The Blues 141 Alto Saxophone

With the staggering array of affordable student saxophones on the market these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers to know exactly which is the best instrument to recommend to students (or their ever willing parents with the cheque book!!).
As we all know it isn't just simply a case of how much the instrument costs, as, in all walks of life, you get what you pay for. It is vital that you look at the whole package - not only the cost and quality of the instrument, but also the quality of set up on the instrument, the guarantee, the mouthpiece, the case, the sling....

In the Blues 141 John Packer Ltd have come up with the complete student saxophone package. The Blues 141 has been designed and developed via extensive consultation between the makers and John Packers, with the woodwind specialists having defining input at every stage of the design.

The first question regarding a new instrument is inevitably "How much does it cost?". The standard Blues 141 sells at £475 including VAT (If you are under 18 and in full time education, contact the shop for details of their assisted purchase prices). At £475 this is one of the most inexpensive student saxophones on the market. This price also includes an excellent quality hard case, a Yamaha mouthpiece and a Neotech sling. It also includes the John Packer full technical set-up (an excellent example of attention to detail from the shop - they spend a great deal of time ensuring that the instrument is precisely set up: ensuring pads are seated properly, keywork is perfectly aligned and tightened, rods are oiled etc.)

On to the technical stuff!! The Blues 141 is a very well put together lacquered saxophone with high F#. The keywork is solid and not apt to bending under clumsy, inexperienced fingers. In the design, special attention was given to the positioning of all the keywork - given that the saxophone was being specifically designed for beginners. This is an easy saxophone for pupils with smaller hands to get to grips with. There isn't a long reach around the palm keys, and the right hand keys are very easy to get to, without any threat of touching the Bb side key.

The Blues 141 has excellent tuning throughout the 3 registers and is incredibly stable throughout the whole range. This saxophone is a very solid instrument - it is fairly weighty, but not overly so. This makes it a powerful instrument, with a great deal of dynamic flexibility and very good tonal response.

When I tried out this instrument, in addition to playing it myself - solo, and in a big band - I gave it to a number of my students to try. The students were of all abilities, and every one of them found the instrument easy to work with. The beginners found it really easy blowing, and the more advanced students found it to be really responsive.

In addition to the basic Blues 141, John Packer Ltd are offering a number of additional step up options. They have developed copper and silver crooks for the instrument. Having blown both these crooks I would definitely recommend that players try them out. The copper crook (priced at £75) offers an excellent mellow tone, excellent for solo work. The silver crook (priced at £195) produces a massive sound. It is a big bright sound that one of my students particularly enjoyed producing whilst playing for the Music Centre Big Band! Both crooks retain the responsive nature of the instrument and are well worth considering. These crooks are available in a number of package deals along with Rovner Ligatures and Bags cases.

The excellent pre and post sale care of John Packer Ltd, coupled with the excellent qualities of this new saxophone, make this instrument, in my opinion, simply the best instrument in it's class.

Martin Kay - Music Centre Manager - Bolton Music Centre (Saxophone and Clarinet Specialist) 

N.B. Please note that the instrument has been further developed since this was written with the enhancement of the rose brass bell and bow to add further maturity to what was already a well voiced instrument. We have also added an excellent tenor sax to the range.

This is what Andy Tweed had to say about the Blues 141 in Music Teacher magazine...

"This sax is exclusive to Packers of Taunton. In appearance it has all those Selmer motifs but with a bigger flare to the bell. The finger touch-plates are inlaid in black, creating a very distinctive look. Significantly on a budget instrument, the materials used are brass for the body but bronze for the bow and bell. This is something the quality manufacturers have introduced, noticeably Yanagisawa whose bronze range of instruments is proving very popular. Build quality is excellent with solid keywork.

The case is excellent: semi-solid with a fabric outer layer, two useful pockets on the outside for music and rucksack carry-straps. It included a neoprene neckstrap, a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece, a standard metal ligature, a Rico 1½ reed, a Selmer sax care kit with more brushes and cloths than I knew what to do with, and a comprehensive do's and don't list.

The sound is warm and pleasingly heavy. One of the reasons pro players use the instruments they do is because as you push the sound louder the saxophone responds, keeping the sound rich and musical without harshness. This saxophone can do this too, making it very satisfying to play. Tuning is very good though and the supplied mouthpiece fitted well and worked well with the Rico reed."

Andy went on to say that out of all the student saxophones he tried the Blues 141 was one of his favourites and he preferred it to the YamahaYAS275 and the Jupiter JAS565GL

" ..it has quality build but also had great sounds that would last a student for years before they felt the need to step up to pro instruments."

View Product Details | Add to Cart

Image Gallery - Click to enlarge