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berniesax

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has anybody out there either played or owned the gear4music budget soprano saxophone priced at around the £190.00 mark !
i would be grateful for any feedback or remarks on this matter as i fancy buying one without spending big bucks or resorting to the devils junk yard (e.bay)
thanks
bernie
ps
i normally play tenor and alto
 
has anybody out there either played or owned the gear4music budget soprano saxophone priced at around the £190.00 mark !
i would be grateful for any feedback or remarks on this matter as i fancy buying one without spending big bucks or resorting to the devils junk yard (e.bay)
thanks
bernie
ps
i normally play tenor and alto

Not owned one, but I know a man who did and it was OK. It was the subject of some debate on this forum because we really could not tell it apart from my Bauhaus soprano either to look at, or play; although to be fair, we were both new to the things so probably not the greatest judges. Mouthpiece is critical - the standard one is rubbish.
 
Not directly relevant but maybe of some use. I bought a gear 4 music alto for about £220. I played it for 3 weeks, as a new player and felt it wasn't right. I went and tried an elkhart and paid nearly £600 for that, instantly "feeling" a difference. After about 80 hours of playing experience I went back to the gear 4 music alto, and played for precisely 2 minutes before realising I would never play it again. My experience is that the gear 4 music was very poor, clunky, inconsistently responsive, and poor sound quality. With hindsight I would not have made the impulsive, uneducated purchase.
 
In that sort of price range, I would recommend an Altone, they are better build quality. I haven't tried the soprano, I tried the alto and was very impressed, so was Stephen Howard.
 
John Packer sopranos are approx £327, but they often have ex demo stock at around £213 - may be worth a look. The Rico Graftonite soprano mouthpiece is superb for £13 or so from www.rapidreeds.com . If I did not already own a BW curved soprano I would probably have got a John Packer soprano.

Kind regards
Tom
 
I used to recommend G4M horns, but I withdrew the recommendation when I noticed that the quality control was going off the boil. I've since sxeen a couple of good examples, but remain to be convinced. Had an email recently from someone who bought a bari and was very pleased with it.

As far as I know, Altone don't do a soprano - so the ex-demo Packer sounds like a good bet.
It's also worth contacting BW...they sometimes have 2nd quality horns for sale - with nothing more serious than cosmetic blemishes.

The Academy soprano is worth a look - comes with a generous 21 day return policy, which gives you plenty of time to check it out.

They all have crap mouthpieces - so budget for a decent one. I'd recommend a Yamaha.

Regards,
 
Aha, I stand corrected ( or more correctly, I sit ).

If it's as well built as the alto it ought to be very good indeed... but as I haven't seen one it's very definitely an 'if'.

Regards,
 
Can`t vouch for G4M but I bought an ultra cheapo Venus Dark Nickel straight sop £170 new for a Pal last year. Very pretty horn and great all over performance for the cash paid.

They Now want £209 for this horn.

The manufacturers could have been a tad more generous with Cork and Felt.



@ Stephen. I hope you are getting a chance to try out your Snow Chains. If not send them up here we`ll road test em for you.;}
 
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Had a friend who bought a sop. from gear4music, would recommend buying a Selmer s80 mouthpiece for soprano, may help with intonation and also getting it checked up at your local music shop

Best regards
Lewis
 
@ Stephen. I hope you are getting a chance to try out your Snow Chains. If not send them up here we`ll road test em for you.;}

I tried them out for the first time a couple of days ago.
According to the snazzy video on the maker's website it takes a respectable looking Swede about a minute to fit them to his Audi.
It took me 45 minutes.
I got a couple of hundred yards down the road and realised that the snow had only settled in a few places - so I had to take them off again.
Tried them again yesterday, fitted them in 15 minutes - and spent an entertaining half hour driving up and down snow-covered hills.
In anticipation of further snow I left them on.
This morning we're under a foot of snow...I can't even see the car, and I suspect that chains or no chains, I'm not going anywhere.

Regards,
 
Oh go on Stephen,
Drive up to Butser just to see the kids (of all ages) enjoying themselves.

John.
 
Oh go on Stephen,
Drive up to Butser just to see the kids (of all ages) enjoying themselves.

John.

I'd love to....and I'd love to whizz down that hill myself. I have a feeling though that if I tried to drive anywhere round here I'd spend just as much time whizzing down hills....in a ton of steel...

Regards,
 
Oh go on Stephen,
Drive up to Butser just to see the kids (of all ages) enjoying themselves.
John.

And try the Motorcycle Trial sections, straight up the sides of the quarry. On second thoughts, as it is an old chalk quarry, how would you tell it from the snow?
 
And try the Motorcycle Trial sections, straight up the sides of the quarry. On second thoughts, as it is an old chalk quarry, how would you tell it from the snow?

Easy, it hurts. Hospital beds aren't comfortable either!!

John.
 

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