I would think the yamaha to be more solidly built than the jupiter, i havea 475, and they are heavy sops, perform easily and all in all, a good intermediate horn,which some players really get on with.
The jupiter probably isn,t going to be a bad horn, and the bottom line i feel when playing sop" is to consider the sound you are after and the feel[ergonomics], the yamahas are good in that respect, but you may prefer the sound of a jupiter?[persaonally i have never played one].
For starters; the Jupiter 500 series is a Chinese produced beginner instrument (although a soprano hardly is what you start out with!?), the Yamaha is an intermediate horn, and although the Jupiter is not a bad horn, the 475 series is a different league, quite simply!
Taiwanese, not Chinese. The Jupiter 547 is actually a well-built instrument. It suffers from cramped ergonomics on the left hand, though. You'll probably have fewer intonation problems with the Yamaha 475 than with the Jupiter 547.
I demo'd a bunch of Sop when I was in University, as I needed a decent horn for sax quartet. The 475 is the best horn for the buck. Intonation is better then any soprano I have ever played and the horn is quite versatile. I can play Barber's Adagio for Strings and The Piggly Wiggle in concerts and have no problem getting the authentic sound required.
Ahem, no way you can sound authentic for that piece on a sax. I've arranged and performed this piece for marimba choir, and while the sound is wonderful, it is hardly authentic.
I must admit, I did not intend for people to take me that literally and when I used the word authentic I was trying to imply that with the 475 I could easily work with it to get the desired tone I wanted. Can I make a string tone with a sax? no. But can I give and authentic portrayal of Barber's Adagio with my 475? Yes.
The Jupiter is a "beginner class" instrument and the 475 is an "intermediate class". If you're ever going to sell the saxophone, the Yamaha will definitely have a higher resale value, not only due to it being an intermediate instrument but a more well known brand. You're going to be better off with a 475. I got a Yamaha alto YAS-475 yesterday, and believe me, it was better than most artist series that Jupiter has and it was cheaper too!
Yamaha uses the term "intermediate" for marketing reasons. For many years, the 62 was sold as an "intermediate" model. Suddenly, the same horn became a "professional" model. Next year they will raise the price of the 475 to $2500, call it the 475 Mark111 "professional one piece model" like the Yani 902.
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