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Beginner Saxes Not sure which sax to get
Hey everyone,
I'm planning to start learning how to play the sax and I've decided to start on an alto like most beginners do. I do have some experience playing piano and guitar but I have never tried playing a wind instrument.
After some hours of dedicated research I can't help but feel overwhelmed by how many things go into the making of a sax so I need some help deciding which sax should I go for keeping in mind that my budget is very low for a sax (350 euros). I'm aware of how low that is cause most of the big brand insturemts I've found would sell for about a 100o or so.
As far as I can tell my best options are:
1- the Odyssey OAS130 Debut Alto Saxophone
Odyssey OAS130 Alto Saxophone Outfit:Amazon.co.uk:Musical Instruments
2- ammoon ® bE Alto Saxphone Brass Lacquered Gold E Flat Sax 82Z Key Type
Any and all feedback and help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
I'm planning to start learning how to play the sax and I've decided to start on an alto like most beginners do. I do have some experience playing piano and guitar but I have never tried playing a wind instrument.
After some hours of dedicated research I can't help but feel overwhelmed by how many things go into the making of a sax so I need some help deciding which sax should I go for keeping in mind that my budget is very low for a sax (350 euros). I'm aware of how low that is cause most of the big brand insturemts I've found would sell for about a 100o or so.
As far as I can tell my best options are:
1- the Odyssey OAS130 Debut Alto Saxophone
Odyssey OAS130 Alto Saxophone Outfit:Amazon.co.uk:Musical Instruments
2- ammoon ® bE Alto Saxphone Brass Lacquered Gold E Flat Sax 82Z Key Type
ammoon ® bE Alto Saxphone Brass Lacquered Gold E Flat Sax 82Z Key Type Woodwind Instrument with Cleaning Brush Cloth Gloves Cork Grease Strap Padded Case:Amazon.co.uk:Musical Instruments
Amazon.co.uk ammoon ® bE Alto Saxphone Brass Lacquered Gold E Flat Sax 82Z Key Type Woodwind Instrument with Cleaning Brush Cloth Gloves Cork Grease Strap Padded Case
www.amazon.co.uk
Any and all feedback and help would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!
26 Replies
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9923 views
Tech/maintenance 1983 Conn 18M Alto Student Sax Restoration
In this thread, I requested an ID and year for this sax that I bought today:
Then I did a little reading up on various Café threads with 18M content:
Inventor: "What have I done?"
Milton: "I'm Milton, your brand new son!"
Did I just get CONNed?
I think @lig knows the answer. 😉
To which @Stocker replied it was a 1983 Conn 18M.
Then I did a little reading up on various Café threads with 18M content:Then the following observation comes through:
with further clarification on the quality of an 18M:
My first thoughts reflected the final words of the cartoon, Milton The Monster's opening song:
Inventor: "What have I done?"
Milton: "I'm Milton, your brand new son!"
Did I just get CONNed?
I think @lig knows the answer. 😉
23 Replies
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350 views
Saxophones Saxophones, rarely discussed
Everybody knows the nice horns that get talked about all the time (Selmer, Martin, Yamaha, etc). Then there are the good instruments less talked about but I would say still fairly well known (a Yamaha Vito stencil for example).
How about a topic for those worthy saxophones (I'll leave the definition of worthy alone for now) that are rarely discussed?
Yesterday I 'discovered' the F.E. Olds Super:
Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I have to say that is a very cool looking alto! With an interesting story as well, that you can find if you dig a bit here or at the other forum.
So, what other models might fit the topic?
How about a topic for those worthy saxophones (I'll leave the definition of worthy alone for now) that are rarely discussed?
Yesterday I 'discovered' the F.E. Olds Super:
Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I have to say that is a very cool looking alto! With an interesting story as well, that you can find if you dig a bit here or at the other forum.
So, what other models might fit the topic?
11 Replies
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135 views
Miscellaneous Colorado residents
Hey everyone, I wanted to start a quick thread (hopefully in the right spot).
I wanted to see who all on here lives in Colorado. I'll be moving next week back to CO in the south Denver metro area.
I could not find a thread or posting that had who lived where, so I figured I'd start one!
I wanted to see who all on here lives in Colorado. I'll be moving next week back to CO in the south Denver metro area.
I could not find a thread or posting that had who lived where, so I figured I'd start one!
20 Replies
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303 views
Saxophones Selmer Supreme alto (quick look)
Had a client bring two Selmer altos in yesterday - a Ref.54 for a service and a brand new solid silver Supreme.
First time I've had my hands on one.
It only came in for a quick tweak - so no time to run up a proper review, but I did notice a couple of things.
First up - the client brought it in because there was a problem when moving from low B to low Bb; a break in the transition.
