8 month update: Still no major issues to report! I have added Teflon key corks in many areas to further improve the reliability of the action but this was not strictly necessary.
Thomann is such a curiosity to me because they sell an extremely wide array of wind instruments for extremely cheap, and they consistently get fairly positive reviews online. I’d love to buy like a flugel or a soprano sax or a piccolo or something from them but alarm bells are ringing.
It's all about the player, not the instrument. A good player will sound good on any horn. That's why you should always try to save money where you can. China now produces horns, and I've heard them. They sound excellent in the hands of a good player. As far as how long they last, I don't think it matters very much. They're cheap, so if one gets ruined, whatever amount you spend replacing them couldn't ever add up to 20 grand. And even if they are built fragile, that doesn't mean they are going to be ruined. Just take care of them.
@@St0ckwellkind of. As a pro player I’m not going to buy a cheap horn because it’s cheap. I need a great horn to help me produce the sounds and colors I want. I haven’t found that on cheaper horns.
@@Jerry-hp5sf That's also true. Cheap instruments are limited. While Jimi Hendrix could pick up some toy guitar from six flags and sound phenomenal, he could do more on a better built guitar. I guess what I'm saying is anybody who wants to play horns shouldn't let their American price tags scare them away from doing it.
I recently bought their tsi-350 (Sopranino sax) and it is amazingly well crafted. It was only ~$500 when I bought it and when it arrived it was in 100% playing condition, however I had to buy a sopranino sax reed in order to play it properly as the stock one was severely beat up. The horn feels solid and well put together. No leaks, scratches, and all the keyword and pads were basically mint. I could've gotten lucky, but the reviews seem to agree with me. Sopranino mouthpieces tend to be really pricey, but the stock one that came with Thomann works shockingly well and intonation is amazing. I'm definitely looking into their bass sax at this point.
I got the Bass sax over a year ago. Look for a bass sax it’s absolutely awesome what are you gonna do pay about 10k for a 70 year old instrument? Or 20k for a new one made in France and who is going to hear the difference I mean. Compared to what?
i've been wanting a bass for some time now. it's great that you do an in depth review like this since i was quite sceptical. now i might head over there to pick one up
What about the weight? I compared a Gear4Music bass with the Keilwerth bass I eventually got, and the G4M one was a lot heavier. I picked both up at the same time and the weight difference was obvious. The explanation given by the vendor (who is also a skilled tech) was that to achieve the required stiffness within the lower price bracket, thicker metal was needed.
I recently played my friend's Sakkusu. It was my first time playing one of these Jinbao-made bass saxes. I was surprised at how flimsy some of the parts were. I am curious whether or not Thomann orders theirs with different specs. For example, the right thumb rest on the Sukkusu was extremely thin. I could see it breaking quite easily if you were to use it to move the sax on & off your lap regularly like you would a regular-sized horn.
Have you ever experimented with using side key fingerings for some of the middle-range notes on this instrument? (There was a Matthew Banks video where he talked about older Bass Saxes having a clearer sound on middle Bb/C/D/Eb when you use the RH side keys, and I was wondering if that applied to this instrument too)
@@Jared_De_Leon Huh, haven't heard that one before. I was thinking of the RH trill keys, not the LH ones for the high register, but that's very good to know. Thanks!
What would happen if you tried using your bass sax mouthpiece on a bari sax? Would the result be similar to what Jody Espina describes when using his bass sax mouthpiece on bari?
Would it be possible to modify the mouthpiece to fix the intonation? I am looking for a mouthpiece that has huge, open and dark sound that is relatively inexpensive compared to other mouthpieces on the market.
I have a Jody Jazz bass mouth piece that I use on my Yamaha YBS-62. Paid big bucks. But for a sweeter tone and vibrato I use the Yamaha hard rubber that came with the horn.
