Slowly gearing up for my tenor quest...

[TomMapfumo]

Agree about Yani's so far, in my experience, but starting to get somewhere with my quest for a decent sound, just about there, and quite excited today. Still Alto is my main, but enjoying the Tenor much more.

John Packer should be a good experience. I have had contact with their brass department, and they are very helpful and knowledgeable, and also on my side of the UK, "which is nice!"
Good Luck!

Tom 8)

 

[greg_strange]

Pete Canter wrote:- Re choice of tenor, do try a Mauriat 66R. I really rate mine and have sold my Reference 54.

Pete's the second person I have read about in the last couple of weeks who has sold their Ref. 54 tenor in favour of a Mauriat tenor- what's that about? I thought the Ref. 54 horns were the greatest thing since the Mark 6 instruments.

Regards,
Greg Strange.

 

[daveysaxboy]

I sold my Mauriat 66R and got my Yam 82Z,the 66R are monster sax's and have a big fat tonal core i still think they are the biss but i enjoy my Z a little bit more and find it more of a all round horn,as with the top horn's there all great but it's what you want at that time that count's.I got a 1970's yam 21 alto with a new Yam G1 neck on it and it's a dream of a horn,the word's it sing's is not enough to describe it,it will out play most top horn's.

 

[pete_canter]

For me the 66R is just effortless to blow, and more even across the whole range of the sax, and yes has a great sound at the bottom end. What the Reference 54 had was an exquisite subtone which was great for playing at low volumes on wine bar gigs and similar. However much of my playing is full on hardbop & latin jazz with a quartet or quintet, and after a few days playing the 66R, it was too much of a leap back to the Selmer. You may remember my original thread on this site about looking for a back up tenor - well it's going to be finally solved this week with a second 66R!! The only decision to be made is whether the second one will be the unlaquered model or another fake antique job (a better fake job than the reference 54 too!). I have heard Andy Sheppard play both - IMHO he sounded better on the one with lacquer. I asked him about his tenor mpc - he says he found it in a bargain basket in NYC and doesn't know the manufacturer - either that or he's just not telling!!

 

[Chris98]

david keighley wrote:
Hi, i got my 82Z goldlacquer tenor from SAXHIRE,check the site out ,you can get one there for ?1859.00 and that's a great deal,you wont find better than that,free neotech sling,tuner and other bit's and a great service.The Z's are fantastic horn's,very flexible,i find the Yani's are to tame compared to the Z. 😉

Hi David,

Thanks for the heads up about ?Saxhire?, I?ve not come across them before and that does seem a good deal on the Z.

Lockjaw wrote:
I'm probably biased, I always loved my Yammie altos. But when I wanted a tenor I tried them all. I just found the Yanis a bit flimsy, the actions didn't feel solid at all. So please try the Yamahas, I like the 62s. But at the end of the day, it's personal preference.

Good luck, I hope you find your dream horn.

Simon

Hi Simon,

I think you must be the first person I know of to say that you found a Yanigisawa to be a bit flimsy, usually I see a lot of praise for the build quality. Having said that Stephen Howard tested the keywork on a Yanagisawa and a Chinese copy and found the keywork on the Yani to be softer.

The Yamaha 62 will definitely be on the list. This list, which I was expecting to be quite small is now actually getting quite big, maybe it really will be a whole day at Sax.co.uk.

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

TomMapfumo wrote:
Agree about Yani's so far, in my experience, but starting to get somewhere with my quest for a decent sound, just about there, and quite excited today. Still Alto is my main, but enjoying the Tenor much more.

John Packer should be a good experience. I have had contact with their brass department, and they are very helpful and knowledgeable, and also on my side of the UK, "which is nice!"
Good Luck!

Tom 8)

Hi Tom,

John Packer were very good last time I popped in, if you?re in the area I?d certainly say they are worth a visit. It was nice not to be harassed by sales staff and they were very knowledgeable and happy to answer any questions I had.

I was watching with interest your endeavors to find the right mouthpiece on SOTW, glad to hear you?re a step closer but a pity you chose to pull your T55 form the yard sale.

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

nosaxyet wrote:
I've. Just been through a similar exercise to get a new tenor and mouthpiece and it was a challenge!

In my case I had pretty much decided on the P.Mauriat PMXT 66 RUL after hearing Andy Sheppard play his - not that I sound like him - must be that he uses a different mouthpiece or something.

Sax.co.UK were very helpful and so was Jonathan Myall though the latter didn't have as much choice.

Biggest issue for me was deciding on a mouthpiece and not being able to try out a 6*,7 and 7* of the same mouthiece anywhere but I managed in the end.

I can recommend trying the Mauriat.

Hi Ian,

Another happy Mauriat owner, I guess they must be doing quite a lot of things right, I?ll be sure to try a few out. It?s looking like the 66R is the most popular. In all honesty I?ve not really tried to work out their model numbers but it seems there are so many different versions it?s hard to work out the differences between them.

david keighley wrote:
I sold my Mauriat 66R and got my Yam 82Z,the 66R are monster sax's and have a big fat tonal core i still think they are the biss but i enjoy my Z a little bit more and find it more of a all round horn,as with the top horn's there all great but it's what you want at that time that count's.I got a 1970's yam 21 alto with a new Yam G1 neck on it and it's a dream of a horn,the word's it sing's is not enough to describe it,it will out play most top horn's.

