Unlike Dave, I don't wear a watch, I'm not interested in cars at all, and I hate firearms... but I am interested in clarinets
I have a couple of very long and detailed reviews about Amati clarinets on my website. One about a low Eb bass clarinet, and one about their 211 model which is student model with wood body and plastic bell (with additions about their 201 model, made of plastic). The reviews are in Hebrew though, so here are a short summing up of them.
Amati ACL-211:
1. Tone hole edges relatively sharp, and could cause pads to tear sooner than they should. The instrument wasn't new but the pads looked worse than I thought they should.
2. Not meticulously made - had glue around pads that wasn't not cleaned, and a few keys didn't open enough (stuffy tone as a result).
3. Some keys were too hard and springy and some soft and springy. Not great for adjustment and feel when playing. This is partly because of the design, not only the material.
4. Flat springs slide on the body itself. They can eventually dig into the wood and create a bump, especially critical for throat A key. Some of the needle and also some of the flat springs were a little too hard, needed adjustment.
5. All natural cork throughout for key corks. Not the best material for this. Makes adjustment more difficult and feels worse (but better than Buffet's synthetic cork).
Now a little more good stuff....
6. Headless pivot screws which had enough friction to work.
7. The clarinet played ok, pretty good even. Decent tone for a student model. Intonation ok but not excellent.
Back to bad...
8. The stock mouthpiece was terrible. I wasn't completely useless (ie.e it played and had ok intonation), but it had a harsh tone and not great response. A better mouthpiece (a cheap Yamaha even) would be a huge improvement.
9. Usual characteristics of student modes - not the most even tone or response between notes and/or registers. Some notes shout a little more, and some are a little more stuffy (not so much on this clarinet though). Throat notes were ok.
I also checked a 201 model, all plastic, and found a few more things:
The same keys (like the B/F# trill key) were too low. I guess they just put a certain thickness of cork there automatically.
I also noticed another thing that I missed on the 211 model. The open tone hole for left hand third finger (the one you close for C/G) was a bit low on the instrument. It definitely felt strange compared with any clarinet I've tried. I don't know if this is always like this, or if they changed this at some point (because I don't remember it from the other supposedly identical model). This is strange especially considering this was a student model for people with smaller hands.
From what I could remember (didn't try them side by side) the tone, response, etc. of the plastic model was pretty much identical to the wood model.
I have also summed up my review of the Amati bass clarinet which you can near the end of this thread:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=1&i=264136&t=131689 (keep in mind I wasn't the most thorough in my translation)
I also checked an Amati student alto saxophone. I don't remember that much about it but it wasn't great. The main thing I remember is the keys were set at a wrong angle and/or with too thick pads. The mouthpiece was possibly the worse sax mouthpiece I have tried, useless, and the student needed a new mouthpiece. The stock bass clarinet mouhtpiece wasn't as bad but not good at all either.
I recently bought for myself an instrument under a different name but made by Amati. One rod screw slot was wrecked. I was told Amati use electric equipment for this which tend to wreck the slots.
For anyone who is interested, the reviews are on my website (link in signature).
Nitai