Why I still play a student horn (Jean Paul AS-400 review)

Why I still play a student horn (Jean Paul AS-400 review)

So, I've been playing saxophone for a little over 8 years, and I've only ever played student horns. I think I rented a horn initially, and then I bought a— a Giardinelli, I think is how you pronounce it.

I played that horn through high school and into college, and eventually my repair guy said it was going to need re-padded soon.

The re-pad was going to cost as much as the saxophone itself, so I decided to start looking around for new horns.

But before we get into the video, please destroy the like button.

I don't know, I'm going to add, like, funny effects or something, maybe it will be funnier in post.

I had seen a ton of videos calling the Jean Paul the best saxophone for under $500.

I took a chance and bought one, and that was about a year ago.

Since this isn't, like, an unboxing and I've been playing the instrument for a year, you won't get my initial reaction.

But I've gotten a few people to ask me to review the instrument, so I thought it would be good to make, like, a 1-year ownership review and also just explain a little bit about why I still play a student saxophone.

So, let's start with the case. I actually love this case.

My favorite part is the backpack straps.

My last case just had an over-the-shoulder strap, and it was fine, but it just gets uncomfortable after a while.

The backpack straps are so convenient, just because it frees up my hands to hold either my saxophone stand or a music stand if I need it for the gig.

Also, the outside pouch is just big enough to fit my flute case in, which I love too, because I can basically just have my horn and my flute all on my back.

Basically, it just makes it easier to open and close doors when you're walking into venues, and also prevents you from having to take two trips.

The only issue I've had with the backpack straps is one of the little rings at the bottom bends slightly, which almost let the clip slide through and it would have made the strap fall off.

But I don't know how it bent, because I tried to bend it back and it was kind of difficult. So I ended up just clipping everything back together and putting a little tape around that opening, just to prevent it from happening.

You can take the backpack straps off, but I've always just left them on.

Also, if you want to unclip them, you can just tuck them into this little pouch on the back side and zip it up, which is really convenient too.

Also, I've gotten some people asking me how I fit my neck strap into the case.

Normally, the neck strap that I have is supposed to be able to fit into the bell of a tenor, but not an alto.

So for my alto case, I basically just hook it on the outside, like this, and then kind of wrap the carry handle around it and Velcro it together.

I never have any issues with the strap falling off, and that seems to work great for alto.

For my tenor case, I could put it in the bell, but oftentimes I have my neck and mouthpiece all together in there, and I just stuff that in the bell so I can actually fit the neck strap in this little side compartment area here.

I really like having that little extra space.

I can fit my reed holder, a couple of mouthpieces, and the swab in here.

I will say the swab that came with the alto isn't nearly as nice as the tenor one.

The one that comes with the alto is like a shammy material, I guess, and it's kind of starting to get shredded.

Also, the weight that came on it wasn't quite heavy enough, so I kind of just, like, taped a penny to the end.

The one that comes with the tenor is a really nice cloth that has enough weight on the end.

Also, it's, like, branded.

I bought the tenor about a month or so after buying the alto, so it's possible that they were just switching swabs at that point, and all the newer altos will come with a nicer swab.

I don't know if it's an alto-specific thing or not, but I think on their website now it shows that it comes with the Jean Paul branded swab.

Oh, also there's a spot for your mouthpiece over in the corner, and the stock mouthpiece that comes with the instrument fits great in there, but I could not really get mine to fit.

I think part of it's just my ligature, because I have a big screw on the end.

So now onto the horn itself.

I just got the standard brass finish, although they do offer a silver finish.

I think it's $100 more, so I didn't really care for it.

There's some engraving on the bell and the pearl inlays.

I don't think they're real pearl, they're probably just plastic.

But the inlays do, like, dip in a little bit, which I really like.

On my old horn and some other horns that I've played, the inlays almost, like, were either flat or they, like, curved out, and I didn't like the way it felt on my fingers.

So I definitely prefer the pearls on this horn.

Also, ignore this tape on the back of my instrument. Sometimes when I have the instrument up against my side, it slides around too much, so that's just kind of to keep it from sliding.

In terms of the ergonomics, honestly, everything feels really solid.

The travel could be less, but it's honestly really good for a student horn.

There aren't any single keys that feel out of line or, like, they move way more than any of the others.

There is a high F-sharp key, but I never use it.

I've always just used front F-sharp because it makes it easier to get into the altissimo register.

Also, one of the things I remember I first noticed about this horn when I got it was how quiet the keys were.

On my old horn, everything clicks and was really loud, partly just from it being worn out.

So when I first started playing this horn, everything felt so quiet.

It almost felt like my playing was louder.

It was weird.

I will say the only complaint I have about the ergonomics is the octave key.