Hi David,

This just goes to show how subjective this whole thing is, probably if there was only Selmer and Yamaha and at the same price, people would just get the one that helps them achieve the sound they have in their heads. But now we have every flavour in between and some that claim to offer the same for less.

Good to hear that you?re happy with your Z.

Greg Strange wrote:

Pete Canter wrote:- Re choice of tenor, do try a Mauriat 66R. I really rate mine and have sold my Reference 54.

Pete's the second person I have read about in the last couple of weeks who has sold their Ref. 54 tenor in favour of a Mauriat tenor- what's that about? I thought the Ref. 54 horns were the greatest thing since the Mark 6 instruments.

Regards,
Greg Strange.

Hi Greg,

I?m surprised too to hear people are selling their Ref. 54 for a Mauriat, I assumed both are excellent saxophones and maybe some people would prefer to take a Mauriat out to gigs as it?s less valuable and leave the Ref at home. There must be something very appealing about the Mauriat if people are giving up their Ref. 54s.

Pete Canter wrote:
For me the 66R is just effortless to blow, and more even across the whole range of the sax, and yes has a great sound at the bottom end. What the Reference 54 had was an exquisite subtone which was great for playing at low volumes on wine bar gigs and similar. However much of my playing is full on hardbop & latin jazz with a quartet or quintet, and after a few days playing the 66R, it was too much of a leap back to the Selmer. You may remember my original thread on this site about looking for a back up tenor - well it's going to be finally solved this week with a second 66R!! The only decision to be made is whether the second one will be the unlaquered model or another fake antique job (a better fake job than the reference 54 too!). I have heard Andy Sheppard play both - IMHO he sounded better on the one with lacquer. I asked him about his tenor mpc - he says he found it in a bargain basket in NYC and doesn't know the manufacturer - either that or he's just not telling!!

Hi Pete,

A second 66R! There really can?t be doubt in your mind that the 66R is the right tenor for you then.

All the best,

Chris

 

[TomMapfumo]

If I was choosing again (may still, do, who knows!) I would want to test a Mauriat, a BauhausWalstein, a Selmer SII and a Rampone & Cazzani, and take it from there.

kind regards
Tom 8)

 

[daveysaxboy]

Hi again, seen you might try a Yam 62 out well on SAXHIRE site they are ?1299.00 compared to ?1703.01 at sax.co so that's a mega saving so shop about . 😛

 

[nosaxyet]

Chris98 wrote:


Hi Ian,

Another happy Mauriat owner, I guess they must be doing quite a lot of things right, I?ll be sure to try a few out. It?s looking like the 66R is the most popular. In all honesty I?ve not really tried to work out their model numbers but it seems there are so many different versions it?s hard to work out the differences between them.

All the best,

Chris

Chris

The Mauriat range is vast, they have 7 or 8 tenor models and various finishes in most of these. I think you will find that there is little difference in the tone with the various lacquers/finished but maybe more so between the models - or maybe not!

Best to get somewhere like sax.co,uk and try a few out.

 

[Chris98]

TomMapfumo wrote:
If I was choosing again (may still, do, who knows!) I would want to test a Mauriat, a BauhausWalstein, a Selmer SII and a Rampone & Cazzani, and take it from there.

kind regards
Tom 8)

Hi Tom,

My list is getting longer by the minute! Rampone & Cazzani, there was a thread about them a few days ago if I remember rightly, not a make a know anything about but I'll do a bit of digging around. Selmer SII, again I've not paid much attention to them, probably because of the price and that the Ref. series gets all the lime light. And I'd not forgotten the Bauhaus Walstein. So much potential choice

Thanks for your help,

Chris

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Chris!

Pete rates the R&C Alto very highly!

Tom 8)

 

[Chris98]

david keighley wrote:
Hi again, seen you might try a Yam 62 out well on SAXHIRE site they are ?1299.00 compared to ?1703.01 at sax.co so that's a mega saving so shop about . 😛

Hi David,

I know if you shop around you can pick up some great deals, and I'd probably take full advantage of it if I knew the right sax for me with out needing to try them out. But I'd just not feel right if having spent several hours or more testing saxes and taking up the staff's time , if I then went and bought it cheaper elsewhere. ?400 though is quite a difference, more that I'd expect...

...I've just looked at sax.co.uk has the prices of Yamaha's gone up? the 62 is now in the Yanigasawa 991 price range, well sort of.

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

TomMapfumo wrote:
Hi Chris!

Pete rates the R&C Alto very highly!

Tom 8)

Tom,

Your not helping 😉 I've now got to go and have a look at their website, these are the hand made Italian saxes aren't they? I don't like the direction this is going

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

nosaxyet wrote:

Chris

The Mauriat range is vast, they have 7 or 8 tenor models and various finishes in most of these. I think you will find that there is little difference in the tone with the various lacquers/finished but maybe more so between the models - or maybe not!

