Accessories sax partner silencer

jeremyjuicewah

Senior Member
I am sure I have read of these in a thread here but I cant find it. They look ridiculouse but are they any good? Anyone used one? Why are they so expensive? I am going to stuff some socks down the tenor tonight, I am having noise response problems. Any comments appreciated.
Best wishes
Mike
 
I am having noise response problems.
What, as in the way your neighbors respond to your noise? you can put a towel or socks down the bell and yes it will reduce the noise by a bit but you will lose your bell notes as a result, best thing i would guess if you have real problems would be to get one of those white case thingies from sax .co, i tried one once and was pleasantly suprised...
 
I have the E-Sax partner from Vibes which is fitted with metronome and effects (reverb and chorus) - it did a pretty good job and apparently is the only one which works in keeping the decibels down....it I haven't use it for more than a year by now simply because I've moved in a place where I can play anytime I fancy.
I might decide to sell it if you are interested...but if you are in Spain it wouldn't be very cost effective.
 
I am sure I have read of these in a thread here but I cant find it. They look ridiculouse but are they any good? Anyone used one? Why are they so expensive? I am going to stuff some socks down the tenor tonight, I am having noise response problems. Any comments appreciated.
Best wishes
Mike

I don't think these look ridiculous...only, the designers should had presented them as case/silencers and marketed as such (2 into 1) instead of just bulky silencers - as they are they don't perform well as cases (pity). Lack of imagination, I suppose.
 
Hi guys. Yeah, I moved from a very detached place to a small flat and the silence here is eirie. Block is two stories high and about two hundred yards long at the edge of town. It about 50% occupied and with the type of neighbour I have I should probably be glad about that. The welcome here was, well, it just wasnt. My misses says I should just do my thing but I do find it unnerving knowing that the only sound in the area is me blowing away. Some of these folk have been actively unpleasant, not about the sax, I think they are just deeply ignorant people. I dont bother too much about that but as I say, I find it a bit unnerving to shatter the silence. The afternoon scales are ok but in the evening when I want to play along to backing, that's the hard time. Its only for a half hour or maybe three quarters, so I think I am going to tough it out. I thought the silencer would be good for me so I checked e bay where I could only see one for alto for about £180-00 which seems steep to me. I wondered if they are virtually completely silent in which case it would be good for other reasons too, or whether it just mutes it a bit. I may be interested in the silencer zannad, it depends on how silent it makes it and how much you want for it. Not sure if this should move to yard sale at this point.
I can get it picked up and brought over by a courier I have used before. I googled these things last night but didnt come up with much. I will try again now.
Best wishes
Mike
 
I find it very difficult and inhibiting knowing that I'm being overheard whilst practising. I'm lucky that I don't have to worry about it most of the time.

Steve Lacy in his book on the soprano sax says you should feel free to sound terrible whilst practising - and even worse than that.

I was at Howarth's the other day, and Stuart was demoing an alto esax mute to another punter, and it certainly contained the noise v well. Not even as loud as a kazoo.
 
Thanks for that info.

Fraser, I looked at the mute but on the vid it seemed to me that it made no dif to sound level, just tone. So I went and bought a plastic kitchen funnel for 2euros and cut it about a bit and stuffed it down the bell with the wife's headband round it and same result. Nice tone, no big dif in volume, but could only get to a very suspect low D. Stuffed a scarf down it and got the same range with better noise reduction. Also, stuff like that from the US is ok at 45 usd but when they clap 50 usd on for delivery it gets irritating. I had to pay 20 usd for a single reed to be delivered once. But very interesting and thanks for the info.
All the best
Mike
 
I've seen gig bags that double as silencers. I have one for alto, but never tried it as a silencer, must do so.

You mean this one?:
http://www.bill-lewington.com/silentsax.htm

no wonder you aren't using as a silencer...I've read some very negative comments about this thing - but it makes a useful case (I guess).

Then the idea of stopping noise coming from the sax bell is just hilarious - the sax (unlike brass instruments like the trumpet) produces sounds from it's body (the whole of it).
 
OK, just gave it a try.

It's usable, but cumbersome.

Sound cut didn't seem to be that much to my ear, but I measured it at about 10dB. (On the Kohlert, using a Morgan 7L, 115dB max volume, 105dB in the bag - Sax was pretty loud and painful at that volume, I wouldn't want to do it too often.) A change of 3dB means roughly a doubling or halving of volume, so the 10dB cut means that playing in the bag is less than 1/8th of the volume when playing normally. About 1/8th of the fun as well, cos it was really muffled/woolly sounding. But if you've got neighbour problems, it may just do the trick without breaking the bank.

Looks to be similar to the one at Lewington's posted above. But mine is labelled Precieux, and it cost me about 10 euros in as new condition on ebay. I think the orignal buyer got it at Aldi or Lidl as one of their specials for about 25 euros and didn't like it much....
 
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OK I've never seen or tried one but 145 gbp seems so steep again. Wouldnt mind 10 or 25, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

I can promise you that during the year I had my E Sax it was a godsend, being in a rented flat with miserable neighbours it was the only way I could play. Its so good that my missus could watch telly or hold a conversation in the same room... not silent at all, but a comfortable amount of volume.

For 10 to 25 quid the best you will get will be a thick towel 🙂))
 
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For the money i'd first try the Nation of music gismo, it removes the bass tones, the ones that carry through buildings rather than giving an overall silencing effect, and like he said when one of these kids drive past with the high powered stereo you only hear the bass tones nothing else, remove these and your sorted.
:thumb:
 
I can promise you that during the year I had my E Sax it was a godsend, being in a rented flat with miserable neighbours it was the only way I could play. Its so good that my missus could watch telly or hold a conversation in the same room... not silent at all, but a comfortable amount of volume.


For 10 to 25 quid the best you will get will be a thick towel 🙂))

Very very true...
No disrespect to anyone who's trying to get a deal with Jeremy - buy here really is a question of: you get what you pay for - I did a thorough research years ago and the e-Sax is the only one that really work - apart from an acoustically sealed mini booth which cost ££££ (is a bit like a phone box) else one can try to insulate your room (very expensive and laborious).
 
Ok, here's a cheap solution:

1) buy a secondhand wardrobe £40?
2) buy some acoustic tiles and stick them on the wardrobe £120?
3) get inside the wardrobe with your sax and play

Job done!! (I'm a genius)
 
Ok, here's a cheap solution:

1) buy a secondhand wardrobe £40?
2) buy some acoustic tiles and stick them on the wardrobe £120?
3) get inside the wardrobe with your sax and play

Job done!! (I'm a genius)
4) Saxer gets carried away
5) Wardrobe topples over landing face down on the doors
6) Saxer badly damages £8000 sba
7) After several days fire brigade get called by concerned neighbors as saxer hasn't been heard or seen (for several days)
8) a very deceased saxer is removed from house and later found to have choked on his own mouthpiece!

On the other hand you could just do as Taz recently did and find a quiet spot in the Forest somewere.....who said we have to practice behind closed doors?
 

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