This turned out to be a badly adjusted link between the low B and the low C#. In fact it wasn't really adjusted at all - so that when his finger rolled down onto the Bb touchpiece and just caught the C# touchpiece on the way, the C# would open about 3mm. That's plenty enough to knock out the low B.
And there was this:
This is the Bis Bb/G# adjuster bar. Take a look at that gap between the Bis Bb arm and the adjuster above it. In horn terms it's miles away.
The adjuster is actually set right in terms of its ability to close the Bis Bb - so you can't screw the adjuster in to take up the play. What this means is that the lower stack is set substantially higher than the upper.
I had a quick peek at the toneholes. Selmer are traditionally pretty good at getting the toneholes level, but I was rather disappointed with the low C on this horn:
I compared it with the Ref.54 - which still wasn't perfect but was rather flatter.
So, not a great start for the Supreme. It comes in at an eye-watering price, and for that kind of money I want all the boxes ticked...and then some. So I'd expect the out-of-box setup to be spot on and rather more precision when it comes to the toneholes. Y'know, a bit like a top-end Yani.
And then I had a blow on the Supreme.
I was expecting a 'Woah!' moment - and I got one...but not the one I wanted.
It prompted me to go back and forth between the Supreme and the Ref.54. The Ref is exactly what you'd expect from a Selmer. Nicely balanced, a 'big' sound with that characteristic Selmer mid-range oomph, slightly resistant but nonetheless punchy - with a wide spread of sound.
The Supreme felt very closed in, like it was keeping the sound huddled around itself. And where was the punch and clarity?
It had a sort of Paul Desmond thing going on...that sort of laid back, soft kind of approach. That's fine...if you can turn it on and off at will but it kind of comes stamped into the horn.
That really surprised me because it's dramatically different from the Ref - so-much-so that I had to put a light down the Supreme to see if there was a problem with one of the pads (nothing major...slight leak on the A, which didn't change the tone when corrected).
I can't say it's a conclusive impression because it's just that horn - but even accounting for variations between seemingly identical horns it seems a bit extreme.
I'm hoping the client is going to book the Supreme in for a proper setup once I've serviced the Ref - at which point I can do a proper run-down on it and see what's what.
First time I've had my hands on one.
It only came in for a quick tweak - so no time to run up a proper review, but I did notice a couple of things.
First up - the client brought it in because there was a problem when moving from low B to low Bb; a break in the transition.
This turned out to be a badly adjusted link between the low B and the low C#. In fact it wasn't really adjusted at all - so that when his finger rolled down onto the Bb touchpiece and just caught the C# touchpiece on the way, the C# would open about 3mm. That's plenty enough to knock out the low B.
And there was this:
This is the Bis Bb/G# adjuster bar. Take a look at that gap between the Bis Bb arm and the adjuster above it. In horn terms it's miles away.
The adjuster is actually set right in terms of its ability to close the Bis Bb - so you can't screw the adjuster in to take up the play. What this means is that the lower stack is set substantially higher than the upper.
I had a quick peek at the toneholes. Selmer are traditionally pretty good at getting the toneholes level, but I was rather disappointed with the low C on this horn:
I compared it with the Ref.54 - which still wasn't perfect but was rather flatter.
So, not a great start for the Supreme. It comes in at an eye-watering price, and for that kind of money I want all the boxes ticked...and then some. So I'd expect the out-of-box setup to be spot on and rather more precision when it comes to the toneholes. Y'know, a bit like a top-end Yani.
And then I had a blow on the Supreme.
I was expecting a 'Woah!' moment - and I got one...but not the one I wanted.
It prompted me to go back and forth between the Supreme and the Ref.54. The Ref is exactly what you'd expect from a Selmer. Nicely balanced, a 'big' sound with that characteristic Selmer mid-range oomph, slightly resistant but nonetheless punchy - with a wide spread of sound.
The Supreme felt very closed in, like it was keeping the sound huddled around itself. And where was the punch and clarity?
It had a sort of Paul Desmond thing going on...that sort of laid back, soft kind of approach. That's fine...if you can turn it on and off at will but it kind of comes stamped into the horn.
That really surprised me because it's dramatically different from the Ref - so-much-so that I had to put a light down the Supreme to see if there was a problem with one of the pads (nothing major...slight leak on the A, which didn't change the tone when corrected).
I can't say it's a conclusive impression because it's just that horn - but even accounting for variations between seemingly identical horns it seems a bit extreme.
I'm hoping the client is going to book the Supreme in for a proper setup once I've serviced the Ref - at which point I can do a proper run-down on it and see what's what.
47 Replies
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984 views
Cafe Moderator
Commercial
Miscellaneous What are you growing this year?
Asparagus!
