Yani 991

[RS]

Has anyone played one of these? I'm looking to get a low A horn and have narrowed it down to the Selmer Series II and the Yani 991. The last time I played a Yani bari was about fifteen years ago and I don't remember what model it was. I just remember it being stuffy and dull sounding next to a Selmer I tried out. But alot can change in fifteen years. If the current Yanis can hold their own with the Selmers in the sound department then they might be the way to go as they're a good bit less expensive than the Selmers and they have some structural advantages such as the double arms on low C and below. A durable workhorse bari that can compete with Selmer in the sound department might be just the ticket.

[singlereed]

Its a good horn. I use the 901, its lower budget sister, and it is a fantastic horn. I have had it two years and had no cause to adjust anything. It sounds great, has good intonation and is well-made. I'd love to have the 991, being a bit more solidly built than mine. If I were shopping for new baris, I would also look at Yamaha and Keilwerth.

[RS]

I was looking at the 901 too (in catalogues and on internet sites) and it looks like alot of horn for the money. Yamaha might be worth a look too but I had a Yamaha Custom soprano a while back that I became unhappy with. It had a bland and boring sound (to my ears) and some awkward keywork, particularly the left hand table. So I traded it for a curved Yani sop which I'm pretty happy with. Of course, the Yamaha bari could be a different story from the sop. The Keilworth looks like a good prospect but is more expensive than the Yani 991--about in the same range as the Selmer.

[Gandalfe]

Is there any chance you could play test some of these horns before you buy? Tried but true is the observation by many on SOTW, ya ain't gonna be happy if you plunk down money on a horn that you don't really like.

[RS]

Oh, I'll definitely play test at least one each of my potential choices. But if my local store (a well known store here in the D.C. area) doesn't have the Yani (they should at least have the Selmer) then I would be forced to either go mail-order (probably WW/BW) or drive up to USA Horn (they show the Yani on their web-site) in order to try one. That's why I'm seeking opinions on the 991. If everything I hear is positive then I figure it might be worth my while to drive up to Jersey or go through the hassle of mail-order.

[RS]

I just talked to my local music store (Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center) and like I figured they had the Selmer in stock but not the Yani. Said it'll take about six weeks to get the Yani in. So I might make the drive to Jersey (USA Horn) if I don't want to wait. I would really like to compare the Yani to the Selmer. USA Horn's prices are pretty good. They're about $300 over Chuck Levin's price on the Selmer and about $100 under on the Yani. Pretty reasonable prices from both dealers. I'll probably just wait until Chuck Levin's gets the Yani in so I don't have to hassle with the Jersey Turnpike. In the meantime I'd still like to hear some more opinions of the Yani 991 (and the Selmer Series II for that matter). It would seem that not alot of the bari players around here play the Yanis (or any of the modern horns). I figured I would have had more responses by now.

[baribri]

I play bari for many of the "ghost" bands, I do show and horn sections. I've been using my Yani 991 for about 5 years. The first week I tried it I sold my Mark VI low A bari after having it for many many years, I just couldn't believe how good the yani 991 played and felt and my opinion over the years has just grown firmer. Mechanically it is wonderful, ergonomically it feels great and natural in my hands. I get a great sound from it with both my Lamberson and my Lawton mouthpieces and I have yet to play any bari that I like as well, with the exception of the new Yani 992 and no I don't work for Yani or any other sax company any longer.
Brian

[top_gun25]

i have played a yani 991! in HIGH SCHOOL it was A SCHOOL HORN! SOOO COOL! :D I LOVE IT SOOO MUCH it is my baby like my vito alto. same company. i use it for MB and JAZZ too. IT is VERY RELIABLE and sturdy. nice sound. good tone. nice key motion.(fluid movement-not jekey) Very nice engraved BELL. so sweet!
i love my YANI
YANI YANI YANI YANI YANI.....
ok enough cheering. it is a great horn solid, surdy,easy to play, good to work on, Nice horn, Great horn, good sound GREAT horn, nice detal, GREAT HORN, good all around instrument, did i say GREAT HORN?

