Saxophones Good tenor sax for a good price?

saxmaster

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I've been looking at some yts23's online and a local music store is having a Christmas sale so I want to go check that out…
Anyways I was wondering how much I should expect to pay for a good tenor sax? And what make should I look for?
 
Prices - check the actual sales on ebay, that should give you an idea. But it depends a lot on condition, area, make etc.

Most of the new saxes come from China and Taiwan now. Variable quality, hopefully you can trust your local dealer. Good to buy from them, means you have local support/advice/service. But it puts the price up a bit. YTS23s have a good reputation, just depends on how much it's been played/serviced. Ask around, see if the local guy has a good repuation or not.
 
I have a Gear4music alto, tenor and sop.

They play in tune and have a good action that is reasonably ergonomic.

Don't be tempted by their ex display stuff, it's not what it seems, but their mainstream deals are fair enough and very inexpensive.

Customer service is good if you ring them.

Everybody that asks what I'm playing is surprised it's a far eastern cheapy. With a good mouthpiece they sound good and play great.

I don't know how they'll last but six months in all is well.
 
I'm looking to get a new tenor in the New Year myself.

People on here often suggest looking at John Packer and Academy Jericho horns for good solid value for money saxs, and BW (Bauhaus Walstein) Bronze series for slightly more expensive ones.

I went to Gear4Music's (G4M) York store and had a blow on 4 tenors the weekend before last. I used my own mouthpiece/reed/lig for each. I should point out that I'm a novice and am currently playing an 85 year old King tenor with some "issues".

G4M's entry level tenor didn't inspire - I didn't find the tone very full or rich at all.
Their Rosedale Silver body with gold keywork tenor was much better and tempting.
I also tried their top of the range Rosedale RoseGold/Gold tenor which I had high hopes for. This was the second time I'd been up to try the horn and both times what they brought out had a defective neck octave mechanism which meant that the neck octave tone hole would never close properly. I'd ask that they checked the horn before I arrrived this time so am not impressed.
My favourite on the day though was the Odyssey Premiere tenor which I felt really at home with and gave me a tone most similar to the tone of my old King. (The good tone of it that is, not the fluffy tone it gives on middle D). The Odyssey Premiere was noticably a lot heavier than any of the other saxs, a LOT heavier.

On Thursday I took delivery of my first ever soprano. A curved one, the Academy Jericho. I'm still evaluating it but if it passes muster I might be tempted to go that rough for the tenor too, as alhough the Odyssey is pretty reasonably priced the Jericho would be a significant saving.
 
It's not easy choosing is it?

I was at sax.co.uk looking at curly sops and tone-wise I couldn't produce a difference between the B&W and the yanagisawa, but the yani keys felt more comfortable... but to balance the feel there's the considerable pain of a massive price difference

Decisions, decisions
 
How about allora paris series or the allora chicago jazz on WWBW?
I hear they were quality saxes back when they were being made by b&s…
Who's making them now and are the tenor models any good?
Also thanks for reminding me about Jericho and Bauhaus walstein
 

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