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Vibratosax user experiences

162K views 442 replies 90 participants last post by  2saxy4jazz 
#1 ·
This is a new vibratosax thread for discussion of the actual saxes now that people have started receiving them.
 
#8 ·
Since we are transitioning to reviews in this thread I decided to copy and paste my initial impressions of the A1 from the other thread.

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Well, my A1 has arrived! Looks like a handful slipped through and got shipped to the US back on the 19th!

Mine DOES play out of the box, but will need some tweaks before it really plays. The included mouthpiece played alright with it, but the stock ligature wouldn't work with the Vandoren Blue box that I put on it (too small). Slapped the bonade that I use on my C** and had no problems. I also played it with the Scroll Shank C** and a Yamaha 4C, all three worked and so far the 4C has the best tone. The little rubber bumper that sits on the bottom of the G# key touch was off, but that was it.

Let me start by saying I only played it about 30 minutes before heading to my tech. I am still rather stunned by the fact this thing plays and for such a pioneering venture I am very impressed. My tech really enjoyed looking it over and noted a couple issues that had escaped me in my fascination.

1. The octave mechanism - The rod that holds the linkage together was either bent in transit or is not too rigid. The entire assembly flexes when the mechanism is activated (looks like a bent rod). It still seems to work (although the neck doesn't vent very high, may just need a shim).

2. F key - Doesn't vent as openly as the other lower stack keys. When he attempted to adjust the key height there was no way to back off the adjustment screws any farther than they were already set. He noticed some little risers located under the adjustment screws, but we didn't fiddle with removing or altering these.

3. Low C# venting with low B and Bb - This one seemed straight forward enough, there was a missing bumper on the arm that links the B and C#. My tech added a rubber bumper and it seemed to resolve the issue.

That's it so far! There are a couple issues to resolve, but I had a blast blowing on the horn. I look forward to hearing what others have to say about theirs. I also didn't get to run it against a tuner so will try to get around to that this evening. I may also try posting photos of the 'problem' areas to better communicate the issues.

I'm starting to wonder if it is time to start a new thread now that the vibratosax is arriving in the hands of consumers. Better yet, is it time to create a Vibratosax subforum? A new and innovative product such as this is going to generate a TON of discussion as players and techs add their thoughts and opinions on the horn. One thread of 23+ pages is going to get weighted down awefully quick... Just a thought.
 
#12 ·
Every single one was play tested in our factory before it's been packed. Now we have revised our packing process since we found that the sax can still moving inside the box while transport. However for those who already a player, we recommend playing it gently with softer reed for at least half an hour to get use to the key's weighting this will be a short cut to get use to it.
 
#14 ·
Every single one was play tested in our factory before it's been packed. Now we have revised our packing process since we found that the sax can still moving inside the box while transport.
That's good to know. It would seem then that any problems people have are due to movement during shipping, which would most likely mean that the problems should be fairly easy to fix. I'll wait to hear more about that.
 
#20 ·
Well, I have some progress to report. Managed to grab 15 minutes this evening to have a blow and I'm getting much better results - still a way to go but much improved. Firstly, I'm pretty sure now that there was a big leak when I first tried to play it, and that I was the cause of that leak. The pads don't have key cups behind them, and a couple in particular have the button (it's not a pearl!) directly over the pad, which of course is soft. So - press lightly, you get a seal. Press firmly and the centre of the pad is pressed down but the edges lift up - and you have a leak. Piyapat suggested light pressure and this is no doubt why - hey presto, a whole lot of notes opened up. Also, looking at the octave mechanism, it is partially functional - the octave vent on the body works fine - so it's only the vent on the neck which isn't working. Looking at it, it won't need much of a wrap on the part on the body to bring it into working contact with the neck.

I'm not getting perfect results by any means - F# sounds pretty stuffy for instance - but it's starting to sound pretty good. I think this is a sax you have to get used to - like going from alto to tenor or vice versa, perhaps a bit more different than that.

I mentioned before that it's insanely light. I went and popped it on the kitchen scales before I packed it away this evening. Complete with mouthpiece, it weighs a smidgeon under 900 grams. I weighed my BW curvy soprano (+ mouthpiece) for comparison. 3kg even.

If I spend any substantial amount of time playing this thing I'm going to have to give my tenor equal time or I will find it hard to go back to the heft of a 'normal' sax.
 
#27 ·
Maybe the pads could be be having a top thin disk of some harder material to prevent this bending.........this looks like work in progress and I feel that the first buyers are part of a larger test or focus group which , hopefully, will help with eliminating these teething problems. Vibratosax has been supportive and forthcoming saying that they will make sure that we get our money worth and a horn that plays as well as they one they have tested themselves.
 
#29 ·
The easy solution is to get harder pads but by doing so we might have to solve the problem of pad & tone hole banging sound. We have tried many soft & hard pads before. However from our test with the real beginner we didn't have a sealing problem so far but if their first sax is brass then they needed more time to get use to it.
 
#31 ·
I think the previous A1 model I tried in Bangkok earlier this year had A thinner pad with a flat-plate like cap like Milandro proposed. However, my experience was when I tried to blow harder, the thinner pads leaked.



I think the existing pads used on present A1/A1S are far better than the earlier pads. I also think the floating pads design is a great idea too.

I've tried over pressing the low-E (which the finger presses on the center of the cap) and forced the pad to deform a little bit, I once thought this might cause leaking which did not happen.



My guess is when the pad was over pressed, it's still sealed 'perfectly' with the inside edge of the tone hole wall. The excessive force acted to the pad prevents air leaks.
 
#34 ·
Just a quick note that I have used the same amount of key pressure that I use on my other horns without any problems. Hopefully I'll get more playing time in the next couple days. Not sure if I can get any recordings, I'll have to pester some friends who have the right equipment.
 
#39 ·
OK, need to dash off to my lesson and then to my youngest's speech day. But here are a few preliminary pics including light and firm pressure on the E key. Not from an identical angle - I struggled with this, my camera is pretty basic and refused to focus a lot of the time. Plus the sax is so shiny I had to turn the flash off and as a result some of the photos are pretty blurry. But I think you can see a fair bit of distortion of the pad in the "pad firm pressure" picture and I think (although I'm not certain) that this is enough to cause a leak. Firm pressure means maybe a little more than I would use on a standard sax.
 

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#40 ·
Couple of other quick things:
the box is a very temporary solution for storage - it's starting to tear already. We need the bag/case!
Also the sax comes with two swabs, one for neck and mouthpiece. They both seem to be really quite good quality.
 
#41 ·
Piyapat - just as a matter of interest, what colour pads will the A1-SG have as standard? The A1-S looks stunning with its orange-and-white colour scheme, and I like the look of the all-white A1 too. I think either gold or black pads would look nice and very professional, but obviously the final choice is yours...
 
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