We started a new bed when we moved in a couple of years ago but you must leave the plants the first two years. So this is our first year of Asparagus and it's working very well.
We did try okra in the greenhouse last year but not too successful. We had some "ladies fingers", but with just a small plant we got maybe one a day so by the time there were enough to cook with, the first ones had gone by.
Beans, beetroot and sweetcorn do very well down here in sunny Southampton
We started a new bed when we moved in a couple of years ago but you must leave the plants the first two years. So this is our first year of Asparagus and it's working very well.
We did try okra in the greenhouse last year but not too successful. We had some "ladies fingers", but with just a small plant we got maybe one a day so by the time there were enough to cook with, the first ones had gone by.
Beans, beetroot and sweetcorn do very well down here in sunny Southampton
98 Replies
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9864 views
Miscellaneous Photography - all aspects
Following various recent posts, I thought I would create a thread specifically for photography. Somewhere to talk about equipment, experiences, processing...
To start off, I was a Nikon user for over 40 years, but had to 'down size' as handling full-frame cameras and lenses was getting to be too much like hard work and giving me shoulder issues. My current digital camera is a mirrorless Fuji X-T5.
For film cameras, I have a Pentax MX, Mamiya RB67, and a Sinar F2.
To start off, I was a Nikon user for over 40 years, but had to 'down size' as handling full-frame cameras and lenses was getting to be too much like hard work and giving me shoulder issues. My current digital camera is a mirrorless Fuji X-T5.
For film cameras, I have a Pentax MX, Mamiya RB67, and a Sinar F2.
367 Replies
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12704 views
Cafe Moderator
Commercial
test
6 Replies
·
161 views
Playing the saxophone Have you hooked up?
Playing music with or seeing others play who post on the forum? Over twenty years ago we used to have a group of players in my area who would meet up, try each others' horns and go to each others' gigs when we could. That's mostly in the past now in favor of just meeting up at the annual Symposium in Virginia. Now I know some of us in the States know each other, but what about in Europe? Do you guys ever meet or go to each others' gigs?
44 Replies
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3873 views
Blog Tenor Viol's musings
OK. I've thought about doing this for a while - setting up a general thread for me to post in, rather than necessarily creating a separate new thread every time for relatively minor matters, or discussion of how things are going etc.
So, the first item is my FB page got me with an Amazon advert and I seem to have ordered a jazz theory book... It will get delivered to the Amazon lockers at work on Monday
Tomorrow is a Café Trio/Quartet...Septet day where @trimmy is going to demonstrate ascending chromatic scales in augmented fourths, and descending in diminished fifths... 😀
Yesterday was a wind band concert in Maghull. There were about 85 of us playing. We had a contrabassoon in the band...
So, the first item is my FB page got me with an Amazon advert and I seem to have ordered a jazz theory book... It will get delivered to the Amazon lockers at work on Monday
Tomorrow is a Café Trio/Quartet...Septet day where @trimmy is going to demonstrate ascending chromatic scales in augmented fourths, and descending in diminished fifths... 😀
Yesterday was a wind band concert in Maghull. There were about 85 of us playing. We had a contrabassoon in the band...
1921 Replies
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110474 views
Saxophones C Melody Saxophones
I've been interested in C Melody saxes, for a while.
Apparently, they were quite common in the 1920s-30s, and the general concensus seems to be that the designs got better as time went on. Earlier models were often made in High Pitch (a tuning system that predates using A=440Hz), and should be avoided, unless you want to accompany a Highland bagpipe player.
From what little research I've done, it seems Conn made some of the better sounding ones, and their later models were improvements over the earlier ones. The ones with a "straight" neck, similar to an alto, are supposed to be good. Personally, I don't really like the S shaped neck on a tenor.
Anyway, here's one I've asked about recently. I've posted a couple of these pictures in Ads's review discussion thread of the Sakkusu C Melody sax, but here's all I have.
This is a 1924/1925 Conn C Melody, currently for sale at the Trevor Jones shop in Bristol. It's in low pitch, has had a partial repad, and is ready to play.
Bristol is a bit far for me to visit so I asked if they could send me photos, particularly of the hand positions, because the ergonomics are a bit different on these old saxes, and C melody saxes in particular.
Ermm... there seems to be a 2 file upload limit. Hopefully, that's per post
The thumb rest is apparently soldered on, so can't be adjusted easily, but the position looks good for reaching the right side trill keys (Bb/C/high E). This seems to be an issue on the Sakkusu / Thoman C Melody (see https://cafesaxophone.com/threads/sakkusu-c-melody-saxophone-review.13705/Ads's Sakkusu C Melody review[/URL])
The "L" stamped below the serial number indicates it's built for "Low" pitch - i.e. designed for modern A=440Hz tuning. I've read different accounts of what was meant by High Pitch (and maybe there was more than one definition), but the consensus seems to be it was at least A=450Hz, or A=453Hz - kind of between semitones, in modern tuning, and too far out to compensate for by positioning the mouthpiece differently etc.
