Saxophones New sax possibilities

[Moz]

I am in the position of having enough money saved to buy a baritone sax of good quality. My weapon of choice is the tenor sax; I have a Yanisagawa T901. The baritone would not be my primary weapon but still I want a good make.

My question:

Should I keep my Yani 901 and buy an reasonable bari which would get used maybe 10 percent of the time or should I forego the bari and upgrade the tenor to a Selmer Paris (for example) or a top-of-the-range Yani (or other stunningly expensive tenor sax)?

In short, what would be the the best use of my money (no, I don't give to human charities, the above options are all that are on the table for purposes of this argument).

Martin

 

[kevgermany]

I'd say expand - get a reasonable bari, look at upgrading the tenor later.

 

[jonf]

Yup, I agree with Kev, keep the 901 and expand the stable to include a bari as well.

The more expensive Yanis are in my opinion a bit better than the 901, but there really isn't much in it. I play tested the 901 against 902, 991 and 992, and all were good. I preferred the 992, and bought it, but it was really just personal preference and I'd have been happy with any of them. Same goes for Selmers - I wouldn't regard it an upgrade to replace a Yani 901 with a Selmer, just another preference. I also tried the Selmer, and preferred any of the Yanis over it, for some reason. Incidentally, I also tried various Mauriats, Yam 62 and 82, Keilwerth SX and TJ Sig Custom. All were great, and any differences came down to preference.

Baris are loads of fun!

 

[rhysonsax]

Yup, I agree with the posts above. Try looking at a decent modern bari from China or Taiwan such as the Bauhaus-Walstein. It will be based on (i.e. copied from) a good design from a major manufacturer and will probably have decent ergonomics similar to your tenor. I tried the B-W out of interest and was impressed.

I love playing the bari (usually a Selmer SA80 II) but I love all the others too (sopranino to bass) !

Rhys

 

[thomsax]

I have two baritones saxes (The Martin Baritone -62 that is very good and one Pennsylvania (Kohlert) also good but not that good ...) and I think the biggest problem to make them sing well, is me! I don't have enough time to practise and play my baris. I think it takes a lot of time to keep up a decent level on bari!! So for me it wouldn't make any diffenerence what sax I use. Good playablity, a "studentbari" level is more than enough for most players! Beside you can do "bari-tricks on your tenor as well! But it always nice to own a baritone!! So I consider myself more a baritonesax owner instead of a bariplayer!

Thomas

 

[Andante cantabile]

This is a hard one. Much will depend on your intentions, but they will anyway change once you have a decent baritone.

My tenor is a YTS-82z. With the bari I settled for a YBS-32. I am sure that the tenor has better ergonomics, and sometimes I ask myself whether I should have had a closer look at the YBS-62. Easier said than done where I live, and it would have cost another $2000.

I haven't of course seen a BW. They come highly recommended. A lot of other baris are rather expensive.

If I were in your position, I wouldn't change the tenor set-up, assuming I was happy with it. Once you start to play the bari, it will be nice to have something familiar around.

 

[saxnik]

Can't go wrong with a B901! If you're getting a bari, stick with Yani if you're used to the tenor and like it. Baritones don't come much better, well built and powerful.

Having said that I play on a Mauriat B300-DK, not so well balanced, and a bit less ergonomic, but I 'went for the sound'.

Like they said above, it all comes down to preference, and you've got yourself a great tenor already...

Nick

 

[dooce]

I've been thinking along similar lines in terms of exploring a bari. Have a look at John Packer - my teacher plays one of their basic models and praises it. JP do refurbished demo models at about two-thirds the price of new which makes them very affordable.

 

[Moz]

Thank you for your replies, it looks like the Yani tenor will be staying. As to which bari (when I can get the courage to fork out the money), I shall have to investigate. It all depends of course on how much I get for my Yani soprano as that is from where some of the funds will come. I've decided I can't give the sop enough dedication to make it sound nice, it's just too shrieky an instrument. If anyone is interested, it's going on ebay tonight.

Cheers

Martin

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Martin!

Of possible interest to you regarding the T901 - I Googled "Yanagiswa T901 comparisons" in and found a youtube piece - comparing it with a Selmer Ref36 - quite hard to spot the difference and probably the Yani T901 shaded it - for me it was more integrated between lower and upper registers, whereas the Selmer had a lovely bottom end but sounded thinner above the octave key. Worth trying to find - I'll have another search.

Kind regards
Tom

 

[AlanU]

Just in case you might be interested, there is a 1924 Conn Baritone on Gumtree. The instrument is in London.
The advertiser is asking £850, saying it is recently re-padded, history and photos since 1932, original case and articulated G# added.