Unison 2000 Altos and Tenors - Coming Soon!

[DaveKessler]

Just finished up a meeting with the actual owner of the Unison brand name and Unison factory in Taiwan.

We will soon have the new Unison 2000 series alto and tenor saxophones.

As some have posted, these are amazing. Frankly, they are the best alto and tenor coming out of Taiwan right now. I am not sure yet on price but I will add them to my site as soon as I know.

These are truly awesome horns.

More info soon!

[rispoli]

Will you stock (or will ve able to procure) their excellent Masterpiece necks ?
I am looking to buy one (not sure who sells those, everybody I read seem to have bought them through Steve Goodson), get back to me you can.

[DaveKessler]

Will you stock (or will ve able to procure) their excellent Masterpiece necks ?
I am looking to buy one (not sure who sells those, everybody I read seem to have bought them through Steve Goodson), get back to me you can.

I can check into this. I would assume that it would not be a problem. Right now, I would do it as special order though.

What are you looking for specifically?

[rispoli]

Looking for a Mark VI neck.

[paulwl]

We will soon have the new Unison 2000 series alto and tenor saxophones.And only six years late! 8-)

(I'm sure that's not that case at all, Dave, but couldn't they have at least picked a different model number? 1000? 3000? Anything but 2000.)

[MikeCa]

They did have the masterpiece necks at NAMM. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get one. I may have one of these in stock in gold plate (and I can't remember how we got it, I think it was an abandoned special order but it might also be just a regular replacement neck for the 300 series). I'll check on it on monday and post info.

These are incredible horns. I wish I had more info on them but haven't had the time to get in contact with them. They were definitely the best saxes I played at the show (under $5,000.00 retail). Hands down! I'm not kidding! I am hoping to also be carrying them soon. The S300 and S400 models are also very nice and incredibly low priced for what they are. I was at the CBDA (Calif. Band Directors) convention this weekend and the S300L we had was the best I played of Jupiter, Gulf (not sure where that was made, might be China), Stephenhausser (though that's a nice horn also, very comparable to a Cannonball IMHO), Newport, Olds, La Voix (though that is also a very nice horn from Selmer but the engraving was pretty cheesy). I played a lot of horns and the Unison had the most depth and fullness to the tone and very smooth keywork.

The new Jupiter 900 model was also pretty cool. Of these horns they were all OK at least, I think it just comes down to a feel in the horn and the depth of tone which is really hard to describe but it just feels right.

Unison horns are in general great horns at phenomenal pices. Congrats to Dave on getting that worked out (from my conversations with them English wasn't a company priority- LOL!). Some of the horns I compared them to at Namm in addition to those listed were the Cannonball, Mauriat, intermediate Keilwerth, YAS62II, American Selmer (way overpriced IMHO), and a few more that no one has heard of yet.

These also had necks available (at the show anyway) in regular brass, rose brass, and Sterling silver (of which of course the Sterling silver added an almost effortless quality and a few hundred dollars).

Pretty excited about these horns!

[DaveKessler]

Looking for a Mark VI neck.

Alto or Tenor?

What finish/material were you looking for?

[bradshawm]

I noticed you have prices for the Unison Tenors on your web site. Do you have horns in stock yet?

[DaveKessler]

I noticed you have prices for the Unison Tenors on your web site. Do you have horns in stock yet?

Not yet in stock but should have 1 lacquer alto and tenor in a few days. The cases arrived today (from pro-tec) and the saxes are coming from Taiwan very soon. I expect by next week, I will have these 2 horns.

The rest will be following within 4 weeks.

I will not be in the office next week when these arrive but do plan on checking in when they do in deed come in.

Standard, they will come in a Deluxe Pro-Tec bag.

Tenor: http://www.ptcases.com/items.asp?ProductID=55&InstrumentGroupID=8&CategoryID=3&InstrumentID=35
Alto: http://www.ptcases.com/items.asp?ProductID=56&InstrumentGroupID=8&CategoryID=3&InstrumentID=1

[saxdogg]

I'm very interested in the bari info as you get it...keep us posted!

JEremy

[DaveKessler]

I'm very interested in the bari info as you get it...keep us posted!

JEremy

Bari will probably be in within 4 weeks or so. It should be about $2895.

I also am getting in 4 Leblanc 7190BA (Yanagisawa B901's) in around 9 days.

