Shout out to Tony B. and the wizardry he can do in his repair shop. He was talking about your horn last time I was in there.

I’m glad you made this update video! It sounds greatly great!

That thing is a beast! Love the bass saxophone

Excellent video, thanks for posting! I’ve had a Levante bass with a Selmer C* mouthpiece for a couple years now and I’m very pleased with it too. I use Vandoren 2 bass sax reeds and a generic no-brand ligature which works quite well for me.

played on an Oleg Bass Sax at TMEA last weekend and that one played like a dream! Checked their website and its actually half the cost of the selmer. So its still alot... but i would definitely rather pay 14k than 28.

Thanks for the update! I also really like an AL3 on alto and a Selmer C* for tenor.

I played bass sax for two years in high school saxophone ensembles, and I have to echo the issues you have getting over a break - it seems like playing a long D and Eb is a common issue on all bass saxophones. I often just used side keys to get a middle D or middle Eb out. Granted, the horn I was playing on was much worse than this nice one you've bought, but I still encountered many of the same issues you've discussed to a greater effect.

Nice sound man!!

How does your Chinese bass compare to a genuine Selmer SA80II bass (besides being 1/10th the price)? I've got the Gear4music one which is also made by JinBao which was on special offer and considerably less than many of them retail for. The first one of these SA80II copies I tried was the first one Wessex Tubas got in which I did the initial unboxing and play test on and was also surprised it played as well as it did fresh from the box, but wasn't without the usual problems you'd expect with Chinese saxes. I also had to move both the RH3/chromatic F# and high F# touches up as they were too low - I put a double bend in the high F# touchpiece arm to move it up and out the way of the RH3 F# touch. I angled the Bis key touch to make it easier to roll onto as well as did work on the 8ve mechanism for better venting. The water key pillars were fitted the wrong way around so you couldn't remove it easily without having to remove the U bend with the socket, so I reversed them. I use Lawton bari mouthpieces with my bass - either a plain 7 ebonite or a metal 7*BB which is my main bari mouthpiece. I also found an Adams stand which clamps onto the bell which is far more practical than the SaxRax bass stand I was using when playing seated. The Adams stand is similar to the Jiffy bari stands so you can play them seated without having to use a sling or a harness and are very stable. Set the height and playing angle and you're good to go - they have a ball joint on the base so they can be set upright when not playing. MusicMedic have designed and built a triple vent 8ve mechanism which they've fitted to these basses - the original experimental one was listed on eBay recently. That triple vent 8ve mechanism has a specially dedicated speaker vent for the upper D, then switches to another vent for upper E-G# and then the top vent from A upwards as normal. I haven't done that mod to mine and use the high D key as a speaker key to stabilise middle D.

Can you make a embochure video

Btw, using the D spatula key while you play D breaks using the octave helps a lot. Its a known issue, and someone just started making newer vents they are adding to Chinese made basses to make that D play more like other regular saxophones. If I used Vandoren reeds with the big chambered mouthpieces like the Woodwind one I have, its better. Also the Orange Box Rico's that are 2.5 or better strength have a better time playing that D break. There's not a lot of options with reeds. I didn't care for the Legere one made for bass. The only other brands I could find were marca and one called "My Masterpiece". I would hope that maybe selmer in France makes them but they are probably hard to get in North America.

Any update on changes to the body octave pip?

There is a slight difference in bass reeds and Bari ones. I thought in a concert I would use a Bari Reed but it just wasn't working exactly right that I knew the bass reeds would. The breaks on D are a lot better on a bass Reed. Only difference I can see in the reeds are that the total length of the scraped cane is slightly longer and thicker in the curve.

I checked the alibaba bass saxes and they are only 2800 bucks. If 2800 bucks plus some minor work gets sound like THAT, then that is well worth it and I can't fathom shelling out for the next cheapest bass sax at 14k

The bass saxophone has a low G key?

Not sure if you’ve said this but is this a Sakkusu or Levante? Something different? Congrats it’s gorgeous and sounds awesome.

Does the Bass saxophone have a low-a key?

you're paying for a name when you buy Selmer their brand saxophones that are just as great some even better

STOP turning the neck --. you will wear out the seating. Always lossen the neck screw first. before turning the neck. You will have less repairing to it in the future.