Thomann Antique Tenor Sax Reviews

Perfect for casual players

My wife casually plays saxophone and wanted a decent tenor to keep at home for occasional practice. After some research I ordered this one for her. I've been told that it plays well, and to my ear the sound is quite good. This particular finish looks great, and the included case is very sturdy. For casual use and some home recording, there is a ton of value in this instrument.

Lovely sound

Lovely sound and design. It looks great on stage too.

Easy response

I got a cheap chinese sax a couple of years back & i found it was difficult to get a sound, until recently I bought this sax along with a Bari Esprit Tenor mouthpiece, & I am amazed on how easy it is to play. Definitely recommended for beginners.

Good price-quality ratio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4eWd0-8h7I

Great for Beginners

I play with the saxophone for about a year as a beginner and i think it's a nice sax to start with. I have played with the specific saxophone in front of my sax teacher and to gigs with bands.

The response i took from everyone and as i can hear it is that It has a nice decent sound.

It allows you to reach the low and high notes. i found it hard as a beginner.

Depending on your technique the saxophone is easily tuned. it's a little more difficult at high F , F# and below Low C#.

That's for the sound.

While playing i found hard accesing Low C from Eb due to bad turning of the plastic roundings . Some other mechanical little parts were unscrewed while playing but i had no problem fixing them.

The last con is that the taps are noisy.

Conclusion. Its a nice instrument for beginners with nice sound but it has its constructive issues. On the other hand you get what you pay for. With on time meintenance the instrument can last and function without problems at all.

I m very happy for this buy.

As a beginner...

This is the first saxophone i have ever had. I have started playing sax 1-1.5 months ago. My opinions about this sax are like this:

Case : Good quality. Enough space to put your strap etc. Its kind of heavy but i think its pretty durable.

Strap : It is a very basic strap. I dont know if the other saxophones come with a strap like this but i would recommend you to buy a proper strap for this because the saxophone is heavy enough and this strap doesnt help much.

Mouthpiece : Honestly i havent played with it much. I have bought a Yamaha 4C. So can't tell whether it is good or bad.

Saxophone : First of all it looks great as it mentioned in the other reviews. The pads feel good. Response seemed good to me but i am a beginner so can't tell much about that. I know that sound can depend on many variables so can't say much about that too but i think it is pretty good for a beginner to learn with. I like the sound of it. It comes with a reed on it also there are two reeds extra. One of them is 2 and the other one is 1.5 (if i remember correctly since i use the 2 one)

I can say that i am pretty happy with this saxophone. And these are my opinions about it as a beginner.

Best Sax I had in my life!

Its also my first Sax haha, but It's beautiful. The case that's included is great, highly recommend it.

Inconsistent

I got a saxophone that played really well, but it had a couple of ugly cracks on the lacquer so I returned it for a new one. They did send me a new one that didn't have the cracks, but had problems playing from C to D (and it wasn't because of the octave key, which was working properly). The keys were also noisy. I think this is a matter of luck, you can either get an instrument that plays well or get something in between, that's why I would rate it as "inconsistent". I would recommend you to save more money and go for a better sax like a Yamaha YTS280 or a Jupiter JTS500 that will probably not have these inconsistencies.

Further comments:

-The instrument is really beautiful (especially when it doesn't have any cracks on the horn) ;)

-It's heavy.

-The keys can be really noisy.

-The pads are not of good quality. (but we can't expect Pisoni pads at this price range)

Despite all of that, the first time I got a Sax that played really well...So if you are lucky you can get a very good sax.

For the money very good instrument ,been using it a lot and i

can say it s a Tank, on a budget very good saxophone.

Blast for a price

Ok, so after playing a lot of Alto saxophones I decided I would go for a tenor. This was my choice over student Yamahas and Jupiters. I don't know much about tenor saxophones but the whole feel and impression after unboxing and playing first scale on it is very good. I didn't expect Yanigasawa quality and sound, but for this price nobody could complain about how it performs. There are some inconsistencies with sound on octaves but it could be due to my inexperience on tenors. I believe they could be handled by more experienced player. Saying that, novice wouldn't notice it that easily for which this instrument is, I believe, intended to.

Mouthpiece provided is not so good, but it plays; same goes for reeds provided with.

Neck strap is a nightmare, I suggest to change it at the first chance. But those are things that could be changed very easily and with a proper mouthpiece/ligature it plays wonderful. (I tried with Otto Link tone edge 6* and Vandoren V16 T7), much more better than I expected.

I cannot say how would it mechanically be after, let's say, a year of playing, so I leave this open.

If it counts, I recommend it if you're starting your journey in tenor sax world. It will very likely serve you a long time.

Very good

Very nice finish. Everything works perfectly. No pitch problem. Buttons works perfectly.

Mouthpiece is not very good but at least there is one in the package and it is very easy blowing. Strap is crap but again at least there is one in the package. Nice hardcase with locks.

not bad

this sax does the job. I changed the mouthpiece without even trying the one it came with and I get an ok sound, usable for gigs. The high F and F# are seriously out though, almost by a semitone. The rest of the notes have decent enough intonation. Keys are a little clunky but for 500 I think it's a good buy.

Best buy

Very beautiful and good sounding sax. Very happy with the tuning, sound and quality. I will not buy another sax as long as this works, and i am sure it will work for years!

Under rated saxophone

This is not so popular, i've tried it, it's better than any branded saxophone for its price

Mature beginner

Have been a guitarist for eons but always wanted to try sax . On the strength of other reviews I bought one of these and have to agree,,fantastic for the money. My teacher put it through its paces and he was full of praise too. Excellent fast shipping and service also. With a three year warranty you can't go wrong.

Great Beginner instrument

First of all the photos do not do this instrument justice, it looks stunning!

The feel is very good, the tone is absolutely acceptable and the intonation is okay, not great as a few notes need to be lipped up or down on the upper octave, but even on pro horns this is often the case.

I would recommend buying another mouth piece like that

Rico Graftonite Tenor Sax B5, and some reeds (1.5 ? 2), but overall very impressed.

The only downside is the weight, this horn weighs in at around 8lbs, which is a bit on the heavy side, not vastly so but around 0.5-1lbs more than a pro instrument.

In all, I would have no hesitation in recommending this instrument.

Excellent value

This is the best tenor saxophone available for the price. Some small imperfections in the finish on the bell, otherwise a very well constructed sax. After a solid month of playing everything still plays perfectly. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this excellent saxophone to anyone.

antique tenor

Excellent sax, have gigged it 400 times still as new. the action could be a little faster but is still very good. I would recommend a metal mouthpiece for rock . It has a big sound but modern also.

Plays fine for the price. Would never play on stage - though will try a pro mouth piece

This saxophone plays fine for the price.. Bought this to get back into playing after 15 years break. Would never play this on stage, pitch between octaves is not right.. Will look into a pro mouth piece and setup. All being said... great for the price

great sax

For the prise its one of the best saxes that you can buy, sound great looks great, great sax