new jupiter

[littleboyblue]

i just got my new jupiter soprano the 21st. so far it sounds awesome. i tried out a couple others but they alls sounded like crap (for me at least).
i've been playin it for hours on end the last three days. (my mouth is kinda startin to hurt :oops: its silver plated with a solid silver neck, 2 mouth pieces and gold finish keys.

[Sergio]

Sounds like you have the Artist model. I love the ergonomics and the build quality of it but never had a chance to play one. I've heard they're pretty nice. Glad you like it.
Sergio

[1saxman]

I just took delivery on a new Jupiter Artist soprano today. I got it out of the box and stuck my mouthpiece on it right away. I was thrilled with what came out of that horn. I have been playing a Woodwind semi-curved for about 5 years, and there is a lot more difference in these horns than the price indicates. I don't expect to be playing the Woodwind anymore, although it is good enough for the occasional use I've been giving it, playing it on one or two numbers a night. The Jupiter is a legitimate soprano with a wonderful, big sound. My set-up (old Guardala 'Liebman' with 2.5 reed) worked on it from the start. I had played one at a Mars store about a year ago, using a Dukoff D7, and that worked great, too. I had loads of work to do outdoors today, but I just couldn't put the horn down. This horn is a good buy at the Music 123 price of $1299. If the solid-Sterling Yanagisawa is any better than this, I don't want to know. The case is so nice that I'm looking for a good cover for it - probably have to get one made.

[1saxman]

Follow-up. On second thought, the Woodwind is not terrible, just different. It has a 'thicker' sound than the Jupiter, and is funkier. It's heavier and has a bigger bell. I think I'll keep it for now. I've experienced this effect before, where you are not satisfied with a horn and you get a new one that knocks you out, then pick up the old one again and find it pleasingly different. The Jupiter Artist is of course a keeper. It's more responsive and 'liquid' than the Woodwind, and plays easier with a sweeter sound. Never thought I'd have two sopranos, of all things.

[1saxman]

Okay. The Jupiter is packed up and ready to go back. The more I played it and the Woodwind side x side, the smaller the Jupiter sounded. Plus, I found that for me, there are intonation issues with this horn that did not repeat on the Woodwind. For example, Bb1 was way sharp. As far as I know, there's nothing that can be done for that. B3 was flat as well as C3. There are possible adjustments there, but again, I was not having that problem on the less expensive Woodwind. Bottom line, I was starting to feel like $1300 was way too much for this horn, so back it goes.

[Wally]

Bottom Line (trying not to be too harsh): If you are wanting to UPGRADE to a horn from your Woodwind sop then don't upgrade to a $1300 saxophone. Stick with yours, save money, and upgrade to a Yama starter model, or if you have a few hundred more, get a Yanagisawa 991 or 992. These are real sax upgrades. I'm not surprised you didn't notice much of a difference with the Jupiter. Though they are great starter horns, they aren't upgrade horns if you know what I mean. Save up, you won't regret it. :D

[1saxman]

Yeah, I know all that - just looking for a shortcut. What I really want is the Sterling Yanagisawa, but I'll have to wait for that until I hit the lottery.

[1saxman]

After thinking about Wally's comment that there is no $1300 upgrade soprano, I think that's a little presumptive. There very well may be a very good soprano for that price. The Jupiter Artist is still a good soprano. I've heard recordings by Jupiter-playing artists that were perfect. For some reason it just didn't work for me. After all, I'm mainly a tenor man, and I'm not young. It is harder for an old dog to learn new tricks, and I have adapted to my Woodwind soprano. I've also played new Selmers side by side with it, and it came out pretty well there, too. There are some other Taiwan sopranos I'd like to try, but maybe later. The only thing about this whole episode that still bothers me is how the Jupiter sounded and played so great the first few days I had it, then gradually lost out to the old horn. Usually, this works the other way; at first you like the new horn, but still prefer the old one; gradually, though, the more you play the new one the better you like it. It works pretty much the same with mouthpieces, at least for me. All I can figure is that it was a time of discovery for both horns, since I was trying different reeds and mouthpieces on both of them, and in the process I played the old one much more and more often than I ever had before, finally finding a completely different reed and ligature set-up on it.
I think the Jupiter is a better legitimate horn. Unfortunately, I don't play in the legit style - I like a bigger, more raucous sound. Ideally, an artist-quality sax should be able to handle anything, but that's not an absolute. There definitely are certain premium saxes that are better at one thing than others. When playing the Jupiter, it was leading me into a more legit style, which I enjoyed as a diversion, but when I got a little rough with it, it didn't play along. The right mouthpiece on that horn would probably make it play fine. I had my metal Guardala Liebman and a Berg rubber 85/2, plus the #4 that came with the Jupiter. The #4 probably would have been okay for most players, with the right reed, but I always have played big metals on everything. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the Guardala was the problem with the Jupiter.