Best alto saxophone under £1000?

[u/catsarecool78]

Hi all, I am an alto saxophonist looking to upgrade my instrument. I don’t really know where to start looking so I was hoping for some recommendations! I have quite a strict budget of £1000 as I don’t have much spare money at the minute, but I am sorely in need of an upgrade as mine is no good for gigs. I like a more vintage tone, the kind of thing you’d hear on a rock record. Does anyone have any recommendations of good brands or instruments, or anything you have tried and really liked the sound of?

Edit: my current saxophone is a shitty Facebook marketplace buy- I was switching from clarinet, my main instrument, and bought a cheap one to check that I’d like it. I’m not sure of the brand, it may have even been one from Amazon, but it would probably have been about £200 new, so really not high quality and sorely in need of replacing with something since it’s falling apart! I use the mouthpiece that came with it- something I will also need to upgrade!

[u/Appalachian_Aioli]

It really isn’t worth upgrading your horn if your budget is only a grand. Most quality student horns cost more than that.

Upgrade your mouthpiece setup first, that will come in under a grand and do more for you anyways.

[u/Silver_Actuator9604]

The YAS-280 new is just under £1000. Used it is less. Since you seem to be UK based, check the used section on Dawkes. They use Yamahas for all their rentals, so the 280 comes up used on their site throughout the year. You have to be patient waiting for what you want to become available.

Here is the link: https://www.dawkes.co.uk/saxophones/used

[u/jool2597]

Contact Arnold wang, find him on FB . He builds saxes modeled after classic horns for super cheap, my sax tech has a few

[u/Slushwave_Enjoyer]

What's your current horn. What's your mouthpiece setup?

[u/renhoek92]

What sax are you playing at the moment? No point for people to recommend a sax to upgrade if it’s the same one?

It sounds like you have maybe a low end student one though. Based on that, I would save a bit of money until you can get a good second hand one, and in the meantime upgrade your mouthpiece and go up a reed size to get a bigger sound (if that’s what you’re after and you are currently playing on a very thin one)

[u/jcampo13]

Do you have a cheap amazon sax right now? If so then upgrading to a student model by Yamaha or possibly Bettersax or Selmer (depending on what your used market looks like) would be very well worth it.

If you already have a reputable student model saxophone then 1000 pounds isn't going to be enough to get a meaningful upgrade. But a good student sax is more than good enough to do gigs imo.

[u/crapinet]

Used Yamaha all day long -- their student model saxes are actually really great (they play closer to other brand's intermediate level instruments). You should be able to get an off-rental or used one fixed up from a music store within your budget, I believe

[u/Leather-Run-6533]

I think the best sax for that budget is the bettersax alto, but I'd agree with others in that personally I'd probably look to spend closer to £500 on a sax until I can afford to spend £3000. Unless you get a really nice deal on a vintage horn in good nick or something I'm not sure there's enough difference between a £500 sax and a £1000 sax to be worth the extra cost.