It's important to check for that when buying any brass or woodwind instrument from that period. I think military bands kept it going for a while longer, in Britain. Scottish bagpipe and Irish/Scottish Bb flute players tend to still use it, as I understand it. It's certainly the normal tuning for 5 or 6 key Bb flutes.
Apparently, they were quite common in the 1920s-30s, and the general concensus seems to be that the designs got better as time went on. Earlier models were often made in High Pitch (a tuning system that predates using A=440Hz), and should be avoided, unless you want to accompany a Highland bagpipe player.
From what little research I've done, it seems Conn made some of the better sounding ones, and their later models were improvements over the earlier ones. The ones with a "straight" neck, similar to an alto, are supposed to be good. Personally, I don't really like the S shaped neck on a tenor.
Anyway, here's one I've asked about recently. I've posted a couple of these pictures in Ads's review discussion thread of the Sakkusu C Melody sax, but here's all I have.
This is a 1924/1925 Conn C Melody, currently for sale at the Trevor Jones shop in Bristol. It's in low pitch, has had a partial repad, and is ready to play.
Bristol is a bit far for me to visit so I asked if they could send me photos, particularly of the hand positions, because the ergonomics are a bit different on these old saxes, and C melody saxes in particular.
Ermm... there seems to be a 2 file upload limit. Hopefully, that's per post
The thumb rest is apparently soldered on, so can't be adjusted easily, but the position looks good for reaching the right side trill keys (Bb/C/high E). This seems to be an issue on the Sakkusu / Thoman C Melody (see https://cafesaxophone.com/threads/sakkusu-c-melody-saxophone-review.13705/Ads's Sakkusu C Melody review[/URL])
The "L" stamped below the serial number indicates it's built for "Low" pitch - i.e. designed for modern A=440Hz tuning. I've read different accounts of what was meant by High Pitch (and maybe there was more than one definition), but the consensus seems to be it was at least A=450Hz, or A=453Hz - kind of between semitones, in modern tuning, and too far out to compensate for by positioning the mouthpiece differently etc.
It's important to check for that when buying any brass or woodwind instrument from that period. I think military bands kept it going for a while longer, in Britain. Scottish bagpipe and Irish/Scottish Bb flute players tend to still use it, as I understand it. It's certainly the normal tuning for 5 or 6 key Bb flutes.
658 Replies
·
73262 views
Miscellaneous watches
Before I subscribe a forum about watches, where I will realize that only expensive pieces made in 1962-63 are worth wearing,
is anyone knowledgeable about automatic watches and straps?
is anyone knowledgeable about automatic watches and straps?
845 Replies
·
27266 views
Cafe Moderator
Commercial
There are no size limits for upload so that is unnecessary. Or do you mean the automatic forum resizing and webp conversion?
12 Replies
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65 views
Saxophones Another Beaugnier
Apologies for a lengthy absence from the Cafe, new home (with neighbours) and other commitments has restricted my playing/practising/generally making a noise somewhat.
I have been happily playing on my Martin, again many thanks to @griff136 and my local tech.
I have expressed my admiration of the Beaugnier marque on several occasions and when a Noblet came up on Ebay I couldn't resist it but several characteristics are different to research I have done into the Beaugnier models, no bent nail bell brace, angled left hand pinky keys, right hand bell keys, different C/Eb key design and different keyguards. I found the same tenor model sold by Stohrer Music some time ago identified as a Beaugnier and a similar alto tested by jazzmanted on Youtube.
It's in superb condition, plays nicely and came with a 1950's Vandoren Perfecta which works really well with the horn. Anyone else come across these.
I have been happily playing on my Martin, again many thanks to @griff136 and my local tech.
I have expressed my admiration of the Beaugnier marque on several occasions and when a Noblet came up on Ebay I couldn't resist it but several characteristics are different to research I have done into the Beaugnier models, no bent nail bell brace, angled left hand pinky keys, right hand bell keys, different C/Eb key design and different keyguards. I found the same tenor model sold by Stohrer Music some time ago identified as a Beaugnier and a similar alto tested by jazzmanted on Youtube.
It's in superb condition, plays nicely and came with a 1950's Vandoren Perfecta which works really well with the horn. Anyone else come across these.
93 Replies
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8953 views
Cafe Moderator
Commercial
Cafe Announcements 📣 Find out who plays what - Member info search now shows members' instruments
Greast news! You can now use the member info search find which forum mamebers play (or own) what instruments. Yay!
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