Gear4music

[chris13]

Does anyone have an opinion on the quality of saxophones from Gear4music, I was thinking of getting one of their £200.00 alto sax's. I'm a complete novice who has never held a sax, let alone attempted to play one. I want a sax to get started on before deciding if I'm good enough to warrant spending a fair amount on a properly decent sax. Is it best to get a replacement mouthpiece straight away or stick with the one supplied until I get used to playing what I've got; should I also get a spare pack of reeds as well.

Many thanks

Chris

 

[Taz]

Hi Chris, I've no personal experience with G4M, but I've only heard good things about them. You other alternative would be to rent a sax. Most good shops do a rental scheme, where you can buy the sax off them if you want it, minus what you have paid in rental (I think that's how it works) I certain that someone else on here will give you better advice than mine, but good luck with it. BTW stick with the original mouthpiece for a little while before you start experimenting!
Welcome to the BR.

 

[Pjonah]

I have two an alto and the soprano.

Both are good instruments but needed professionally setting up. Count on £25 and £15 for the alto and soprano respectively.

Immediately ditch the mouthpieces for a Yamaha 5C and your sorted.

They aren't a bad company to deal with either, if you have a problem.

Well worth the money, but you will need to get them tweaked.

 

[neil]

i have a G4M alto too....i normally play the tenor but got the alto for my daughter to play....i have to say i struggle with the alto a bit but thats just me...when my teacher played it it sounded great and he was very impressed at the value for money.

 

[thehunt]

Hiya, going on from Taz, i started out by renting first. Dawkes do it as well as sax.co.uk. That way you get a relatively good sax which you can then buy if you wish. They will cost you more than £200. But i can bet my bottom dollar that once you have the sax bug like we all do then you will want a better sax anyway.
I am not denigrating Gear4music as i have no experience of their products.
In addition when you rent you get a new sax, carry case, stand, instruction book, mouthpiece and some reeds to get started.
Welcome to our world... Phil

 

[Pete Thomas]

I have heard from Stephen Howard that the are now not as good as the ear;lier ones, which were OK for the price but not outstanding horns.

I tried to contact the company about something and found them very unhelpful.

 

[dooce]

I don't know if the 200 quid alto is currently their cheapest, but I bought one 18 months ago which was then the cheapest on their list and had to send it back because the intonation was so bad. To be fair, even though it was nearly 6 months old (I had perservered with it because I assumed it was me, not the sax) they acknowledged the fault, took it back and gave me a full refund, and I would have happily bought the next model up but they didn't have any in at the time (so I bought a Walstein soprano instead)

 

[littleplum]

Try John Packers, they have some cheap saxes and also some ex rentals. I have an alto, Tenor (got this week) and the Bari. My teacher has just bought an ex demo alto for £160 and its superb value. Like the Gear4music saxes, unless you pick them up from the shop and test it there, you should expect to have them tweaked. Packers are in Taunton by the way.

Have fun

 

[chris13]

Thanks for the above messages, every bit helps. I've ordered Jools Holland's Music Makers The Saxophone With Pete Thomas, but due to credit card problems, I'll now have to wait about a month before deciding on my purchase

Again, many thanks

Chris

PS Does anyone know if there are any mutes available for saxophones

 

[Pete Thomas]

PS Does anyone know if there are any mutes available for saxophones

Well there are things that manufacturers call "mutes".

Apart from quite expensive things that encase the entire horn, there is no "thing you bung down the bell and it makes it that much quieter" product that I know of.

And thanks for buying the DVD.

 

[DaveW]

PS Does anyone know if there are any mutes available for saxophones

I live in Ab, a flat (sorry couldn't resist )) ) and my teacher suggested putting a towel down the bell.

It does quieten the sax but I think creates more back pressure and does make the lower notes a bit more difficult to get.

Try it and see what you think, it costs nowt ;}

 

[Moz]

Thanks for the above messages, every bit helps. I've ordered Jools Holland's Music Makers The Saxophone With Pete Thomas, but due to credit card problems, I'll now have to wait about a month before deciding on my purchase

Again, many thanks

Chris

PS Does anyone know if there are any mutes available for saxophones

Rent a sax. It's by far the best way and you can usually buy it at any time and they reduce the cost by amount of rental you've already paid.

Mutes: There is only one mute for the saxophone...play quietly. However this is pretty difficult for a new player so learn quickly.

 

[Drphil]

hi there,
how have you got on?
I would recommend the rental route as lots of folk advise -I'm in a similar situation to you just starting up and already are finding the pitfalls.
Interestingly I backed off from G4M as we bought one of their cheaper trumpets off ebay which wasn't much cop -I sold it on straight away.
I tried to buy an alto for my daughter of ebay which went back and I now intend to rent for 3months from John Packers probably then decide on a possible new horn, I've also just bought a tenor of ebay which may be ok with some sprucing up but on reflection renting first would have been better!

 

[griff136]

Hi Chris,

I would have to agree with the statement made by pete re the Gear4 music saxes not being of great build quality. you could try a john packer own brand saxophone - they're in Taunton, it'll come with some warranty and it'll play straight out of the box. very reasonable too.

Seeing as you are a complete novice you could try renting one first to see if you like it. quite a few music shops do this sort of scheme.

heres the JP website - http://www.johnpacker.co.uk/instruments/14/

good luck with finding an instrument ans welcome to the breakfeastroom.

 

[Pjonah]

Its interesting to hear about the demise of G4M, I've had the alto for a few years now and its a reasonably decent horn, after professionally setting up.

But I tried their own brand of active monitors for fold-back...utter crap, they sent two, neither worked, I lost my rag with them in the end and got a full refund, I now have a Behringer which is much better and has a feedback filter that actually works.

I'll not be buying from them again after that.