I am not sure if a Cannonball is right for me. I am in the 9th grade
and play my sax everyday. I have a junky student one and am eager to
buy a new pro sax. I want to play the alto sax for the rest of my
life so this is an important decision. I have looked at Selmers and
Yanagisawas but they are so expensive. From reading about
Cannonballs online it sounds like they are really good. (Some pros
said online that it is about as good sounding as their Mark VI`s). Tell me, what have you heard about the CB`s and what do you think? Is it a sax that is worth the money? They are so good-looking saxes that I`m afraid I`ll be fooled by the look and not the quality results of sound! Any suggestions will help.

Thanks,
Matt

Ok, I would suggest not getting that saxophone, I have not heard much about it but I can tell you are going for prices, not quality. Bad move, save some more money and look on E-BAY for good saxophones. A good sax would be a Monique, a little less expensive than Yanigasawa`s and they play better as far as emission of notes and such go. They also have a good tone quality that Yani`s don`t get, as they are Japenese and too bright.

See, that`s where I completely disagree. Every saxophone review by anyone note-worthy that I`ve read, says that top of the line Yanagisawas are outdoing every single other saxophone ever, except for the really good, vintage Selmers. They are capable of better projection, better emission on all fronts, are better balanced, and are a perfect, all around, extremely versatile saxophone. I have yet to play on a better saxophone than my mid-upper T-990 Tenor Saxophone.

Thank you for exercising your 1st ammendment right, very good. I just feel that unless you want a japanesy tone, go for selmer or i have found a Monique saxophones incorporate the yanagisawa and selmer lines. I have played on a vintage mark IV form the late 50`s, it`s what "everyone" wants, and it was nice but not so great. I personally dislike Yanagisawa saxes because of their incredibly bright tone, so unless you want it, I would suggest something different. Because with a Yani, you are going to get a bright tone, and if you want it dark, then you`ve wasted your money on a Yani, but if you want it bright, then Yanagisawa is the best possible horn to get, you won`t be dissapointed by it. Though, STAY AWAY FROM KEILWORTH.

On a side note: I have played on many saxophones including a vintage selmer, Silscio`s yani, another yani, My Monique saxophone, A yamaha-62, and antiqua winds higher model. I can tell you I am personally happier with my Monique but the vintage selmer was nice too.

"Japanese tone"? Weird, I don`t know if I`ve ever heard that, before. Actually, my tone got slightly darker when switching to from my student-level Yamaha yts-23, and even darker when I switched mouthpieces. My tone isn`t especially bright, either. I got a brighter tone when I played your Monique. Not that brightness is a bad thing, and it wasn`t much of a difference between our two saxophone`s tones, most of the difference comes from change in mouthpiece etc gear. You know my saxophone teacher? He plays on all different types of saxophones~Keilworths, Yanagisawas, Selmers, even Vitos, and his tone is very consistent--because he played with the same moutpiece.

And I agree:

KEILWERTH = BAD

At least from what I`ve experienced of them...

I recently bought a new saxophone, a Yanagisawa A992, and its the best thing on the market (under yana`s solid silver "bently of all saxophone" saxophone line) as far as I`m concerned. Its said to be very similar to a vintage Mk VI and I can`t disagree.

Enough about me. Now that you know about my saxophone, let me tell you that I spent 2 hours in the pro room at my dealer doing the "dueling saxophone" bit with my A992 and a Nickle-black laquored Cannonball Big Bell Global. If I was made of money I would`ve bought both, for sure. It was so hard to leave that saxophone at the store, it was so sweet.

Hope I helped, knowing that I would definitly reccomend a Cannonball. In case you didn`t know who cannonball is, its Selmer`s old custom company. Selmer wouldn`t let them do everything they wanted, so they said CYA and formed their own company, Cannonball. Sounds like a good setup to me, the company is rather new and as far as I know has rave reviews.

Wow...A992...one of the best alto saxophones available~ever.

Yanagisawa`s are renoun for the japanesy bright tone, that`s what they`re famous for....My saxophone produces a dark tone, but it really is all in the mouth....not mouthpiece, but the way you form your mouth....gear only goes so far....i know my tone is dark and moody because i have a looser embochure with a tough bite....i almost bit through my last mouthpiece. I had on of the darkest tones i`ve ever heard on a claude lakey rubber. and those guys are BRIGHT! it was because of my embochure and oral cavity.

I have never heard anywhere else that Yanagisawas have a bright, "Japanesy" tone. Please post the information or source that you got it from.

The sax guy for music works northwest talked to me about it, I feel the same way and so do many other people I have talked to I.E. Grijalva and other intelligent people, i could find a review that i read but i don`t feel the need.

Odd, because my saxophone doesn`t have a brighter tone than my yamaha or Voss(the beast). Mine must be an exception, according to you. It did have a brighter tone than that Keilwerth I tried when I was buying my saxophone~but Keilwerths are really dark and gross. I think about every saxophone is brighter than a Keilwerth.

You have a really bright tone, it`s gotten darker but it`s because you CHOSE to make it darker, yani`s are bright, that`s a fact. If you play one you don`t have to have a bright tone...it`s your choice.

I am a High School Band Director. I want you all to know that Cannonball has changed my saxophone section for the better. I teach at a scale high school where many of the students can afford yamaha customs and selmer mark VI`s. I am also a trained saxophonist. This year at my school I had four of my five saxophonists in my jazz band playing on cannonball Big Bells. The change from previous years was astounding. The fullness and volume of my section was huge. In the concert band setting (using the appropriate mouthpiece of course) they were warm, resonant.

I can not say enough. If you are a student looking for a horn you should definately get a Cannonball Big Bell. They aren`t expensive either. You could buy two for the price of a Yamaha. I own a Selmer Mark VI and a good one at that. The Cannonball I played (my student`s unlaquered version) BLEW IT AWAY!! It wasn`t even close. The only student who was not playing a cannonball in my section was playing a Yamaha custom Z alto. I was able to play it. I can say that the cannonball was richer, had more soul, and played with better intonation than the Z. The Yamaha had terrible pitch problems in the upper register and was stuffy down low. The Cannonball could be felt all the way down the horn. The pitch was excellent. I couldn`t push the pitch at all.

I am selling my mark VI if anyone is interested. I`m buying two Cannonballs.