[AndyBlackard]

Thanks to everyone here for all the great articles and reviews. I also played a Yamaha Z82 which was unbelievably easy to play but the intonation was not as good as the 62. I tried a nice Jupiter Artist, but it didn't match the YAS62.

The intonation is incredible other than a slightly sharp middle-D. I wonder if that was a result of fixing the extremely flat middle-C# problem in the series I neck that many people have commented on here. I changed to the Yamaha
5c mpc as someone here also suggested. I checked with a tuner and the C# is fine. Also, I was choking off on the 4c mpc because of the small opening so the 5c really brought out the tone of the horn.

Thanks to everyone and thanks to the forum sponsor.

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

Congrats, Andy. The 62 is easily one of the best horns on the market today. And it just so happens to be one of the least expensive among the pro horns.

 

[AndyBlackard]

Thanks

Congrats, Andy. The 62 is easily one of the best horns on the market today. And it just so happens to be one of the least expensive among the pro horns.

I have been a semi-professional flamenco guitarist for the last 10 years. I recently tore some ligaments in my right elbow and was totally depressed that I may have to stop playing (or at least stop playing for flamenco dancers). So I decided to pick the sax back up after 30 years and researched it on the web and found this site which helped me tremendously.

I am so green again that I can hear improvements each day. lol This Yamaha alto is so sweet that I can't wait to get home from work every day to play it. I played tenor when I was a kid so the alto is a different ballgame.

I have an old 1967 m16 Conn tenor that I'm thinking about having reconditioned. People put them down but I remember that it was better than a lot of other student horns that anyone had back then and the intonation was great. I remember they did go sour when they moved to Mexico a few years after I got mine. And she was my first, too.

The play-along materials are so awsome today that its amazing. I'm working on several Wilkins, Aebersold, Sidero, Neihaus, Gordon etude books and having a blast.

 

[patseguin]

Grats on the horn Andy. I'm almost in the same boat as you. I put the sax down for almost 17 years after Berklee. Got back into it a couple years and never been happier. Having a great time taking lessons again and doing recording work at home. My how technology has changed in 17 years, let alone 30.

This website has been tremendous for me as well.

 

[crazydaisydoo]

I too have played the guitar for 20 years, and found the transition easy. The aebersolds are brilliant, I am kind of collecting them now. As a proper guitarist you will love the one called Jobim! which has some lovely nylon string work in the Charlie Byrd vein

I also have a silver YAS-62II, and I love it. The c sharp is not great, but the D is OK. It is always a compromise, you will soon learn to lip it.

The 5c is definately an improvement on the basic mouthpiece, but as soon as you can afford it get yourself something with a little bit more to it. I had a 4c for about 3 weeks only, and found an old Vandoren A25, which helped a lot. 10 mouthpieces later I have settled on a Selmer c* and an old Gregory. The selmer sounds wonderful on the Yamaha, it is affordable and I use it for jazz too (shock)

Isn't great to only have to play one note at once?

 

[AndyBlackard]

62 vs 82

Grats on the horn Andy. I'm almost in the same boat as you. I put the sax down for almost 17 years after Berklee. Got back into it a couple years and never been happier. Having a great time taking lessons again and doing recording work at home. My how technology has changed in 17 years, let alone 30.

This website has been tremendous for me as well.

I noticed that you went with the 82z. From the comments that I've read here from different people and the horns that I tried out, it almost seems a toss-up. Maybe with them both being hand-made and each one slightly individual, a few horns may be better than the rest regardless of which model 62 or 82. Is that the impression that you have?

 

[AndyBlackard]

guitar vs sax

I too have played the guitar for 20 years, and found the transition easy. The aebersolds are brilliant, I am kind of collecting them now. As a proper guitarist you will love the one called Jobim! which has some lovely nylon string work in the Charlie Byrd vein

I also have a silver YAS-62II, and I love it. The c sharp is not great, but the D is OK. It is always a compromise, you will soon learn to lip it.

The 5c is definately an improvement on the basic mouthpiece, but as soon as you can afford it get yourself something with a little bit more to it. I had a 4c for about 3 weeks only, and found an old Vandoren A25, which helped a lot. 10 mouthpieces later I have settled on a Selmer c* and an old Gregory. The selmer sounds wonderful on the Yamaha, it is affordable and I use it for jazz too (shock)

Isn't great to only have to play one note at once?

I also played a 1964 Fender Stratocaster electric guitar that was stolen last year. To me it was ALWAYS a 6-string tenor saxophone, or at least that's how I approached it. And it sounded nearly identical to a tenor sax. In fact, I cannot help but wonder if Leo Fender had that idea in mind when he designed them in the early 1950s.

 

[AndyBlackard]

Selmer c* mpc

You would recommend the Selmer c* over the Meyer 5c?

 

[crazydaisydoo]

You would recommend the Selmer c* over the Meyer 5c?

I have a meyer 6M, and it is quite dull sounding, and very reed fussy. For a restarter a c* is an easy blow, and has a very fat tone with a nice buzz. If you get time check out my youtube stuff, most of it is on the C*

I don't think anyone can recommend a certan mpc, but there are some "standards" The Meyer and Selmer are both accepted as standard mouthpieces. The idea that you cannot play jazz on a selmer c* is a bit like saying you cannot play jazz on a flat-top acoustic guitar......

The other thing about a c* is that you can resell it on ebay for pretty much what you paid for it

 

[patseguin]

I noticed that you went with the 82z. From the comments that I've read here from different people and the horns that I tried out, it almost seems a toss-up. Maybe with them both being hand-made and each one slightly individual, a few horns may be better than the rest regardless of which model 62 or 82. Is that the impression that you have?