[RS]

Brian--I was just about to head over to Chuck Levin's to try out the Selmer II when I read your post. You've convinced me that I have got to try the Yani before I make any decision. So I called USA Horn to see if they have any in stock. And no luck. They have a couple 901s but no 991. They said they should get a 992 (the bronze model) in a few days and that seems like an interesting horn but I'm a little leery of the bronze. I wonder if it would have the cut and power of the brass (it's also a good bit more expensive). You mentioned that you have played a bronze. Do you think it equals the brass in the power and cut department? For the big band and jump blues stuff I play I need alot of cut (my low Bb VIs are both strong in this regard). I hate to have to wait six weeks to try a brass but I don't want to make the drive up the turnpike only to find out that the bronze doesn't give me the power I'm looking for. But I guess I should just wait until I can try the brass. Waiting is a drag once I get into purchase mode. But I'll try to de-compress and put it out of my mind. Anyway, one last question--is the case of your 991 the traditionally shaped bari case, i.e. tapered at the end where the bow rests? This is not a big deal but the rectangular cases I have seen with some baris won't fit on the cart I use to lug my horns around (I usually carry around some doubles and the cart saves wear and tear on my aging back and shoulders).

[baribri]

Hi,
let me try to answer some of your questions as well as I can,
first the horn itself, I only said the 992 because I did try one and thought it had something extra going for it but I don't know if I would spend the extra $1000.00 or so myself. I did neglect to mention that I did replace my original Yani neck with a new Selmer bronze neck and it really contributed a lot of color to my sound. I firmly believe the power you speak of is actually achieve more via your mouthpiece and reed set up not the horn itself for the most part. The guy who owned the one I tried is in a pretty well known R&B horn section and I was on tenor that night and he was cutting as well as I do on bari and I am known for a big robust sound.
As to having to wait, why not. If you cannot wait and get one from another source so be it but you are going to have it for most of your playing life, what's a few weeks? As to cases my pet peeve. I have used the BAM case for some time, just sold it to Xray dog nice guy and I think he digs it.
I didn't really like the case it came in but if you are not flying with it I would suggest just putting some castors right on the end of the case and a handle, a bit of extra padding in the bottom and your all set. I have had an ATA case with wheels made to the specs of my Altieri gig bag so I can fly and wheel the case around and just take it out of the flight case when I want to ... cost for the ATA case is around $300.00 or so by Calzone..
If you want any more info just ask.. Tell Dennis at USA you know me Brian.. maybe he'll throw in a used reed..

[RS]

Thanks for the info and the good advice. I think I'll wait until either Chuck Levin's or USA Horn gets in the 991 (brass). I don't think I'd be willing to spend an extra $1000+ for the bronze unless it had a big advantage in sound and that doesn't seem to be the case. I figure a face-off between the 991 and the Selmer II should determine the horn I rate as best for my purposes. I'll give a report when I get a chance to play these horns back to back.

[john]

The B991 is the first horn I ever fell in love with. At the time I bought mine I owned 12 tenors, 4 other bari's including an SX90 AND an HCouf Superba. I bought mine from USAHorn- it played perfectly right out of the box. I dumped all of my other bari's after that. But then I needed a backup horn so- I bought a second B991! :shock:

GREAT horn. Bootman is probably right about some of the tone qualities of vintage Conn and Martin being superior but for the durability, playability, and reliability the B991 is darn near impossible to beat.


Just my $0.02


john

[Joe Jazz]

Bad news guys, I just heard about a Yani factory fire a few months back that put a crimp in their ability to produce bari's and curved sopranos. Could be October before any new ones arrive. Bummer for you!

[RS]

USA Horn told me they have a 992 coming in by the end of the week. They weren't sure when they'd get the 991. But I'm prepared to wait a couple of months. If it's going to be longer than that then I might just go with the Selmer. I don't want to wait until I'm too old to play.

