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Yamaha YAS62 alto saxophone

Origin: Japan

Guide price : £1200

Age of review model : 8 years

Date reviewed : April.03

Description : Yamaha's basic professional level horn, at a price that won't break the bank.

Ah, the ubiquitous Yamaha 62 alto.

These first appeared in the early 1980s from out of nowhere as the YAS61. At that time there were very few choices for the budding professional sax player, you either settled for a Selmer ( MKVII - which was never a popular horn ), a Buffet ( even less popular ) or one of the American horns ( which were rare in the UK, and were not nearly as well regarded as their earlier namesakes ).

And then suddenly there was this 'new kid on the block'.

To say that it took the market by storm is something of an understatement - and to my mind it heralded the dawn of a new age in saxophone manufacturing.

The 61 version held sway for a number of years before Yamaha tweaked it and reissued it as the 62 - though for the most part the changes were cosmetic.

Aimed squarely at the professional player the 62 comes with all the frills and features you'd expect, including a top F#, adjustable thumb rest, detachable bell and main stack key adjusters. All this is bunged into a very respectable case and topped of with a basic Yamaha mouthpiece - which although perhaps too basic for a pro player is nonetheless adequate for a beginner, and makes a handy emergency spare in case you ever need such a thing.

I like the design of the bell brace, seen here on the left. It provides ample support for the bell, and in the event of a knock the little crossbar on the body mount will act as a pivot, taking most of the load.

The tone holes are nice and level - which is just as well as there's very little 'meat' left to play with from the G tone hole downwards. A bash to the bottom bow and a consequently warped low C tone hole will require the attention of a meticulous repairer. Hack away at these tone holes with a file and you'll very soon end up with little or no tone hole at all!

The pads fitted are of reasonable quality, though the size of some of the cups in relation to the tone holes means that some pads are really quite hard to seat. It's always worth examining the low D and C pads for leaks...even on new horns.

Playability-wise, well, I have to put my cards firmly on the table and say that the 62 is my alto of choice.

In the decades that I've been repairing and playing I must have played thousands of horns. Yes, I've come across some wonderful Selmers, some remarkable vintage horns, not a few interesting horns from other eastern manufacturers - and even a few surprisingly good student horns....but not one of them has given me what the 62 gives to me.

Many manufacturers seem to have an 'in house' sound. When you pick up one of their horns you also pick up the tone that's manufactured in. That's no bad thing, if you like the tone - and even if you don't it's possible to work around it and change it with your own choice of mouthpiece.

But you don't get that with the 62 - it has a tone that carries with it a remarkable purity and clarity, it places you firmly in the driving seat, it lets you makes the running, hands you the choices. Tonewise, the sound you get from it isn't you playing a Selmer, or a King, or a Conn - it's just you, playing.

And I've never come across a horn so accommodating when it comes to mouthpieces. You can bung anything on a 62 and it won't so much as miss a beat - though it would probably protest ( and quite rightly so ) if you tried to turn it into a 1920's 'woofler'.

Given this characteristic you should very much think of the 62 as a two-part instrument....the horn itself, and the mouthpiece you fit to it.

To my mind it stands up there as one of the legendary horns, and I sincerely hope that Yamaha never make the mistake of assuming it's time to move on. This one's a keeper.

If you're in the market for a pro horn you cannot ignore the 62 ( though see my review of the YAS61 ).