Best Brass e- Sax Mute Alto Sax

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.

When I purchased a saxophone I didn't know it was such a loud instrument. I tried different ways of dampening down the highs and the lows, but it was still loud. The best way is to have a practice booth which one can build with basic construction skills, or purchase it (but it's very expensive). The cheapest option for me was to buy this e-Sax mute and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. Yes, it is more expensive than my saxophone but it is worth keeping good relationships with the neighbors.

Some say that low notes are hard to play with it. I don't find any problem playing them at all. All notes play well with the mute.

The built-in amplifier is good enough. It's heavier than the saxophone, but not that heavy for a (comfortable) neck strap. For those that think it will be too heavy for them, they may purchase a shoulder harness.

i live in a house with my wife who teaches in the home most days and nights of the week. This has meant that in the past while the music room is blasting out fultes at a good volume there is nowhere in the house that I can play my sax as it can be heard in the music room. Best Brass mute has changed that now for ever. Unbelievably if i play upstairs there is only a whisper to be heard downstairs and they have to make an effort to listen. So no more grumbling about not having practise time. The built in metronome is brilliant as is the three reverb settings. Having the sound isolated through headphones is a great tool for working on intonation. And the fact that you can feed playalongs straight through any source is amasing. you are not bothering anyone with the sound of sax or the rythm section on a backing track. Great investment in my developement.

I bought this not for routine practice, because with the right mouthpiece and reed combination I can play quietly indoors and do some reasonably serious practice, but instead needed this to be able to really scream the saxophone indoors without annoying the neighbours, and it really does work! The volume reduction is excellent. I live in a mid-terrace and I can absolutely scream the saxophone at full volume and not be worried about the noise level. The inbuilt microphone is perfectly ok for that type of playing too, and the ability to hear yourself under headphones is really useful too. The only criticism would be the echo - pretty much pointless, it is a horrible slapback delay with very short delay time. It isn't a digital reverb which really is what they should have provided for the money. My saxophone fits inside the case perfectly well and although I am worried about the rubberised grips around the hand holes, they seem durable. My advice is to make sure that you are very comfortable with the height of the overall case when you play as I noticed my wrists hurting afterwards when it wasn't set correctly, and I think you could easily end up with RSI strain which can take ages to heal. So make sure your neck is supporting the case, not your wrists. But overall it is a worthwhile investment and it is really comforting to know that I can practice my screaming saxophone technique indoors without having to find somewhere outside away from people like a footpath tunnel in the countryside. I really can now play as loud as I want indoors in a mid-terraced house at any time of day or night. Note that I mean this with respect to what the neighbours can hear. If someone was in the same room as me or next door sleeping they might be annoyed by it, but the sound is too quiet to travel through walls with the case in use. You could comfortably practice in a hotel room put it that way. So it is not cheap, but it does actually work, and it feels good quality.

I have used a variety of mutes to please the neighbors, including SAXMUTE ONE, but I have to say that this one e-Sax Mute tops everything I tried.

I read some people are saying that lower/higher notes don't come out at all but that must be due to a specific horn as in my case all notes come out well and I can hardly feel a difference. The middle D is more difficult to get in-tune, but possible.
My experience is that once you're able to play with the mute, you'll play way better without it.

The sounds effects I haven't tried but I bought the mute to practice, so I don't really need them. In my opinion, e-Sax should have made it optional as not many need it. It would also be great if there were stands for sale for this mute, similar to the Hercules stands for sax.

Overall I couldn't be happier with this mute, it's worth every penny!

I'm a total alto saxophone beginner, so take my review with a grain of sault. I didn't know before I bought my alto saxophone how loud it was. I'm a guitar player for 25+ years, and I never had an issue practicing in my home studio. Once I got my alto saxophone, that was no longer possible, as I would disturb the neighbors, my wife and kid.

In short, this mute changes that completely, and I could not image how much stagnation would one go through if you couldn't practice at home.

Some youtube videos claim that this item is expensive, that it's not needed for beginners, etc. I cannot disagree more. The most expensive thing for you as a musician, especially a beginner, is not practicing. That will demoralize you, you will not make progress, and even worse case, quit.

All in all, you must have this, it's amazing.