[saxdogg]

Ah yes, the former vito's! How much do those sell for?

Jeremy

[DaveKessler]

Ah yes, the former vito's! How much do those sell for?

Jeremy

Sorry but I am not allowed to post price publically.

By the way, though I am on vacation this week, I checked in today and we did receive the first Unison 2000 alto and tenor saxes. more to come soon as well as pictures (Monday).

[MikeCa]

For your own sake Dave, enjoy your vacation and stop calling the store!

LOL!

I'm just as bad, there's a running joke about me calling in from Disneland to find out if a shipment made it in time.

[DaveKessler]

Actually, I have to go back in to the store this afternoon for a meeting with Conn-Selmer people. I am going to try and convince them of the stupidity of MAP pricing...

[MikeCa]

Well, I guess that answers the question if people live in Vegas, vacation there!

LOL!

Which Unison bari are you getting? They had the one they were doing before (which was a beyond an incredible value) and then they had this new "Pro" model at NAMM which if I remember was listing well over $5,000.00. I didn't have a bari mouthpiece with me at the show but it definitely looked and felt amazing! If I remember they just had it leaning in the back corner of their booth.

[bradshawm]

I talked with Chuck Kessler this weekend to see if they had the 2000's in yet. He stated that they had received the alto and tenor, but that they had already been sold.

I got to play on an older Unison 2000 this past weekend. It played well, but had issues that made me a little nervous. It had two necks. You could see the silver solder(or whatever it is) at the base of every one of the post's, and several of them had what looked like rust around them. If it weren't for that, I probably would have picked it up.

Is the new Unison 2000 different from the previous ones, or is it the same horn? Also, I heard someone say that the 2000 was the same as the Steve Goodson Model. Is that true?

Marshall

[DaveKessler]

I talked with Chuck Kessler this weekend to see if they had the 2000's in yet. He stated that they had received the alto and tenor, but that they had already been sold.

I got to play on an older Unison 2000 this past weekend. It played well, but had issues that made me a little nervous. It had two necks. You could see the silver solder(or whatever it is) at the base of every one of the post's, and several of them had what looked like rust around them. If it weren't for that, I probably would have picked it up.

Is the new Unison 2000 different from the previous ones, or is it the same horn? Also, I heard someone say that the 2000 was the same as the Steve Goodson Model. Is that true?

Marshall

Actually, the tenor I have is still available. The person I had it earmarked for fell through.

The Unison 2000 setup that I order is with the 1 underslung neck. Frankly, we did not think the other neck played any better at all.

True, the horns are not perfect (what horn is?). We do have to do some further fine tune adjustments with the horns when they come in... but not a terrible amount of it.

I did not notice any sloppy solder work right away but will go over it with a fine tooth comb later. However, I did look carefully over a Keilwerth SX90R Nickel Silver tenor that we got in, and they have some sloppy solderwork as welll - but nothing nasty and especially once you play it.

With any horn, you can find something that is not perfect. I do not recall seeing anything on the first Unison 2000's that I received that stands out in my mind though.

Dave

[jmartin]

I checked your website. Have you posted pics and prices? I couldn't find any.

[DaveKessler]

http://www.kesslermusic.com/html/sax/Unison2000Tenor/T2000.htm

Prices are listed on the website in the alto and tenor sections

[TJS]

Dave,

I read your comparison's of the Unison 2000 tenor to the Yanagisawa 990. How would you compare it to the 991?

Thanks,

[DaveKessler]

Dave,

I read your comparison's of the Unison 2000 tenor to the Yanagisawa 990. How would you compare it to the 991?

Thanks,

I dont remember posting a comparison of the 2000 next to an older 990... maybe against the 901 since they are more similarly priced.

The Yanagisawas (901 & 991) have more overtones than the 2000. The Unison has a very clean tone, similar to Yamaha's but with much more warmth and presence in our opinion.

The 991 is a VERY good horn and I feel that it is a better horn than the 2000 in every category.... but they are $1200 more than the Unison... so they better be.

For the under $2000 budget, we feel that the Unison is a great horn and one of the 2 best horns in that price (the Yanagisawa 901 series being the other).

The Unison has a richer, fuller tone than the 901, but the 901 has more overtones and more refined build quality. Overall, VERY close horns and really a personal preference.