Does it feel cheap in your hands? For example, do the pinky keys feel sturdy or are they flimsy? Is everything padded with cork, or are there spots that are padded with cheap fabric? Did it come with white gloves? I recently purchased the Startone baritone from Thomann, and it felt very cheap. In some spots, there was some red fabric (felt?) cushioning (between the pearl keys and the brass pads they close), which looked very ugly and cheap. Also, the left sided pinky keys felt very easy to move, like they would be at risk of falling off. Also, how do you clean this instrument for daily maintenance? I would expect most pull through cloths to be too short to pull through the entire thing.
Not at all. Everything feels quite sturdy including the pinky keys. All of the key corks were cork and felt on my instrument. Startone is Thomann's cheaper brand so it's not surprising there is a quality difference. I just swab the neck and stick a bass clarinet swab down the body section as far as I can, that's where most of the moisture builds up.
@@Jared_De_Leon thanks for the quick response! I am a tone junkie, and its hard to get a good feel of the tone on this horn from the video. Have you had a chance to record something with a nicer microphone? Just curious!
No issues so far. I did do a few minor adjustments like adding Teflon to some keys. Not because it was needed but rather to make the action a bit smoother. I do this to all my instruments though.
Hello Jared, this is one of the main videos I go to when I contemplate buying a bass sax. I finally when through with it and have a quick question; when you ordered the sax, did you have to fill out a US CBP form for its import? It took a while for my order to get confirmed and when it was in process of it I got an email about possibly contacting the US CBP to resolve any issues that might have been preventing my order to fall through. It eventually got confirmed and now the order is set for processing, but I'm unsure if I actually have to fill out that form. Apologies for the long comment
Hi Jared! Thanks for informative video. How much does this saxophone and instrument case weigh in total in kilos? Is the bassaxophone case same size as a baritone case?
I'm somewhat interested in getting one of these. I'm wondering if one could find one used somewhere.... Are you still selling your mouthpieces? I think if I got one I would want that mouthpiece..... I recently had a gig playing a Maslanka piece and really wanted a bass, although there was a part "Bari Sax in Lieu of Bass Sax" so I ended up playing that instead.
@@stveloop9452 they probably bought a stock of them from china with a good deal.if you buy alot,they sell way cheaper. others sell the for way more cause they need work before they play properly.
The Chinese have to make their instruments well or they will not sell. I have a Chinese bass sax I got from Gear 4 Music about seven years ago. Unlike the one on this demo, mine is not a Selmer-inspired 'tight wrap', which is shorter than what I've got. I understand mine is modelled on a c 1930 Conn/Buescher, which is longer and more authentic-looking for the kind of trad jazz I like to play. Having taken advice from all the guys online who're desperate for me to buy their mouthpieces, I have ended up with three that don't work, a Yamaha, an Otto Link and a Rico, all bari mouthpieces. Bass mouthpices are a ridiculous price and too risky to buy over the Web, which is your only choice living in Scotland as I do. I've discovered that the one that came with the sax works best! Strange that the people who made the sax make a viable mouthpiece! No it's not! It plays well when you get the right combination of reed and mouthpiece. I use a Rico 2 strength bari reed and the mouthpiece that came with the sax. Love the instrument.
@@sammckinstry "The Chinese have to make their instruments well or they will not sell" you are beeing sarcastic,right? haha. i have gear 4 music one, all of the rods are thinner than hinge tubes, that creates enormous excess play in all the keys, lots of other problems, and the bass is very very flat ,pushing the mouthpiece way into the neck doesn't help that much, even when using a shorter neck.
@@yrinauda You say 'all of the rods are thinner than hinge tubes, that creates enormous excess play in all the keys, lots of other problems, and the bass is very very flat'. Have you removed all the rods to check them? If not, you are simply repeating all the petty moaning of on-line techies who want the work of repairing the alleged problem. If the sax was that bad, why did you not return it to Gear 4 Music? ...And I am not given to sarcasm. The author of this piece on TH-cam tells you he gets imperfections in most saxes, irrespective of price. I was and still am grateful to get a bass sax for £2,200 as it then was.
8 month update: Still no major issues to report! I have added Teflon key corks in many areas to further improve the reliability of the action but this was not strictly necessary.