Not really. I think the Yamaha's are probably the most consistent of the modern horns. As far as I know, the 82z is a custom version of the 62. I probably would have been happy with either, but I like top-of-the-line horns plus the extra attention on custom horns.

 

[AndyBlackard]

82z

Not really. I think the Yamaha's are probably the most consistent of the modern horns. As far as I know, the 82z is a custom version of the 62. I probably would have been happy with either, but I like top-of-the-line horns plus the extra attention on custom horns.

The 82z that I tried played so effortlessly that I was tempted to go with it. But I had a tuner with me and the intonation constantly went slightly up and down chromatically over the whole range from low c to high c. The 62 was constant over that range other than the slightly sharp middle-D. But I was using an old non-Yamaha mouthpiece on all the horns I tried out that day and maybe the 82z was interacting with that mouthpiece and the 62 wasnt. Could I have been fooling myself? In contrast, the Jupiter Artist was all over the place. I was really focusing on intonation since I had read posts about the earlier Yamaha middle c# problem.

 

[AndyBlackard]

restarting

Grats on the horn Andy. I'm almost in the same boat as you. I put the sax down for almost 17 years after Berklee. Got back into it a couple years and never been happier. Having a great time taking lessons again and doing recording work at home. My how technology has changed in 17 years, let alone 30.

This website has been tremendous for me as well.

Great. I'm not alone. I've also been downloading some karaoke and trying to play along for fun. I'm finding that the vocal melody lines are so simple that they need a lot of embellishment to make them interesting, but that should be fun. But Carole King's "Its Too Late" has a great line that seems like a great one to saxify.

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

I probably would have been happy with either, but I like top-of-the-line horns plus the extra attention on custom horns.

Hehe. I like the lack of extra attention.

 

[SaxyAcoustician]

Intonation

Intonation of a wind instrument is primarily up to the player.

 

[HeavyWeather77]

Go Yamaha. I play a Selmer alto now but will always have a soft spot for Yamahas, they're great horns. A 62 will take you absolutely as far as you could ever need to go.

 

[AndyBlackard]

crazydaisydoo, I just watched your youtube vids. Man, I LOVE your sound!

 

[johncr12]

62 or 62II

Go Yamaha. I play a Selmer alto now but will always have a soft spot for Yamahas, they're great horns. A 62 will take you absolutely as far as you could ever need to go.

Question I have for the panel:

Are we clumping the YAS 62 and the YAS 62II together when speaking of the 62s, which I believe Yamaha no longer produces. As far as I know, its 62II, 82Z and 875. I'm trying to sell my Conn Bass and move to a good Alto. I'm 66 and do not have the wind I had earlier. I still play a Conn Bari.

I'm looking for a good Yamaha either a 62, a 62II or an 82Z.
So when the board speaks of a 62, I need to know if its the present day 62II not the out of production 62. Sorry:? :?

PS. If you could buy a 62 , would you --over a 62II, or 82Z??

 

[AndyBlackard]

Question I have for the panel:

Are we clumping the YAS 62 and the YAS 62II together when speaking of the 62s, which I believe Yamaha no longer produces. As far as I know, its 62II, 82Z and 875. I'm trying to sell my Conn Bass and move to a good Alto. I'm 66 and do not have the wind I had earlier. I still play a Conn Bari.

I'm looking for a good Yamaha either a 62, a 62II or an 82Z.
So when the board speaks of a 62, I need to know if its the present day 62II not the out of production 62. Sorry:? :?

PS. If you could buy a 62 , would you --over a 62II, or 82Z??

I don't have enough experience to answer your question, but I can say that the 82Z that I tried out was they easiest-to-play horn I have ever touched. I saw a video of Phil Woods and he said the 82Z was easy to play too and he liked that because of his age. I only shied away from it because the intonation of the one I tried was not as even as the 62-II that I bought that day. In fact, the 82Z seemed to have similar quirks to the Jupiter Artist that I tried out - up and down over the full range. I have a feeling it was just that horn because I don't believe everyone would rave about them if they were all that way. The 82z's intonation was like there was a break roughly every 3 whole tones, instead of just at middle D. But with the Jupiter it was like very note was flat or sharp by a different amount. That scared me away from both of them.

Other than the natural intonation differences below low C and above high C and the break at D, the intonation of the 62-II was extremely even over the entire range. Even the middle C# was good, however, the middle-D was really sharp but not too much to lip down. By F above middle-D it is even again. Even the intonation of the high D-E-F are very manageable and I've only been playing again for a month.

Maybe I'm being superstitious, but perhaps you should try every one you can get your hands on instead of deciding ahead of time.

I am holding off on buying another tenor until I get more experienced on my YAS62-II. I have an old 1967 Conn m-16 that I'm thinking of having repadded, but I don't know yet if the money would be better spent on another horn.
Andy

 

[nicocarrre]

Hope you enjoy your YAS62-II like i am! I also am waiting to try a custom 82Z and a 875. By the way it is being talked about i might enjoy it.

 

[AndyBlackard]

Hope you enjoy your YAS62-II like i am! I also am waiting to try a custom 82Z and a 875. By the way it is being talked about i might enjoy it.

Definitely! It's certainly not holding me back and I feel like I make new progress every practice. I know that wall is waiting for me somewhere ahead, but I'm loving the thrill of gaining ground so rapidly at the moment.

They say the great players could play on anything, but from my experience with guitars, I suspect saxs are the same. While that statement may be true, they had to have a great instrument to get to be great in the first place.

Please, post on your experience with the 82z. I wonder if the one I played was just quirky. I eventually want to get a tenor and was considering the 82z tenor.