Dr. Wally, you have a truly sublime tone and your melodies simply are peerless when compared to other saxophonists on the world wide web.  Deeply appreciated.

I have the Jean Paul AS-400 student model and I have loved it ever since I started playing again as an adult. It is a very well built horn!

Stunning playing. Love your music. In the 70s from 10 to 18 years old I played mostly a Yamaha with a high F sharp key and the last year and a half, a Yamaha tenor with the high f sharp key. People said I had a good sound, and I recognized the bright sound of these machines. Life gets in the way and one moves on. 6 weeks ago at cousins house. She just started learning the saxophone at 55 years of age. She has a student alto Yamaha. I picked it up and (this being 43 years later) played it. Shocked I still had some ability and retained good sound. (wife shocked, you will start playing again....she is half German so one follows orders). Did my research and determined one will never go wrong buying a Yamaha. Loved the dark sound of the Student Jean Paul. Bought one and have been playing it for 4 weeks firming up my fundamentals. Having so much fun and love it. IF I get to the point where it starts limiting me I would get the 860. But that is a way off.  I practice daily. You Sir, are partly responsible for keeping me on the straight and narrow. THANK YOU.

When I was a "serious high-school level student," I played 6 hours a day. No joke. Three hours of rehearsals in school plus three hours practice at home. I think that's pretty much the only reason I can still play at a passable level now.

Been hesitant to recommend this as an option to my beginner students renting saxes. Yours is the second good review on YouTube. Will at least suggest they take a look. Thanks for a well rounded and detailed review.

I too got a Jean Paul AS 400 which arrive March 31 this year (21) and in the first six months have easily put on between 450-500 hours.  Here’s my honest assessment: I love it!  But to be honest, I have nothing else to compare.   I started playing the sax (never even touched one before this and didn’t even know there were different kind of saxes out there).  I took formal (classic) piano lessons as a child for about 7 years and haven’t played piano or guitar for years; more like decades.  Sax woke up something in me which I’ve never experienced with piano and guitar…a passion, I guess.  Thus, in the first 6 months I have easily played 20-30 hours per week and this still continues to be the case.  So I have put a lot of hours on this instrument that would still be considered new.  The issues I have had with it are really minor, but here they are:  I’ve had a cork damper behind one of the keys come off.  I stuck it back on a few times until I got out the contact cement and did it properly.  It’s fixed now.  Every few months the screw holding the octave mechanism on the neck backs out, I imagine due to vibration.  The mechanism drops on one side and the key doesn’t seat properly over the hole.  I now check it once in a while and retighten if necessary.  A dab of loctite will fix this if it irritates me enough to get it out.  The next issue is probably a combination of geographic and design.  The cork which the mouthpiece slides onto has started to disintegrate at the far end: on the side closest to the octave mechanism.  It doesn’t interfere with the mouthpiece because I don’t need it to go that far.  What I noticed going on was because the mouthpiece is tight fitting, it compresses the cork (downward pressure) inside the mouthpiece.  The portion of cork outside the mouthpiece ends up with unusual upward pressure on it (away from the neck).  My guess is that this upward pressure has caused the contact cement to pull away.  

The geographic problem is this:  The humidity where I live can be all over the place in the summer.  From humid to dry.  Cork grease doesn’t just lubricate, but it also conditions the cork.  I haven’t been that diligent using it and only use it if I’m really having difficulty man handling the mouthpiece onto the neck.  The portion of cork that is peeling feels dry and crumbly so I know I need to keep it conditioned during the dry times of the year.  Replacing the cork isn’t really a big deal for me.  I have lots of it which I use for other reasons and one day I’ll get around to replacing this.  I think I’ll sand down the new cork so that the mouthpiece isn’t as tight.  But on a side note, I bought a Jody Jazz custom dark mouthpiece and it apparently would even be a tighter fit than the mouthpiece that comes with the Jean Paul because the stock mouthpiece no longer fits unless I wrap a piece of paper around the cork first.  