Great to hear!
Thomann is such a curiosity to me because they sell an extremely wide array of wind instruments for extremely cheap, and they consistently get fairly positive reviews online. I’d love to buy like a flugel or a soprano sax or a piccolo or something from them but alarm bells are ringing.
It's all about the player, not the instrument. A good player will sound good on any horn. That's why you should always try to save money where you can. China now produces horns, and I've heard them. They sound excellent in the hands of a good player. As far as how long they last, I don't think it matters very much. They're cheap, so if one gets ruined, whatever amount you spend replacing them couldn't ever add up to 20 grand. And even if they are built fragile, that doesn't mean they are going to be ruined. Just take care of them.
@@St0ckwellkind of.
As a pro player I’m not going to buy a cheap horn because it’s cheap.
I need a great horn to help me produce the sounds and colors I want.
I haven’t found that on cheaper horns.
@@Jerry-hp5sf That's also true. Cheap instruments are limited. While Jimi Hendrix could pick up some toy guitar from six flags and sound phenomenal, he could do more on a better built guitar. I guess what I'm saying is anybody who wants to play horns shouldn't let their American price tags scare them away from doing it.
I recently bought their tsi-350 (Sopranino sax) and it is amazingly well crafted. It was only ~$500 when I bought it and when it arrived it was in 100% playing condition, however I had to buy a sopranino sax reed in order to play it properly as the stock one was severely beat up. The horn feels solid and well put together. No leaks, scratches, and all the keyword and pads were basically mint. I could've gotten lucky, but the reviews seem to agree with me. Sopranino mouthpieces tend to be really pricey, but the stock one that came with Thomann works shockingly well and intonation is amazing. I'm definitely looking into their bass sax at this point.
I got the Bass sax over a year ago. Look for a bass sax it’s absolutely awesome what are you gonna do pay about 10k for a 70 year old instrument? Or 20k for a new one made in France and who is going to hear the difference I mean. Compared to what?
I bought one of these in March 2021. I think it is a great value, and once you find a good bass MP to use on it, you will not regret it!
4:00 if you listen closely on the low B-flat you can hear a concert C in the overtones
That would be the 17th overtone.
i've been wanting a bass for some time now. it's great that you do an in depth review like this since i was quite sceptical. now i might head over there to pick one up
Have you now picked it up?
Picked up one and can't wait until it ships. Thanks for this review!
Time for a six month update! Let's hear it again now that you've had time to get comfortable on it. How has the key action held up?
Holding up great. No issues to report.
Glorious! I just started playing bari in 2021 and now I wanna go one size bigger :D
Exact same here
Fuck it play both at the same time
@@crazyrussianguy5901 someone did
@@roastedpotatoeswithgarlic I know I saw the video
So glad you did this. Liked it as soon as I saw the video.
I would be tempted to also have a Michael Wilbur Bass Sax mpc from SYOS with this.
a 2.5 on bass sax to me is insane. I'm borrowing a Selmer Bass Sax from an orchestra I play in and I use a 4 reed to get the low notes easier
It depends a lot on the tip opening and facing. A larger tip needs a softer reed.
I played a vintage conn bass saxophone at Sam Ash in Hollywood that was $15,000 and the horn only went up to high Eb.
What about the weight? I compared a Gear4Music bass with the Keilwerth bass I eventually got, and the G4M one was a lot heavier. I picked both up at the same time and the weight difference was obvious. The explanation given by the vendor (who is also a skilled tech) was that to achieve the required stiffness within the lower price bracket, thicker metal was needed.
I recently played my friend's Sakkusu. It was my first time playing one of these Jinbao-made bass saxes. I was surprised at how flimsy some of the parts were. I am curious whether or not Thomann orders theirs with different specs. For example, the right thumb rest on the Sukkusu was extremely thin. I could see it breaking quite easily if you were to use it to move the sax on & off your lap regularly like you would a regular-sized horn.
