Best Brass e- Sax Mute Alto Sax

I'm going to keep it short and to the point.

It does reduce the sound to a level comfortable for the ones around you. However, don't expect to be muted by the definition of the word. It does the job as long as you have realistic expectations. The mic is surprisingly good and it gives you the opportunity to hear yourself properly and not out of tune as I'm gonna mention below.
Built quality, decent as long as you treat it as you treat your saxophone (assuming you take care of your sax).

Now, expect to lose your comfort of playing freely as your hands are cramped inside the small holes and you can't reach the palm keys easily in both hands. I guess you can get used to it though. Or not.

Lastly the biggest negative is that without headphones you sound out of tune and unfortunately forget any decent sound below the low C. Long notes below C (even if you manage to make them) the sound makes a weird wavy circulation. However, I find it interesting that staccato notes with a little luck and practice can be heard. Again, expect no tune and quality of the low notes below C.

Overall, if you live in an apartment and you don't have a spare room to make it your studio, or you don't have a basement or any other option. That mute does the job.

I've been looking for some time for an effective way of practicing my saxophone but with the advantage normally only associated with brass players using 'practice mutes'. Lets face it even guitarists and keyboard players have the facility to play with head phones but the saxophone presents an engineers nightmare when it comes to finding a way of silencing the beast!

I must confess when I first saw this device I was very skeptical, i've seen the alternative mutes available and lets be honest they are a joke but this e-sax mute appears to be the first real genuine contender for doing what sax players want. My saxophone is a Yamaha YAS62 and it slotted into the e-sax case with little difficulty. There are 3 rubber inserts inside the case which you have to slot 'Lego' style to your saxes optimum position...once in position you close the case and then insert your hands into the two gel padded openings and off you go.

Observations, you will over blow to begin with BUT then when you add the headphones you start to pull back on the volume because you hear yourself very clearly. I own a professional noise meter, I noticed I could play around 65db, normal conversation is about 70-75db. A quiet office about 55db. At these volumes the likelihood of someone hearing you practice in another room is extremely unlikely unless they have a glass and ear to the wall! The e-sax also has some really cool features, a built in metronome and a various echo button. Just be careful with the e-sax mute, its quite robust but its built with plastic so if you dropped it, it would crack quite easily I think. I use mine sitting down, I think its easier to play that way due to the extra weight. I use my regular saxophone neck strap but perhaps a sax harness would work if you preferred to stand when practicing.

Conclusion, its a win! It actually works. Its pricey but if you have the need to play and difficult circumstances to practice this will be your best port of call. I note Thomann sell this unit quite a lot cheaper than other companies in the UK.....hence I bought it from Thomann.


Update May 2014

So now I've had this saxophone mute for a few months I wanted to add an update. I'm still pleased with the mute. I've nicknamed it 'the storm trooper' for obvious reasons :-) In terms of playability. Its good for about short 30-40 sessions but then needs to breath. It builds up condensation. Playable range tends to be fine for altissmo, high range, mid range but notes below bottom C don't really happen and I suspect this is because their is not enough space for the air to move on the lower notes. I still find it a very practical solution particularly when you need to play with backing tracks.

I love being able to play my saxophone without having to hold on volume because of the neighbours.
This mute is well made, I only like that it would had came with a stand a neck strap like Ergonomic Systems FREEneck 8.1K.
They also could adjust the way the mute closes, because you have to be careful to not close out in a wrong way which can be very easy if you are not careful enough.

Another thing if you have a conn with microtuner it is going to be very tricky to make it work, I wasn't able, but with my Magenta and Selmer it works perfect.

When I bought this Sax Mute, I was hoping for a totally new device that could take away all my troubles with the neibours. But unfortunately, you have to make more than one compromise to please the people around you with silence.

Response:
When I played the first few notes, I was thrilled: It was so much quieter! But when I tried to play the lower notes - nothing! Everything below D simply does not come out of the horn. I tried to put a vine-cork into the bell - a trick to get a better response for the low notes. It got better, but nevertheless not that good that you could play freely.
The high notes above high C-sharp did not come out of the horn, too.
The intonation also suffered, I could not get the middle D in tune.

Sound:
With the headphones and the reverb out of the little box it sounded quite ok, but I prefer a dry saxophone tone, so that I know how I sound unaltered.
Without the headphone, you hear what your neighbours are supposed to hear: a quiet, muddy sound. But that is in the sense of the producer.

Quality:
I was disappointed by the quality of the product. Everything seems very cheap, the earphone-plug broke after one week and the locks wore out after a while.
Additionally, there is no way out for the air, so your hands get very wet after a short playing time.

I am lucky to have a practice room in the cellar now, but even if I had not, I would not use this Sax Mute anymore.