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Thread: Baritone or Euph - vague inquiry

  1. #11
    I hope you enjoy the Festivo. When I tried one out at the Wessex showroom I loved it.

  2. In the way of an update, my Festivo arrived today. I've owned a Dolce before, so I'm not completely new to the euphonium world. I haven't inspected it under a bright light, but it looks great. Surprisingly large thumb ring with a special tube which looks like it is just for supporting it. It seems smaller than the Dolce, but the bell is just 1" smaller. The sound is great. I think it sounds better than the Dolce, especially the low range. I think my Dolce was before a lot of the improvements came out on the Wessex horns. My Dolce bell had the laser etched logo kind of show through into the inside of the bell. I think this one on the Festivo is at least hardened and maybe thicker, or maybe they just fixed the settings on the laser etcher. It sounds snappier. I had noted that the Dolce was a little inefficient in the sound.

    The mouthpiece that comes with it seems small to me, but it works for high notes. I put in a Bach 1 1/4g from my bass bone, and wow, those pedals popped, and even better with a Yamaha 60. My usual range is a pedal G, but I was playing pedal Eb on this. Interestingly, the high notes work pretty well on the big mouthpiece too. It's not like bass bone where it sounds ok low, but kind of dead up high with the bigger mouthpiece.

    One odd thing. The 4th valve range alternately sounded good, and then stuffy. The same notes. Maybe there is something floating around in the horn like a piece of paper or styrofoam. The notes wouldn't always center. Maybe that's just lazy trombone chops, but the Eb, D, C, B below the staff would pop out strong once, and then the next time would be stuffy and uncentered. Might just be the player, but I'll have to fiddle around with that.

    The erognomics are great. Coming from a guy with a bum shoulder, this is going to work out great. I can sit in just about any position and feel like I can play. It doesn't put my arms in painful positions, and I think if I get a strap/harness, it will work even better. Plus, I like the bell off the left side. It's kind of comforting to a trombone player to have that ear rattled by the bell a little.

    The valves are quiet. A little slow returning to position, but I haven't oiled them yet, this is still straight out of the box. I expect this will break in as I play it more. I'll probably play it a week and then wash it out. Very comfortable position. I can usually play the 4th valve stuff with my pinky, or I can swing the other hand around and play that left handed. Either way works.

    Plus, and this is obviously the best, Wessex has upped their game on the hat. I have 3 cheap Wessex hats that I won't wear in public, but the one that came today with this horn is really nice. Plus a nice pencil and valve oil.

    Anyway, I'm very pleased with this instrument.

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