Bought one based on this review. So far so good
Have you ever experimented with using side key fingerings for some of the middle-range notes on this instrument? (There was a Matthew Banks video where he talked about older Bass Saxes having a clearer sound on middle Bb/C/D/Eb when you use the RH side keys, and I was wondering if that applied to this instrument too)
Yes, you can use the high D key as a vent for middle D and it comes out very clearly.
@@Jared_De_Leon Huh, haven't heard that one before. I was thinking of the RH trill keys, not the LH ones for the high register, but that's very good to know. Thanks!
What would happen if you tried using your bass sax mouthpiece on a bari sax? Would the result be similar to what Jody Espina describes when using his bass sax mouthpiece on bari?
I haven't tried it personally, but someone who has told me it gave the instrument a very large and powerful sound, but had unusable intonation.
Would it be possible to modify the mouthpiece to fix the intonation? I am looking for a mouthpiece that has huge, open and dark sound that is relatively inexpensive compared to other mouthpieces on the market.
I use a jj bass mp on my Yamaha bari.
I have a Jody Jazz bass mouth piece that I use on my Yamaha YBS-62. Paid big bucks. But for a sweeter tone and vibrato I use the Yamaha hard rubber that came with the horn.
Does it feel cheap in your hands? For example, do the pinky keys feel sturdy or are they flimsy? Is everything padded with cork, or are there spots that are padded with cheap fabric? Did it come with white gloves?
I recently purchased the Startone baritone from Thomann, and it felt very cheap. In some spots, there was some red fabric (felt?) cushioning (between the pearl keys and the brass pads they close), which looked very ugly and cheap. Also, the left sided pinky keys felt very easy to move, like they would be at risk of falling off.
Also, how do you clean this instrument for daily maintenance? I would expect most pull through cloths to be too short to pull through the entire thing.
Not at all. Everything feels quite sturdy including the pinky keys. All of the key corks were cork and felt on my instrument. Startone is Thomann's cheaper brand so it's not surprising there is a quality difference. I just swab the neck and stick a bass clarinet swab down the body section as far as I can, that's where most of the moisture builds up.
@@Jared_De_Leon Thanks a lot!
I would hope not. For 3-grand the instrument is expected to be in good or better quality. That's a lot of money drop.
Hey! Thank you so much for posting this video. Do you have an update on the horn after owning it a bit longer?
Thanks! No issues so far. Everything is holding up perfectly.
@@Jared_De_Leon thanks for the quick response! I am a tone junkie, and its hard to get a good feel of the tone on this horn from the video. Have you had a chance to record something with a nicer microphone? Just curious!
@@ethancollins4593 Unfortunately no
Sounds great! What is the range of this instrument, is it to a Low Bb or to the Low A?
Low Bb on a low a the bell is the highest point on the instrument lol
Low Bb to high F#
@@Quinnjmoore Honestly wish they were more common
@@E-flat Ikr? The only manufacturer I’ve seen make Low A basses is J’Elle Stainer
@@robertglogowski777 Yep, and I wish I could have one of those myself. But they’re very rare and expensive I must admit.
Could we get a 2 year update on this bass saxophone?
No major updates really, it continues to stay in adjustment and hold up well. No signs of issues.
@@Jared_De_Leonthat’s good to hear!
How_does_the_quality_hold_now_after_a_month?
No issues so far. I did do a few minor adjustments like adding Teflon to some keys. Not because it was needed but rather to make the action a bit smoother. I do this to all my instruments though.
Qual o valor em euros???
Hello Jared, this is one of the main videos I go to when I contemplate buying a bass sax. I finally when through with it and have a quick question; when you ordered the sax, did you have to fill out a US CBP form for its import? It took a while for my order to get confirmed and when it was in process of it I got an email about possibly contacting the US CBP to resolve any issues that might have been preventing my order to fall through. It eventually got confirmed and now the order is set for processing, but I'm unsure if I actually have to fill out that form. Apologies for the long comment
I don't remember if it was that form exactly, but there was a form that I needed to fill out for customs.
