Opinion on L.A. Sax????

[Rcat]

Has anyone here had any experiences with any of the L.A. Sax line. I found them on the web - I'm looking for reputation and quality. Are they suitable for jazz/ rock? Generally - what type of sound do they produce - dark/full or bright? http://www.lasax.com :?:

[Dave dix]

LASAX is a taiwanese horn. A bit thin sounding and not a great feel to them but ok on price. If price is a problem go for a better class sax secondhand as the lasax range is for students (a good excuse to offload cheap saxes and if you complain they say its a student horn).

[Rcat]

Thanks Dave for the input - I've only seen one alto. But didn't play it. I think it was an 800 series which is claimed to be a "professional model".

[UOPJohnny]

LA Sax isn't as bad as most people think they are. The problem is, when the horn is set up in the shop, they do a pretty shoddy job. I have a friend who purchased one of their horns, a tenor actually, and had it overhauled before he put any serious time onto it. He let me play it, and it was actually a pretty decent horn! I'd say comperable to a Yamaha 62 Tenor. It was LA Sax's premium "professional" model.

Pretty fat in body, sort of on the bright/edgy side, but not annoyingly so. Nothing you couldn't correct with a mouthpiece that was on the darker side, anyhow.

BTW, when I played this horn, I used both a Selmer S80 D and a Dave Guardala Studio mpc. The sound was very nice with the S80, but way too edgy with the Studio piece.

[UOPJohnny]

LA Sax isn't as bad as most people think they are. The problem is, when the horn is set up in the shop, they do a pretty shoddy job. I have a friend who purchased one of their horns, a tenor actually, and had it overhauled before he put any serious time onto it. He let me play it, and it was actually a pretty decent horn! I'd say comperable to a Yamaha 62 Tenor. It was LA Sax's premium "professional" model.

Pretty fat in body, sort of on the bright/edgy side, but not annoyingly so. Nothing you couldn't correct with a mouthpiece that was on the darker side, anyhow.

BTW, when I played this horn, I used both a Selmer S80 D and a Dave Guardala Studio mpc. The sound was very nice with the S80, but way too edgy with the Studio piece.

[michaelbaird]

The Tiawanese Horns don't have enough metal on them and the keys bend easily. If you are an abusive player like myself, they won't last.

[Ten62]

I heard that the professional models such as the one Richard Elliot uses are actually manufactured in Southern California. He certainly gets a distinctive sound out of his. If what you say about easily bent keys is true, then I wonder what Richard does because he certainly "slapped" those keys when I saw him in concert.

[Stencilman]

It is difficult to rate the Taiwanese-made horns like Jupiter, L.A Sax and Canonball because they've changed over the years. For instance, the Canonball Knight model horns are nothing like the Big Bell model. I lot of folks have tried older Canonballs and concluded that all Canonballs are junk.

The same might be true of the L.A. Sax horns. I believe that L.A. Sax has had different suppliers over the years and that their latest saxes are much better than the older ones. I haven't had experience with their newer horns, I'm only going on what a friend that has a new one told me.

[michaelbaird]

When I bought my CB soprano I was excited and thought I had gotten the best deal for the money. I took the soprano everywhere. It just started falling apart. My repairman who repairs instruments for McGavock HS and several of the pros in town asked "You've been playing this thing?" It had leaks everywhere and the keys were bent. I've gone years without getting my selmer repaired. I couldn't trust the pitch in the upper ranges of the horn. Then there was trying to sell it. I traded the soprano and alto at a significant loss from the dealer who was dealing in CBs. They stopped selling them, started sponsoring Yamaha (which at the time for me was cost prohibitive) and the started selling their own horns (Birds) which looked like the CBs. I thought the sound on them was very thin. It gave me a very bad taste. I felt like I'd been ripped off and fell for a bunch of sales hype. So human nature dictated that I lump all the Asian horns together. I don't mean to be cynical and abrasive about this. When the Yamahas came on the scene I thought they were good horns and a good alternative. Why can't they all be worth what you pay. I would love to see them improve. I like the action and ergonomic feel to the scale. They look cool. Look at the quality of a selmer, keilwerth, yahmaha. The asian horns need to be of the same quality out of repect for those that have gone before them so eloquently.

[Joe Jazz]

Richard sounded much better on his Yamaha. He sounds thin and wimpy on his LASAX. I heard/saw him with Steve Cole in the guitar & saxes tour a little while ago. Steve's Selmer blew him away with it's deep rich tone! It's a shame really, but I'd much rather listen to my old Richard Elliot cd's when he sounded great! I've seen him in concert many times but not as often since he made the switch....

[Ten62]

Joe,

I saw the same concert. I agree that Steve's sound absolutely blew Richard's away. Steve has a great sound. Richard's was somewhat grating at times. Just out of curiosity, which Yamaha did Richard play before?

[Joe Jazz]

I believe he played a 62 if I remember right.....