball that I love. I think it is more up to the player than the brand on which saxophone to get.

[treyj]

I wouldn't say "best."

But for the price you can't beat a cannonball.

 

it outplays nearly every big brand out there. Selmer, Yamaha, etc.

 

and is easily less than 1/2 the price.

 

they offer many models i highly recommend them to anyone looking for a saxophone.

 

I've been playing on mine for 5 years now, and it hasn't failed me once

Edited October 2, 2008 by treyj

[rpd]

  treyj said:

I wouldn't say "best."

But for the price you can't beat a cannonball.

 

it outplays nearly every big brand out there. Selmer, Yamaha, etc.

 

and is easily less than 1/2 the price.

 

they offer many models i highly recommend them to anyone looking for a saxophone.

 

I've been playing on mine for 5 years now, and it hasn't failed me once

 

I love cannonball's, especially the designs. Although Cannonball and Yamaha are pretty much the same price. I got a YTS 62II for as much as it would cost me to get a Cannonball tenor. Yesterday I went into my local Sam Ash to get reeds and I noticed they put up a Big Bell Stone Series Tenor in the Mad Meg finish for the same price as my 62. Man, I wish they had it up there when I bought my Yamaha, I would have really liked to play test them both.

 

When I get into the market for an Alto, im definitely going to try out a Cannonball.

 

But, I love my Yamaha, and it loves me. So it works out great.

[dwilliams99]

A few years back I switched to Yanagisawa. Out on the web they are considered one of the big 4 (Sel, Yam, Keil being the others).

 

I began to have big problems with my Super Action 80, and didn't like the tone I produced on serie II & III.

 

When I first got my A991 alto, I can say that I didn't like it. It is extremely heavy built. I learned that it wanted to be driven hard like a sports car. It has an incredible tone at volume and projects more than any horn I've owned. I now can play it cleanly even at subtone levels, but it took time.

 

The one really cool thing out of the box was the intonation. I put it on the tuner and nailed virtually the entire scale of the horn. I'm not a great 'in-tune' guy...so that was big for me.

 

Anyway, I've since added and S-902 bronze soprano and T-901 tenor to the arsenal. They are without question the horns for me. I'm not doggin Selmer or anyone else as horns (and our relationships with them) are a very personal thing.

 

If anyone has questions about Yanagisawa please let me know.

 

Thanks,

[ginnyqoa]

I would say a Selmer. Yamahas have not been good to me, but my trusty old Selmer is like a tank in the way of marching season. Dirt, grime, the works, and its an easy clean and fix. Yamahas are ok for concert season, but with shifted fingers I find them hard to play on for marching. Also, your mouthpiece is very important to the sound of the rest of your instrument. The worst instrument will sound tons better with a good motuhpiece. I have a Selmer C* and its fantastic. They're running at $150 to $160 depending on where you buy it from.

[bojangles103]

  itsstephenyo said:

you're playing on V16s? those are jazz reeds...

 

V16 are rock reeds. They have more heart than Javas but are flatter than traditionals, and thus, louder. I find they're also more consistent. I'm thinking of moving back to V16s.

 

4s are way too hard though; especially on a C*.

[bojangles103]

And my two cents regarding the best saxophone would have to be the Yamaha Custom Z. I have a black laquer because of the warm tone, but any of them sound good. My professor even has a gold plated Z. They work well for classical and jazz, they seem more in tune than many horns I've played, it doesn't feel small like the Selmers, and it has the concave pearls that I like.

 

And best mouthpiece for classical has to be the Vandoren Optimum. Idk why you'd play on a square chamber for classical. The optimum's just sound better, and are way more in tune.

[bojangles103]

  blusax said:

Well obviously this is a personal preference issue.

 

At the moment I play alto and tenor in various ensembles. Im really all about the sound I produce on different horns rather than how technically sound it is (although thats important too)

 

My unit just got a horn I requested about a year ago a Yanagisawa 992 (bronze) alto. Love the horn to death. Very dark sound (darker than selmers) and the altissimo is just a little easier than my selmer series 2 alto. For Dixie Band and the occasional big band stuff I play on a selmer reference 36. Love that horn too. Been dying to try a yamaha custom z tenor but there wernt any I could find and test at TBA this year.

 

The Z Tenors are nice.

[saxyforever]

Selmer Super Action 80, and a C* Soloist, best combination there is, for me at least.

[mellow]

  sax5warrior said:

i heard Cannonballs have rave reviews by some "experts" , do you really think Cannonballs are really the real deal as some people say?

 

I have a Cannonball for concert season and a Yamaha for marching season. I like the Cannonball much better because it is better quality than my personal Yamaha (though that could vary, my Yamaha is old) and the keys are less inclined to stick. I use the Yamaha for marching band because I don't want to hurt my Cannonball; learning new drill can cause collisions and being rained on at a football game or contest isn't as worrisome as it would be if I used my Cannonball.

[PremonitionDrillDesign]

Selmer Series III Jubilee. It's absolutely astounding.