@@Jared_De_Leon You wouldn't happen to remember which form it was, would you?
Hi Jared!
Thanks for informative video. How much does this saxophone and instrument case weigh in total in kilos? Is the bassaxophone case same size as a baritone case?
It weighs 21Kg. It's significantly bigger than a bari sax case.
Thanks for Quick response!
So the case weigh 12,4 kilos and the saxophone weigh 8,6 kilos according to Thomanns website! Incredible heavy case!
Does the end pin seem sturdy? Is there a feasible stand that could hold the horn in playing position?
Yeah no issues with it slipping or anything. Maybe something with a very wide base.
I'm somewhat interested in getting one of these. I'm wondering if one could find one used somewhere.... Are you still selling your mouthpieces? I think if I got one I would want that mouthpiece.....
I recently had a gig playing a Maslanka piece and really wanted a bass, although there was a part "Bari Sax in Lieu of Bass Sax" so I ended up playing that instead.
He does sell the mouthpieces, yes
What reeds would you recommend with the bass mouthpiece you used?
Legere 2.5 is my favorite.
@@Jared_De_Leon Alright! Would you mind also leaving a link for the ligature you used as well?
Does your mouthpiece use bass sax reeds or bari reeds?
Bass sax reeds, or contrabass clarinet reeds. They are mostly interchange. Bari reeds are too small.
@@Jared_De_Leon alright, thanks for the quick reply
shiiiiit i know what i'm spending my next couple paychecks on
thanks
Nice. Don't want a bass sax but possibly a Bari one day.
Thanks!… that’s actually affordable.
i keep thinking your canadian i dont know why
Because he sounds so knowledgeable and intelligent?
It is so big it literally looks like a baritone saxophone
it's a chinese bass
So is the sakkusu but it's twice the price!
@@stveloop9452 they probably bought a stock of them from china with a good deal.if you buy alot,they sell way cheaper. others sell the for way more cause they need work before they play properly.
The Chinese have to make their instruments well or they will not sell. I have a Chinese bass sax I got from Gear 4 Music about seven years ago. Unlike the one on this demo, mine is not a Selmer-inspired 'tight wrap', which is shorter than what I've got. I understand mine is modelled on a c 1930 Conn/Buescher, which is longer and more authentic-looking for the kind of trad jazz I like to play. Having taken advice from all the guys online who're desperate for me to buy their mouthpieces, I have ended up with three that don't work, a Yamaha, an Otto Link and a Rico, all bari mouthpieces. Bass mouthpices are a ridiculous price and too risky to buy over the Web, which is your only choice living in Scotland as I do. I've discovered that the one that came with the sax works best! Strange that the people who made the sax make a viable mouthpiece! No it's not! It plays well when you get the right combination of reed and mouthpiece. I use a Rico 2 strength bari reed and the mouthpiece that came with the sax. Love the instrument.
@@sammckinstry "The Chinese have to make their instruments well or they will not sell" you are beeing sarcastic,right? haha. i have gear 4 music one, all of the rods are thinner than hinge tubes, that creates enormous excess play in all the keys, lots of other problems, and the bass is very very flat ,pushing the mouthpiece way into the neck doesn't help that much, even when using a shorter neck.
@@yrinauda You say 'all of the rods are thinner than hinge tubes, that creates enormous excess play in all the keys, lots of other problems, and the bass is very very flat'. Have you removed all the rods to check them? If not, you are simply repeating all the petty moaning of on-line techies who want the work of repairing the alleged problem. If the sax was that bad, why did you not return it to Gear 4 Music? ...And I am not given to sarcasm. The author of this piece on TH-cam tells you he gets imperfections in most saxes, irrespective of price. I was and still am grateful to get a bass sax for £2,200 as it then was.
I like how you say the mouth piece has problems, maybe it's you who can't adapt to that mouth piece.
Uhhh no the mouthpiece has problems, the facing is too short and the tip is too small. Most people I know who get these JinBao basses agree.