Best to get somewhere like sax.co,uk and try a few out.

Hi Ian,

I'll take a wander over to their website and have a look, but I think you?re right, the best thing is to go somewhere that has a good range and knowledgeable staff and try a few.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but I seem to remember that Mauriat were promoting vintage American and French 'toned' versions of the same models, the American having the rolled tone holes. It seems odd that all the stories you hear about people swapping their Mk6 for a Mauriat go for the rolled tone holes versions i.e. the American vintage sound.

All the best,

Chris

 

[nosaxyet]

Chris98 wrote:

Hi Ian,

I'll take a wander over to their website and have a look, but I think you?re right, the best thing is to go somewhere that has a good range and knowledgeable staff and try a few.

I may have got the wrong end of the stick, but I seem to remember that Mauriat were promoting vintage American and French 'toned' versions of the same models, the American having the rolled tone holes. It seems odd that all the stories you hear about people swapping their Mk6 for a Mauriat go for the rolled tone holes versions i.e. the American vintage sound.

All the best,

Chris

Fair point. I guess some of the endorsees are 'paid' by Mauriat and much as I respect guys like Andy Sheppard, I had dinner with him a few weeks ago - he does get paid to like them though I don't suppose he'd put up with using them if he was not impressed enough with the sound quality.

I believe he uses the PMXT 66R for most of his tenor work at the moment though interestingly he said he much prefers his Mk6 Soprano and uses that rather than use a Mauriat.

You made an interesting point earlier about buying from shops that provide assistance rather than shopping around for the cheapest and I think that is always a good attitude to adopt even if it costs a little more. Otherwise these 'helpful' places disappear.

We have no decent photographic specialists anywhere close to where I live anymore and you can't always get the same help online. Especially important to support these guys in a tough economic climate to.

 

[TomMapfumo]

What about a Bauhaus Walstein Curved Soprano instead? 😛
Oh, sorry, I'm not really helping.

If you buy the Walstein Tenor you would have ?800 left over, so could get a Theo Wanne AND a Phil Barone mouthpiece, and even get some Francois Louis reeds to boot.

if I was spending that sort of money again I would be sorely tempted with this option. (here I am using the Linn/Naim philosophy of spending most on the front end of a hi-fi system (hence my turntable/arm/cartridge is worth more than my ref54 - and sounds better also!)

Go on. You know you want to!
😛

Kind regards
Tom 8)

 

[jonf]

Chris98 wrote:

Having said that Stephen Howard tested the keywork on a Yanagisawa and a Chinese copy and found the keywork on the Yani to be softer.


Chris

I read that on Stephen's excellent website. I wouldn't want to doubt what he found, but I can say with absolute certainty that the keywork on my Walstein is nowhere near as strong as that on my Yanagisawa. Whilst the Walstein is fantastic for what it is, and brilliant value, having owned both brands for a while, in my opinion there is no way the Walstein is comparable in quality to the Yanagisawa.

 

[Chris98]

TomMapfumo wrote:
What about a Bauhaus Walstein Curved Soprano instead? 😛
Oh, sorry, I'm not really helping.

If you buy the Walstein Tenor you would have ?800 left over, so could get a Theo Wanne AND a Phil Barone mouthpiece, and even get some Francois Louis reeds to boot.

if I was spending that sort of money again I would be sorely tempted with this option. (here I am using the Linn/Naim philosophy of spending most on the front end of a hi-fi system (hence my turntable/arm/cartridge is worth more than my ref54 - and sounds better also!)

Go on. You know you want to!
😛

Kind regards
Tom 8)

Hi Tom,

The Rampone & Cazzani certainly look nice but have a hefty price to match, although probably a reasonable price when you consider they are hand made.

I see a slight problem with your 'HiFi' analogy and putting the majority of the money on the source player, because really the source is, well, you! So really you should spend half the budget on yourself, half of what's left on the reed, then the mouthpiece and finally the sax! Now with HiFi we mustn't forget the important role of the cables, so that would be the sling I'd guess for the sax

All the best,

Chris

 

[Chris98]

JonF wrote:

Chris98 wrote:

Having said that Stephen Howard tested the keywork on a Yanagisawa and a Chinese copy and found the keywork on the Yani to be softer.


Chris

I read that on Stephen's excellent website. I wouldn't want to doubt what he found, but I can say with absolute certainty that the keywork on my Walstein is nowhere near as strong as that on my Yanagisawa. Whilst the Walstein is fantastic for what it is, and brilliant value, having owned both brands for a while, in my opinion there is no way the Walstein is comparable in quality to the Yanagisawa.

Hi JonF,

That's really good to know, the thought that the Yanagisawa had soft keywork would be a slight cause for concern if I found myself edging that way. I would guess in normal use no one is likely to bend the keywork of any make of sax, that would, I presume, take quite a bit of doing.

All the best,

Chris