Yamaha YTS 62
What has always impressed me about Yamaha saxophones is how incredibly easy they are to play and how well engineered they are. The 62 tenor confirmed this impression. Light and easy to handle, it has a liquid-smooth action whilst feeling very solid in my hands. As with all Yamaha saxes a lovely smooth finish and nice feel to the keywork, pearls are smooth under the fingers. I was also impressed by the depth of tone to this instrument and the ability to play very expressively. Secure in all registers and a pleasing resonance to the lower register in particular. The sound was very clear and I could play with a good range of dynamics with ease. It seemed to allow lots of detail in my playing to come through.

There wasn't the weight of sound that some of the other tenors had, and it wasn't quite as quick to respond. On the whole I think that this is another very good sax that plays well, in tune, good range of dynamics and strong in all registers. The 62 tenor is a solid and reliable saxophone and I would be more than happy to take it out on a gig.

Yamaha Custom YTS875
Yamaha's top of the range tenor sax, and it is worthy of being up there with the very best. Felt like a big instrument, and that was reflected in the sound, like a big brother of the YTS62. Very rich and full bodied with great clarity. Intonation excellent. It seemed to respond faster than the YTS62, the notes speaking with excellent clarity. This felt another easy saxophone to play, and getting around the hardest finger-busting passages of music did not feel like hard work, owing to the smooth keywork. The pearl keys were larger than most other saxes with deeper grooves for the fingers. This is popular with many players though not really for me. That said, I did get used to this different feel and after a while I didn't really notice it. The YTS875 seemed to offer all the things I like: the weight of the sound, the 'free-blowingness', and the ability to play musically in any style of music. It allowed for plenty of expression to be put into the music. My only slight criticism was that it didn't really excite me in the way that some of the other saxes on test did, and at times I felt that the sound lacked a bit of character. That said, I am only nit-picking as playing the 875 was an enjoyable experience and I certainly rate the Yamaha Custom very highly. 

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