Hello I am High school Student Currently playing tenor saxophone in our high school jazz band
Im not the best player in the class but im working on it
im planing on purchasing a tenor after the summer is over and i wondered if anyone could give me some suggestion on what they prefer New used.
im not looking to spend over $3000 dollars
Mitchell Payne
Mitchell Payne said:
Hello I am High school Student Currently playing tenor saxophone in our high school jazz band
Im not the best player in the class but im working on it
im planing on purchasing a tenor after the summer is over and i wondered if anyone could give me some suggestion on what they prefer New used.
im not looking to spend over $3000 dollars
Mitchell Payne
Hi Mitchell, I'm a Middle Schooler, and about two months ago, I was asking the same question. There are a lot of good horns out there your budget can handle. What ever you've been looking at, I'd suggest adding these two brands in your search,... Phil Barone and Cannonball.
I've owed the Phil Barone Vintage Alto for about two years now and it's an awesome horn for the price. It's a big bore alto so it's got a kinda spread sound to it,... some say like the JK horns. Barone has a Classic version of this horn that has a smaller bore to it and lots of people say it sounds more like a Yamaha or a Selmer,... brighter and more focused. I still haven't figured out all that spread vs focused mumbo-jumbo stuff yet, but I think I'm with how different Selmers and JKs sound since I hear them in Wind Orchestra at school all the time. I've had to have the Barone horn serviced for leaks maybe twice since I've owned it, and it's gone through one kinda serious drop. But a visit to the horn doc and that was all taken care of and it plays just as nice now as it did when my parents first bought it for me. The Phil Barone horn come with a mad mouthpiece. It's one of Phil Barone's HR custom New York mouthpieces, I requested his NY7M piece with my alto, and man did that thing sing. The NY is not one of his flag ship pieces, but it's way better than any stock piece you'd get with any other horn. Put it like this, it pounds any brand new Meyer and most new Otto Links you'd be buying off the shelf say like at WWBW!
I just got my Cannonball Big Bell Brute (tenor) around the beginning of June, and not only does it sound great, man that thing is built like a tank. Extra braces all over the place man. And it looks great. It's got that 'Done Talkin' look to it,... class but not chessy or bling. I also like the way Cannonball supports you too. Unlike Barone horns, you gotta buy new Cannonball horns from a dealer, but you get a couple visits with the purchase. I've used two of my three free visits already for some adjustments and to clean off some tone hole burs that were causing some leaks. Man, it's just a sweet tenor all way round. Plus, there are a few members here who could tell you a little more about the Cannonball horns,... the best MySaxTalk member to talk to is Mr. Rob Rose. He's got all three,... the Brute alto, the Brute tenor, AND the Brute bari. He a great guy and will take time to answer your questions. He answered all my questions, and I now know some of them were pretty stupid questions. But he answered them without letting me know I was stuck on stupid. I found that out later on my own. LOL! The Cannonball comes with a stock 5* piece that a lot of people say is a Morgan copy,... not really sure about the Morgan thing, but that's what I've read and heard tho. You can request a 7* tip when you buy the horn,... at least I was asked if which one I wanted. Now don't get me wrong, for a stock piece, the Cannonball ain't as bad as most stock pieces you'll find in this price range. Of course if you're talkin' Yani or Selmer, then that's a different story,... but the you'd be talkin' a different story when it comes to budget too!
I can really say too much about Vintage horns,... I ain't got no experienced with those. None! But I'm sure some of the guys here can tell you anything you'd wanna know about Vintage horns like Bueschers and H-Coufs and the like!
Oh wait,... don't let me forget to throw these names in too,... the RS Berkeley Virtuoso and the Buffett Crampon Super Dynaction. Can't say very much about them other than two instructors at Peabody Prep play them and they sound great. Professor Russell Kirk (http://www.facebook.com/russell.kirk.986) plays a Buffet and Professor Benny Russell (http://www.facebook.com/benny.russell1?ref=ts) plays a Berkeley. Then again, they're both beasts and could prolly anything sound awesome. I'm sure they'd be glad to answer any questions you may have about those two horns. Just go to their wall and throw an inquiry or two at'em. I actually sat beside Prof. Kirk and shared a sheet with him during our Spring Concert and got a chance to hear that Buffet in action,... nice! http://mysaxtalk.com/albums/view/1413
I've also put up some pics of my Barone Alto and my Cannonball Brute tenor in my album section http://mysaxtalk.com/profile/2882. They're not the best shots, but they can add to the images you'll see on some of the Barone and Cannonball website. If you wanna hear me play either of these two horns you can check out some of my practices http://www.youtube.com/user/EricJrSax?feature=guide. But just do a YouTube search and you'll run across some real musicians tasking the Cannonball and Barone horns. Here's one to get you started http://www.youtube.com/user/legitalto. This is MySaxTalk member Mr. Rob Rose (legitalto) I was telling you about above. Now he's legit,... not just on the alto, but on the tenor and bari as well.
Good luck in your search bro!
Mitchell Payne said:
Hello I am High school Student Currently playing tenor saxophone in our high school jazz band
Im not the best player in the class but im working on it
im planing on purchasing a tenor after the summer is over and i wondered if anyone could give me some suggestion on what they prefer New used.
im not looking to spend over $3000 dollars
Mitchell Payne