Test Review of P Mauriat PMXA 67R Alto sax by Andy Brush.

Recently in the saxophone world there has been a buzz about a new brand of saxophones that is ready to take on the bigger established market leaders such as Selmer, Yanagisawa, Yamaha and Keilwerth. The name that’s creating  the excitement amongst us saxophonist’s is P Mauriat. I first saw the name P Mauriat in an advertisement in a  copy of Saxophone Journal last year. What I remembered about them was the fantastic look of the saxes!

Having been a Selmer Mark 6 devotee for the last 10 years I was sceptical about this new brand being any good as I had heard that they were being made in Taiwan. Taiwan has built a reputation for supplying the world with student quality instruments.

My faith in anything Taiwanese made had been restored in seconds of playing the PMXT 66R tenor. Wow! It played and felt just like my Mark 6.

So how about the PMXA 67R alto!! This particular model is a special order without the high F# key. All the PMXA alto’s come standard with a super VI neck that makes the sax freer blowing.

This alto has a rich centred sound that is very reminiscent of my old Selmer alto. The intonation on the PMXA 67R is far more accurate than that of the vintage horn. I put it to the test and played some interval exercises into my digital tuner. Playing 4 C’s in a row starting with low C and jumping octaves up to altissimo C it, was hard to outdo this sax. The action is extremely light making it easy to execute those fast 16^th note phrases. The key layout feels ergonomic and everything sit’s just in the right place! The horn delivers everything from a breathy sub tone to a screaming altissimo with no effort at all. This must have a lot to do with the rolled tone holes that are drawn from the body and not caped like some other models on the market today. The response of the altissimo's is second to none. The horn feels robust in it's construction and uses a harder material for the keywork but doesn’t seem to add any extra weight to the instrument.  The look of the sax is very nice. It is what P Mauriat call their “antique finish”. It really does resemble an old vintage horn that could tell a story or two. So, now after realising just how good these saxophones are … the all important question!! How much?! At time of writing, there is only one UK dealer which is sax.co.uk and their price is fantastic value for money….virtually half the price of other top brands.  If you are curious about these horns, get yourself down to sax.co.uk and try one out. I bet you end up taking one home with you.

Each of the horns that I am playing has the antique brushed lacquer finish. I have never seen a horn that looks like this, and I like it very much. It is a very distinctive look. The engraving feels like it was done after the lacquer was applied; you can see the brighter brass colour in the engraved metal. When you run your hand over the bell, you can feel the edges of the engraving. The abalone key pearls are a nice touch as well, an unexpected bit of colour.

As you might expect with a new horn, the feel of the keys is a little tight and springy because of the newsprings. Key placement is generally good. Now, on to the sound. I play a Mark VI London model alto and tenor. Both of these horns have been overhauled by master saxophone technician Ken Beason, so to me they sound better than the standard Mark VI. The P. Mauriat sounds as close to my VI’s as any horns I have played. I can hear a "tightness" in the sound, but after playing for a few minutes that aspect disappears and I just hear the sound of the horn. From behind the horn the Mauriat seems slightly darker than the VI, but there is no lack of resonance and colour. The Mauriat’s straight tone holes give the sound the same focus as the VI, which also has straight tone holes. The air moves through the Mauriat comfortably and the pitch of the horn is very good. The middle D is a little dead to me, but after acclimating to the instrument that might be less of a problem. The altissimo responds beautifully as well. I did notice on the alto that, in order to tune up, you have to push the mouthpiece pretty far up on the cork. I don’t know whether this is an intentional design aspect or just a coincidence.

If there is a dealer in your area that carries the P. Mauriat horn, you should make an effort to check it out. I think you will be glad that you did; it is a fine instrument made even more attractive by its relatively low price.