If you're playing any notes that require the neck octave key mechanism to open, the key travel ends up being pretty extreme.

I have to push the octave key down almost the entire way to get it to crack open.

I tried to have it adjusted by my repair guy last time I took it into the shop, and he said there's basically only so much he could do to get that much wiggle out.

Some of it also depends on the position of the neck, and maybe I like to play with the neck a little further off to the side, I'm not sure.

On one hand, this is great, because sometimes I'm not pushing the octave key down all the way, which means my voicing is good, because I'm still getting the notes out and I'm basically playing, like, overtones.

On the other hand, sometimes it can be annoying.

Also, I'm probably creating bad muscle memory, because my thumb is moving way more than it needs to.

So if I ever upgrade and play a different horn, I'll be doing the same thing, even though that instrument will probably require less movement to actually open up the key.

So here's a little clip of me playing the instrument.

That's pretty much it for the horn itself.

Also, I did mention that I own the Jean Paul tenor model too, that's also a student horn.

My buddy who plays a Mark VI has played my Jean Paul tenor and said it was a really solid instrument, even compared to the holy grail of saxophones.

Obviously, the Mark VI plays better, but it's also 20 times the price, and I don't know if it necessarily plays 20 times better.

Part of this could be skewed, just because I've only ever known student horns.

I've played a bunch of professional horns here and there, but I've never, like, played one for any long period of time.

I don't really have a Mark VI alto, so I can't necessarily do a comparison of this to a professional alto.

But if you want me to do a review or comparison of my Jean Paul tenor, just let me know.

So one of the questions I get is, is it worth it?

And I say absolutely.

I really think this is one of the best saxophones you can buy for the money.

One of the things that separates Jean Paul from other manufacturers is they actually have repair technicians look over all of their instruments after they come out of the manufacturing plant and before they send them off to the consumer.

So they go over each horn and make sure that everything is working and sealing as it should be.

Also, I've heard they have incredible customer service.

Since I've never had any issues, I've never needed to contact them, but it's always nice to know that the customer service is there if you need it.

Alright, so now I just wanted to briefly talk about why I still play a student horn.

There are a few reasons.

One is I've never had a giant chunk of money to just drop on a professional instrument, but I honestly don't know if I would play a super expensive instrument even if someone handed me all the money right now.

I kind of like being able to tell people that I play a student horn, because oftentimes people use their instrument as an excuse.

I remember one time in jazz band rehearsal in high school, I was complaining about my horn being leaky or something.

My instructor, who's an incredible saxophonist, goes, "Let me see it," and then goes, "Bwah!" and just gets every note to speak immediately.

Then he says, "Feels fine to me."

That was a polite way of making his point, and ever since then I've just never really blamed the instrument for any of the issues I'm having, even if something is wrong with it.

Also, occasionally my saxophone teacher would play one of the crappy school horns there if he forgot his at home, and he sounded exactly the same on that as he did his expensive professional horn.

All of that was definitely extremely formative for me.

Now, don't get me wrong, gear does matter.

Having a horn where everything works, with no leaks, a great mouthpiece, and even better reed, all that is going to make playing the saxophone easier.

But there are a lot of times where you just don't have all of your gear working perfectly.

Sometimes you don't have a chance to take your horn to a repair guy in between gigs, and other times you haven't had a chance to go through reeds and find a really great one, so you're forced to play in situations that are less than ideal.

The point is, you won't always be able to play with all of your gear in perfect working order.

So I'd rather just get good at playing on an okay setup and learn how to make it work.

Also, I oftentimes see players just using their gear as an excuse.

And in my experience, using your gear as an excuse just leads to negligence in fundamental issues of your playing.

If you can learn how to, say, play altissimo on a student horn, whenever you pick up a professional horn, it's going to feel great and super easy.

It's almost like baseball players practicing swinging with a weight on the end of their bat.

Wait, why am I making a baseball reference?

I don't even watch sports.

So that's pretty much it for the review of the Jean Paul AS400, as well as some rambling about gear.

I do want to mention that if you're looking to buy a Jean Paul saxophone, you can use the link in the description, and that'll help support my channel.

Let me know if there are any other reviews you want me to make, or if you want me to try to do a comparison of the Jean Paul tenor.

Like I said, I have a buddy who has a Mark VI, and I'm sure he would let me borrow it for a video.

So yeah, thanks so much for watching, and if this video was helpful, make sure to give it a thumbs up, and I'll see you guys in the next video.

Okay, I have the trumpet and the mouthpiece. Uh, where's the reed?

Also, I don't know what to do about valve oil.

Like, these don't feel that sticky. Oh, okay, that one's a little sticky.

I don't know what to do about that.

I'm pretty sure you just unscrew these things.

Hang on, let me see.