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"At last the arrival of the long awaited Yamaha YAS 875EX Gold Plated alto sax. What initially excited us about this model was the fact that George Shelby (top US player and Yamaha endorsee) came to our store earlier in the year to host a performance clinic, and he was brandishing one of these fine saxes; we all agreed that he sounded superb!When you first glance at it you could easily mistake it for a standard Yamaha 875EX gold lacquer model. But when comparing the two side by side you see that it is, in fact, richer in colour. But, boy, does this plating make a difference! I was comparing it alongside the standard 875EX lacquer model, and I was fortunate enough to have two of these to try and therefore make a more thorough comparison. As it turned out both of the lacquer models had subtly different tonal qualities, and so I felt like I was dealing with three different instruments. On saying this, though, the gold plated model stood out as having an incredible warmth and breadth of tone, over and above the other two. It was particularly around the lower octave that you felt this complexity in the sound , a lovely, silky richness, with wispy bits round the side! In case you were wondering, I was using a Meyer 6M mouthpiece, which certainly contributed to this full bodied tonality. Even as you start to push the sound on the horn to the outer limits, just to see how it factors on the brightometer, the result is that it never becomes over-bearing and there is always a good core sound. If there was ever a criticism of Yamaha saxophones it would be that they can sound too clinical and characterless. You couldn’t possibly justify such a claim with the new gold plated 875EX alto. Mechanically it is solid, the intonation is excellent, and the gold plating provides a warmth of tone that takes you to another level!" jim@sax.co.uk
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