Yamaha YAS23 Eb Alto Saxophone > Reviews > Yamaha YAS-23 (superceded by 25, then 275)

Author's product rating:   

How well constructed is it?	well
Appearance	Okay
Quality of sound	quite good
Playability	very playable
Value for money	good

Advantages:	Well made and durable .   Good for beginners  -  easy to play with good intonation
Disadvantages:	Factory made, so lacks the individual tone of those hand made saxes (eg selmers), and the tone is obviously not as rich as professional models

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This sax is a well built japanese sax, made by yamaha. It is a fairly cheap instrument, aimed at beginners, and this is exactly who it is good for. This sax is easily to play, with little resistance, and works well with the yamaha mouthpiece it is supplied with (4C). This sax has a reasonable tone, but it is obviously not as good as the tone of the more expensive professional models.

The YAS-23 is no longer made, and was superceded first by the YAS-25, and then this was replaced with the YAS-275. My favourite of the three is the 25, because I find this has the nicest tone, and i also find the keywork design is best on this, although the 275 does have improved intonation. The YAS-25 was my first sax, which I borrowed from my school and played all the way up to grade 7 before finally buying myself a selmer (serie II), and is a good solid sax which is easy to play.

I would reccomend the YAS-23, 25 or 275 to any beginner, and although it costs slightly more than some of the taiwanese alternatives, it is worth the extra, and these saxes benefit from some of the features of the more expensive yamaha saxes, and they are also well made by yamaha, who are regarded as one of the best student instrument manufacturers in the world.

These saxes are normally supplied with a plastic yamaha mouthpiece (4C) and in a hard case, with adequate pull-throughs and cleaning equipment supplied. While the case is solid, and protects the sax well, it only has one carrying handle, and does not benfit from either a shoulder strap or back-pack straps as more cases now do.

Overall, this sax is a good sax for beginners, and is good value for money, however I would not reccomend it to advanced players, who would probably be better to a more expensive sax.