My biggest complaint about my Jean-Paul is this:  My little finger constantly jams under the roller when I need to slide between C# and B or Bb.  Of course no problem when coming the opposite way.  But a few songs I’m learning requires a back and forth movement and I’m unable to do it no matter what tricks I try.  If I’m going to be picky, I notice the same thing when I have to quickly play a back and forth C/D# movement.  No problem coming up from C, but the roller feels a little high when coming from D# to C, especially if I have to play the two notes quickly or have to play these two notes back and forth.  BUT, to be fair to Jean Paul, I only paid 700 (Canadian) for my sax and I’m looking for key movement that comes with far more expensive saxes.  I played around with the keys on a $4000.00 Selmer and couldn’t believe how effortless it was playing those keys.  But I’m comparing apples to oranges.  A $700.00 instrument to a 4000.00 one.  At the same time I tried a student Yamaha version and I have to say I prefer the key action of my Jean Paul better.  

Overall I love my Jean Paul.  The one question I have for you, Doc, is how do you find the key action between the AS-400 and the AS-860?  Is there much of a difference?  Down the road I would like to purchase a Tenor and the beast, Soprano and would seriously consider a Jean Paul professional.  I play just for my own pleasure and don’t see myself jamming in a band anytime soon so a good quality instrument that doesn’t break the bank is okay for me.  But the key action needs to be smooth.  

However the Cannonball keeps calling my way……..I love the sound that instrument produces.  But I better start saving my pennies.  

Great job as always, Doc Wally.  Love your videos and your humour always draws me back in to watch another video.  Thanks for all that you are doing for the sax community.

Great review and utterly honest as it should be. You do have the integrity all reviewers should have. When I get back to playing I think, at this price point  I'll give this sax brand serious consideration. Really enjoying your videos and your wit too.

Dr. Wally..every time I see you I get happy, and float around the pad for a few days.... wish you the best. You're healing us all in many ways, and providing sanity.....love your tone, always reminds me of my idol, Paul Desmond. Great review.

Thanks for the vid, Dr. Wallace! it seems like there has been an influx of affordable + well-made Saxophone equipment and it's been great to see.

Ahhhh! That sounds nice and relaxing. Yes. I’m a sinner. I haven’t practiced as much as I should. I will make time to sax. Great video!

Thank you Dr. Wally for the content! I really like your new sax review series.
Have a nice day!

My first impression is that it sounds better (more in tune and a bit brighter) than the Cooper-Zen you played a few days ago. But the Cooper-Zen looked nicer. I read a comment (which I cannot verify as true, but I will repeat it just in case someone had the same experience, although it is more likely a comment from a jealous competitor) that the Jean-Paul 400 saxes that were sent to people to review were specially checked and set up, but the "regular" horns were not as reliable. I recently bought a Chinese-Korean made (for a German company that checks and modifies the instruments before sale) "Karl-Glaser" curved soprano sax. I found a shop that carries them, so I could play test it before buying. The first horn I tested played well (in tune, good key action, good feel), but the bis key was sticking, so I tried a different horn (same model) and it was terribly out of tune! I went back to the first horn, cleaned the bis tone-hole and it worked fine. I payed 325 Euros and except for the rough edges on the neck/body connection, the not-so-good quality of the neck cork and the lousy positioning of the low Bb left hand pinky key (if my little finger were an inch and a half longer or I could spread my finger at a 90 degree angle it would be fine), So far (I've only the had the horn for1 1/2 months) I am very happy with it.

Great review

This saxophone looks great! Thank you so much for sharing your review with us!

I got the JP400 silver, $600. 4 months ago when I joined Wally’s Army. I try to play at least an hour a day. It’s holding up very well and I love the sound. I’d highly recommend for any novice player.

Thanks Dr. Wally!  Looking forward to the new lessons!  Looks like a nice horn.

Yea, thanks! ☺️

Wow superb sax playing, very elegant.

You play great. Bravo !

I have a JP AS-400.  I purchased it in April of 2020 and tried to play it.  I have years of experience on the Sax, but it was a few decades ago.  I could not play the Middle D at all, just squeaks, and the the E was a little better. I watched tons of videos to try to resolve the problem to no avail, so I resigned myself the the belief that I could no longer play.  Last month I hired an online instructor who diagnosed and fixed the problem in 5 minutes.  As you know, the Octave key, the pad on the neck, is supposed to close when holding the thumb button and playing below A.  I didn't remember that little tidbit, my instructor had me bend the little arm of the key and viola, I am playing the sax again.  

I guess the lesson there is stuff can happen during shipping, so if you have a problem upon delivery have it checked by a repair facility.  Other than that the sound is very nice and the horn is of good quality.  I do have a sticky G# key, but I am going to try some Key Leaves-devices that hold the key open when not playing.  I have now been playing a month on the JP.