Yamaha’s Legendary 62 Baritone Sax
In professional circles, the Yamaha “62” is a legend. Considered the original “do-everything” professional saxophones, 62 series horns were designed in collaboration with noted classical saxophonists in an exhaustive multi-year development program that incorporated input from top jazz artists to ensure the cross-genre proficiency of the new instruments. As a result, you’ll find pro baritone players representing all styles of music who have embraced the YBS-62 as their instrument of choice. Today, the second-generation YBS-62II professional baritone saxophone owes its best-seller status and popularity among worldwide legions of loyal devotees to Yamaha’s visionary designers and highly skilled artisans who perform their work with exemplary enthusiasm, passion, and precision. If you’re in the market for a truly professional baritone sax that’s also an incredible value, you simply can’t go wrong with the Yamaha YBS-62II.
Related Videos: YBS-62II Professional Baritone Saxophone - Lacquer
A perfect blend of features, playability, and value
Unpretentious yet formidable, the Yamaha YBS-62II baritone saxophone is a near-perfect blend of features, playability, and value. It has all the hallmarks of a professional baritone, including front F, low A, and high F# keys, hard steel needle springs, and smooth, consistent action. And it comes gig-ready with Yamaha’s widely respected 5C mouthpiece and an airport-friendly hard case with wheels. This is a horn that will go the distance in your career and nurture your growth as an artist. It all starts with Yamaha’s excellent hydro-formed 62 neck, which facilitates a comfortable airflow — essential for a strong tonal core — and sports a slightly narrower bore taper that helps promote quick response, rich tone, and a more compact landing zone for intonation. The keywork has been updated with a new layout ported from Yamaha’s flagship YBS-82 Custom bari, giving you flawless ergonomics for fast, fluid, and confident fingering. The bell design has also been shortened to enhance playability and intonation across all registers — an especially welcome innovation when playing passages that dip deep into the low range, as these notes are typically challenging for bari players.
Quality and versatility to go the distance
Versatility is one of the attributes of a great professional saxophone, and the YBS-62II is a stellar example, providing a primed canvas for forging your signature sound. Saxophonists who play both classical and jazz, for instance, can choose an appropriate mouthpiece and reed to customize their instrument for the music at hand. However you set it up, the YBS-62II delivers a fluency of tone with a crisp transition between notes. Integrating the multiple key posts into a single plate, so-called “ribbed” body construction gives the tube higher mass (and hence more rigidity and durability), and requires somewhat more effort from the player. This makes the horn blow with moderate resistance while delivering a solid fundamental with rich tonal color. For experienced saxophonists with a more developed embouchure and sound concept, it’s a definite advantage. Although ribbed construction typically presents a slightly increased initial resistance, it effectively gives you another level of resonance; an extra “gear,” if you will, to blow through for additional dynamic range and expression. Simply put, you can push the YBS-62II further, and it will go exactly where you want it to go.
Yamaha saxophones: designed and built for artists
In 1967, Yamaha debuted their first saxophones: the YAS-1 alto and the YTS-1 tenor. Both found favor in the sax player community. In fact, jazz great John Coltrane, who built his reputation on the tenor and soprano, played the prototype YAS-1 gifted him by Yamaha extensively during his 1966 tour of Japan. In 1972, Yamaha partnered with renowned classical saxophonist Dr. Eugene Rousseau to develop a new line of professional-class saxophones. After arduous years of prototyping, testing, and revisions, Yamaha introduced the fruits of their labor: the YAS-62 alto, the YTS-62 tenor, and the YSS-62 soprano. Designed with three guiding principles in mind — superior acoustics, top-notch mechanisms, and artistic feel — the 62 series saxophones represented a milestone for Yamaha, setting the company on the path to becoming one of the world’s most-respected saxophone makers. Long treasured for their reliable performance and exceptional quality, original “purple-logo” 62s have held their value and routinely command respectable sums in the used market.
A solid investment in your musical future
Today, Yamaha continues to adhere to the principles established during the creation of the original 62 series nearly a half century ago, providing saxophonists with fine instruments to inspire their artistry and meet their technical demands. Sweetwater is proud to offer you Yamaha’s distinguished saxophone line, which offers outstanding value at every level, from student models to sophisticated professional saxophones heard in premier venues and concert halls around the globe. Endorsed by countless pros and recommended by teachers of intermediate students ready to step up to their first professional sax, Yamaha 62 series saxes are superstars, and certainly some of the most famous saxophones ever made. The “workhorses” of the Yamaha sax lineup, they offer a unique combination of performance, build quality, affordability, and professional acclaim that has allowed them to retain their prominent status for over four decades. From its tastefully elegant engraving to its tone-enhancing 62-style neck, the YBS-62II is a delight to behold and a pleasure to play. Expertly crafted in Japan, the Yamaha YBS-62II professional baritone saxophone is a solid investment in your musical future.
Yamaha YBS-62II Professional Baritone Saxophone Features:
- Premium brass
- Hydro-formed 62 neck
- Post-to-rib construction
- Ergonomically optimized keywork
- Front F, low A, and high F# keys
- Adjustable thumb hook
- Hard steel needle springs
- Shorter, 2-piece bell design
- Tastefully elegant engraving
- Receiver for optional detachable floor peg
- Expertly crafted in Japan
