Lohff & Pfeiffer comments to the model:

Buffet Crampon Prestige Alto clarinet in Eb

The Buffet Alto clarinet is probably the best of it’s kind on the market. It plays very easily and even over the full range from top to button. The complicated mechanism works reliably with a very easy touch. Intonation and voicing are excellent. It is just fun to play. The only thing missing is more solo literature and concertos besides the considerable amount of great chamber and clarinet trio music for 3 basset horns.

Buffet Crampon introduced with the Prestige alto clarinet a completely redesigned new kind of harmony instrument. In cooperation with the Swiss Instrument specialist, Renë Hagmann under the leadership of René Lesieux was the concept and production of harmony instruments revolutionizing. The often fragile and unreliable mechanism was replaced with a very ergonomic, robust and efficient one. The intonation was greatly improved. The reduced bore size improved the dynamic range.

The Prestige Alto clarinet was introduced in early 1990 shortly after the Bass. A revised version was released after the turn of the millennium the new Prestige came on the market with major improvements. The pitch was now very even overall registers and the key work even further developed. Since both models are named Prestige, the easiest way to distinguish them is by looking look at the lower joint. The older model had a rod going through the body of the instrument to operate some keys with the thumb. The new model is more inline. It is a very flexible and universal instrument and very popular especially among orchestra players. The sound is primarily dark, focused and carrying but it offers a wide range of colors from elegant to aggressive.

The Prestige Alto clarinet is only available in unstained, polished African Blackwood, but not in Greenline. To reduce the risk of cracking, Lohff & Pfeiffer offer the tone hole crack prevention for all wooden instruments as an option.
See also: LP Tone hole crack prevention

Additional Key features

1. The Tenons are provided with a metal tenon-ring for protection.
2. Low C/F Correction key.
3. The Instrument has a full automatic register mechanism, which improves the high register in pitch and response greatly.
4. There are many adjusting screws to facilitate the key coordination.
1. Due to the size of the instrument will the wood expand and shrink fare more than normal clarinets. As a result, is key play very common. This will create irritating noises, wear of screws and mechanism and the instrument gets easier out of adjustment. The lP-Ballbearing system eliminates all these problems perfectly lightens the mechanical action and increases the speed and resonance.See also LP-Ball-bearing system
2. The ,LP-Pro setup is a special padding Technik, unlike on clarinet, primarily done with double impregnated leather pads, which will give the bass a very lyric sound like a cello. And increases the dynamic range as well without being dominant..