Well my new Jericho J-6 arrived today, so as promised here’s a review. Please excuse incorrect terminology etc as I’m new to this and still learning.
Firstly I would like to publicly thank Robbie at Student Music Supplies for the excellent service provided. All in all a thoroughly nice chap, very easy to talk to. Haven't needed it yet for obvious reasons, but i should imagine aftercare service will be the same, exceptional
On to the review.
On opening the packaging you find the upgraded case, in brown with large Jericho Horns logo on the front. The case has a large external pocket big enough for several A4 sized books/sheet music and probably a few other accessories. There are D rings to fit the supplied shoulder strap and some backpack style straps. Internally the case is velvet covered (dark Brown), hard foam which should provide adequate protection for most beginners needs. There are compartments for the sax (obviously), neck, mouthpiece and accessories. Also supplied are a cleaning cloth, neck strap, spare reed, cork grease and some gloves. These are all, as expected, budget items but are perfectly serviceable.
The horn itself. I chose the, new to the range, matte gold which looks absolutely gorgeous. On inspection the finish looks even and smooth overall, including the neck and appears to be a matt lacquer rather than polished metal (Robbie may be able to verify). I did find one small blemish on the A key cup but this was only very minor and no way detracts from the overall finish or indeed playability. The horn itself appears sturdily made and there was no undue or unwanted movement on any of the key work , etc. All guards where solidly attached. The neck fit was very smooth and needed only minimal effort to insert, and once in was held securely in place by the screw. A few people have said the octave mechanism on the alto felt a little slack, don’t know if the other tenors are the same but this is not the case with this one. Robbie has said that some minor design alterations where made on advice, maybe this was one area. One other minor problem was a stiff low C key roller. Closer inspection found a burr on the roller which, once removed, cured the problem. Supplied with the sax is a basic shove it pad saver, a no name mouthpiece, probably generic 4c, and a matte gold, 2 screw basic ligature. All perfectly useable items for a beginner.
Ergonomics. The J-6 doesn’t feel unduly heavy, felt nicely balanced and sits very nicely in the hands and with thumbs in place fingers easily found the pearls, which are concave with no sharp edges. The left hand thumb sits on a plastic rest and the octave key is easily playable. The right hand thumb rest is plastic?, maybe plastic coated metal, and is adjustable via a screw. The left hand key table (G# etc) is nicely placed and I can easily reach the low Bb key (I have big hands, small fingers and struggle a bit with my alto). The low C/Eb keys are a little more towards the rear than I’m used to my alto but are easily reached. The palm keys fit nicely around the inside of the palm without getting in the way and are nice and smooth to the touch.
Playing. This is where I’ll struggle as I have nothing to compare this too as this is my first tenor and wouldn’t know an overly bright or dark sounding one if it came up and slapped me. Also I cant quite cover the entire range yet, my comfortable range is palm d to low C so this was the extent of the play test. Setup, as I have no other yet, was the supplied mouthpiece, lig and 2.5 reed. Tone is based on a few scales and some tunes from a new tune a day. To start The J-6 was extremely easy to blow and produced an acceptable (given the setup) nice clear even tone, from my limited knowledge I’d say on the brighter side, right across my range. Intonation was good, not perfect, getting slightly sharper as I went up but was easily corrected/ maintained especially for someone like me with limited ability. Whilst playing scales the keys felt, what I can only describe as, just right neither too strong nor too weak (perfect if your goldilocks or the baby bear). I think the tone could be improved with a small outlay on a decent mouthpiece and some better reeds. Overall though a very nice sound out of the box from what at the end of the day is a budget sax.
My overall thoughts are this is a very worthy instrument and is exceptional value for money. The quality is just about on a par with the John Packer mid range student alto I have that cost more than this. The equivalent Tenor is twice the price and Yamahas even more. If your on a budget and looking for a nice Tenor you wont go far wrong.
THE END
Firstly I would like to publicly thank Robbie at Student Music Supplies for the excellent service provided. All in all a thoroughly nice chap, very easy to talk to. Haven't needed it yet for obvious reasons, but i should imagine aftercare service will be the same, exceptional
On to the review.
On opening the packaging you find the upgraded case, in brown with large Jericho Horns logo on the front. The case has a large external pocket big enough for several A4 sized books/sheet music and probably a few other accessories. There are D rings to fit the supplied shoulder strap and some backpack style straps. Internally the case is velvet covered (dark Brown), hard foam which should provide adequate protection for most beginners needs. There are compartments for the sax (obviously), neck, mouthpiece and accessories. Also supplied are a cleaning cloth, neck strap, spare reed, cork grease and some gloves. These are all, as expected, budget items but are perfectly serviceable.
The horn itself. I chose the, new to the range, matte gold which looks absolutely gorgeous. On inspection the finish looks even and smooth overall, including the neck and appears to be a matt lacquer rather than polished metal (Robbie may be able to verify). I did find one small blemish on the A key cup but this was only very minor and no way detracts from the overall finish or indeed playability. The horn itself appears sturdily made and there was no undue or unwanted movement on any of the key work , etc. All guards where solidly attached. The neck fit was very smooth and needed only minimal effort to insert, and once in was held securely in place by the screw. A few people have said the octave mechanism on the alto felt a little slack, don’t know if the other tenors are the same but this is not the case with this one. Robbie has said that some minor design alterations where made on advice, maybe this was one area. One other minor problem was a stiff low C key roller. Closer inspection found a burr on the roller which, once removed, cured the problem. Supplied with the sax is a basic shove it pad saver, a no name mouthpiece, probably generic 4c, and a matte gold, 2 screw basic ligature. All perfectly useable items for a beginner.
Ergonomics. The J-6 doesn’t feel unduly heavy, felt nicely balanced and sits very nicely in the hands and with thumbs in place fingers easily found the pearls, which are concave with no sharp edges. The left hand thumb sits on a plastic rest and the octave key is easily playable. The right hand thumb rest is plastic?, maybe plastic coated metal, and is adjustable via a screw. The left hand key table (G# etc) is nicely placed and I can easily reach the low Bb key (I have big hands, small fingers and struggle a bit with my alto). The low C/Eb keys are a little more towards the rear than I’m used to my alto but are easily reached. The palm keys fit nicely around the inside of the palm without getting in the way and are nice and smooth to the touch.
Playing. This is where I’ll struggle as I have nothing to compare this too as this is my first tenor and wouldn’t know an overly bright or dark sounding one if it came up and slapped me. Also I cant quite cover the entire range yet, my comfortable range is palm d to low C so this was the extent of the play test. Setup, as I have no other yet, was the supplied mouthpiece, lig and 2.5 reed. Tone is based on a few scales and some tunes from a new tune a day. To start The J-6 was extremely easy to blow and produced an acceptable (given the setup) nice clear even tone, from my limited knowledge I’d say on the brighter side, right across my range. Intonation was good, not perfect, getting slightly sharper as I went up but was easily corrected/ maintained especially for someone like me with limited ability. Whilst playing scales the keys felt, what I can only describe as, just right neither too strong nor too weak (perfect if your goldilocks or the baby bear). I think the tone could be improved with a small outlay on a decent mouthpiece and some better reeds. Overall though a very nice sound out of the box from what at the end of the day is a budget sax.
My overall thoughts are this is a very worthy instrument and is exceptional value for money. The quality is just about on a par with the John Packer mid range student alto I have that cost more than this. The equivalent Tenor is twice the price and Yamahas even more. If your on a budget and looking for a nice Tenor you wont go far wrong.
THE END
