Hi friends,I dont know much about the other types of sax since I`ve been playing alto sax for the past few years.

And I may be going to be in a orchestra of a university, so I now need a TENOR sax ,which could give me a classical sound yet not lackin the element of a popular tone(I wanna play some Jazz maybe rock ,too ).I`m considerin to solve this by using different mouthpieces . But I really don`t have idea.

Which Brand and which model should I buy ? under 4000$ is available include the mouthpieces if necessary .

The top brands are Selmer, Yamaha, and Keilworth. Is that what you wanted? there are more good brands, but these are the best. (usually)

Thanx Wildband .

What`s the tone like ? for different brands?

I`ve tried a Yamaha mouthpiece ,I can`t remember the model,but I felt alright except one thing:you could hardly make it louder , the sound is going to "burst" when I tried a higher level.

and what are the differences among so many models in each Brand ?

From my experiance, I can say that I like Selmer mouthpieces more; they add more sound, depth, and a improvment in tone. (my facing is a C*, the all around one)
The Selmers today are good, but I think i`d have to say that Yamaha is better than the new ones, at least the 875 models, which are a pleasure to play. But, if you ever, find a old selmer mark VI, from the fifties to the sixties, I personaly think those are the best horns in the world. Just absolutly perfect to play. I`ve heard many good things about kielworth, but havn`t played one before. If I didn;t help much, or you have more questions, please ask or tell me.

Thanx ~ wildband .

I don`t think I`m able to find a saxophone from the old days .... I need a horn that could give either classical tone or a tone for jazz & rock maybe~ by using different mouthpieces. So is there something flexible like what I said ? maybe I`m too hard to handle ....

BTW, what kind of music is Tenor Sax used for , the most oftenly?

Uh~ I`ve got a question : it said here are 8 replies ,but I only find 5 ~ what`s wrong ?~......

Selmer(french made, Selmer took over after world war I the factory od Adolphe Sax, which was the inventor of the saxes) is sure the best in the world, Keilwerth (german made)is not bad, there is two other european manufacturers in western Europe Borgani (Italy) and Rampone&Cazzani (Italy), plus Amati in Czehc Republic.
In Asia Yamaha (Japan) and Yanashigawa (Japan), Jupiter (Taïwan), Jin Yin (China), Hakamdin (Pakistan)
There is some american manufacturers like L.A.Sax, Oleg
But all others brands are imported ones, mainly from Taïwan, where the City of Housi is manufacturing only saxes and only private branding

Well, the reply thing is always messed up, can`t tell you why though. Tenor saxes can be used for anything; jazz, classical, rock. In high school, all instruments have the same type of music; tenor is usualy bass, alto counter-melody, melody (though ofton drowned out by brass) and bass line accompenment. However, on the profensonal level, anything is used for basicly anything, depending on what tone you want. For a sax that can play anything, I can`t really help. I mean, I use a Mark VI, and a selmer s80 C* (something like that), and use my mouth to change the tone from whatever to whatever. So... at this point, from my experiance, I would say to go out and find a Yamaha, Selmer, and Kielworth; maybe some others, and try them out, and pick your favorite. Do you need any help regarding mouthpieces? Hope it helps

Thanx a lot,JJPages .You really know a lot of manufacturers. And also for Wildband, your advices are really appriciated .

Now there`s still one thing I wanna know: how much difference will the different MOUTHPIECEs bring to the tone on the same Saxophone ?

I wounder if I can use just ONE saxe for both jazz and classical musice ... with two different mouthpieces ? is that possible ?

I use a Yanagisawa T901 tenor that sounds and plays beautifully. I used to play a Yamaha which was very nice too. I felt that I was getting a better deal with the Yanagisawa, when you compared price and sound. When I play classical I use a selmer C* and for jazz i use a Otto Link metal mouthpice 5* with a strong reed. This seems to work for me, but some people prefer using a more open mouthpiece with a softer reed, it will all matter on personal preferece though. Your best bet is to test different combinations.

About mouthpieces it is really different from one to the other I used to play at first with a Selmer S90 C* hard ruber, then I switch on an Otto Link 5* hard rubber and I cannot go back to the Selmer anymore, I use rather weak reeds (Rico Select Jazz 2 hard) but I ordered an Otto Link 5* metal to have a more agressive sound in jazz

for clasical music go with a yanagisawa 902 or 992, they are the bronze series of the yanagisawa, and are the best sax`s ive ever played, i own a 991B and use it for jazz, but with a dark mpc it would have a good classical sound, the bronze series are mostly used for classical music. hope i helped

Really thank you ~

And yaniman , you said that the bronze ones are for Classic ~ But what for a Jazz tone ?~ The Silver ones ?~

is this theory correct in ALTO saxes ?

P.s. From you name,it seems you are fond of Yanigisawa so much ? One of my classmates from Japan told me , "Yanigisawa" means "rice paddy" in Japanese, intersting....

you could use either the standard finnish, black laquer, or silver in jazz. but i`m pretty sure the bronze series was desigend for classical, which doesnt mean thats their only use. if you wanted a more rounded horn, you could get the a standard finnsih, and use diffrent mouthpieces. from my experiance, silver has a brighter sound, bronze has a darker. im not exactly sure where the black laquer finnish would fit in there, but i really liked the sound. and the gold laquer finnsih should be somwere in the middle. if i am wrong could someone correct me, but i dont think i am.

I don`t think black laquers affect the tone much. Some think it might make the sax sound darker, but thats probably because the laquer is black. Depends what`s under the black?