[Joe Jazz]

RS-

Geez, what are you, 99 years old? :lol:

[RS]

No, but sometimes I feel like it.

[Joe Jazz]

AMEN!

[RS]

Well, I decided not to wait for Chuck Levin's or USA Horn to get the the Yani 991 in. WW/BW had three in stock when I called so I had them send one out to me. Got it a couple of hours ago. Unfortunately too late in the day for me to really air it out (I live in an apartment) so I've been keeping it around mezzo forte or under. But I've still been able to get a pretty good idea how it plays. The first thing I noticed is the damn thing weighs a ton. Now I remember why I switched from a low A horn to a low Bb horn fifteen years ago. This horn is built like a tank. Very impressed with the construction. Should be a pretty durable horn. Keywork feels good. A little more compact than my Selmers but it only took me about five minutes to get used to it. And it's nice to play a horn with no slop and clanking in the keys. That's one thing I like about a new horn. Comparing the sound to my 208K Selmer it seems to be similar, though, as I said, I haven't been able to honk away on it yet. I tried punching it very briefly and she seems to go when I give it the gas. Tomorrow I'll find out what she can do. I expect her to be able to roar. Response and resistance seem to be about the same as on the Selmer. Can't quite sub-tone the low A but I think I'll be able to when I put on a better reed. The longer bell doesn't seem to be a drag on the bell tones. Intonation is very good. Better than the Selmer, especially in the palm keys. I never learned much altissimo (dammit Jim! I'm a bari player, not a piccolo player) but I can get F# and G out a good bit easier than on the Selmer (plus it has a key for F#). So already I can see that the Yani has some advantages over the Selmer. If it can match the Selmer in the power department, and I expect it to be able to, it will be a keeper. Tomorrow will tell the tale.

[RS]

I gave the 991 a good airing out this afternoon. Definitely can hang with the low Bb VI in the power department. But I found some things about it that I didn't like. The main thing that bugged me was the tendancy of some notes in the upper register (particularly D, Eb, and E above the break) to produce a slight undertone when slurred up to from the lower register. This gives the notes a hoarse or croaking sound at the beginning of the note. It would clear up quickly if the note was held but it bugged the heck out out of me. I would then switch over to the VI which would produce these notes cleanly and crisply. Big advantage to the VI. Also the VI had a distinct advantage in the bell tones, particularly low Bb, which was stronger and more resonant than the Yani's low Bb (another reason--besides weight--that I switched to the low Bb horn years ago). And after going back and forth between the two horns a number of times I decided I liked the Selmer keywork a little better than the Yani's. These factors (plus the extra weight) led me to decide to return the Yani to WW/BW. Very nice horn for the most part but not quite what I want. I might try the Selmer II at some point--maybe it's not as heavy as the Yani--but for a while at least I think I'll just stick with my 208K low Bb VI and my old warhorse 88K VI as backup. I don't really need a low A anyway. I've gotten along without it just fine for the past fifteen years. I wish the big manufacturers would offer low Bb baris again because I'd like to get a brand new horn. But I'm starting to doubt that I could go back to a low A horn.

[Joe Jazz]

Keilwerth still makes Bb bari's........Have WW&BW send you one after you return the 991....what the heck, it's just shipping after all.

[RS]

Yeah, I might look into the low Bb Keilwerth at some point. But right now I'm sort of glad I have that $4800 I didn't spend on the Yani still sitting in my retirement account. I could probably get the 208K VI in close to new playing condition for a couple or few hundred bucks.

[Joe Jazz]

Ouch! That hurt! Now you're starting to sound practical! I hate when that happens! What did you do, take GAS-X? You're starting to sound like my wife before she accepted the fact that I'm nuts!

[RS]

Well, if Selmer started making low Bbs again and I found one with no quality control issues and it played like a charm I'd plop down five grand without batting an eye. But for that kind of money the horn has got to be just about perfect.