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I received the Wessex Sinfonico Euphonium a few days ago. I, along with several others, will be evaluating the Sinfonico and reporting results here on this forum.
The horn arrived packed well and with no visible damage. It is quite a stunning horn to look at straight out of the box (and case). I have decided against taking pictures of the horn as I usually do, since there are excellent pictures of the horn on the Wessex site. Go here for pictures:
https://wessex-tubas.com/collections...nfonico-ep600h
The horn feels more compact than other 3+1 compensating euphoniums. If you look at the horn from the side, it is narrower than most others. It is easy for me to hold and play. The finish on the horn is very well done. It is silver plated with copper highlights on the valve caps, tuning slides and on the inside of the bell. I can't recall ever seeing copper as a trim color before. You may or may not like the copper, but it is certainly unique. My gold plated mouthpiece that I used exclusively for the evaluation (a Demondrae Warburton mp) did not exactly match, but no worries.
There is a very nice Wessex Logo and engraving done on the bell. And the tops of the valve buttons are also engraved.
The tuning slides all move well, and the tolerances are very close. It takes a bit of effort to pull them out and push them in, but this probably eases up with use (and cleaning and greasing). Regarding tuning slides, the Sinfonico comes with the standard main tuning slide and another main tuning slide that is about an inch or so longer. I found when playing the horn and using a tuner, the standard main tuning slide needed to be extended to its maximum pull for the horn to play in tune (and using my mouthpiece on the large shank receiver). The longer main tuning slide I believe would be the appropriate slide for this horn, however the one that was shipped to me did not fit in the horn (the alignment was off a bit, and I did not want to force it).
There are three spit valves, one on the 1st valve slide, one on the 3rd valve slide and one on the main tuning slide. They all have a rubbery sleeve on the part you push, and this keeps the spit valve lever from scratching up the slide, a nice touch. The spit valve levers on the 1st and 3rd valve slides are aligned in the usual direction, however, the one on the main tuning slide seems reversed to me. Most horns have this valve lever pointing in the opposite direction of the 1st and 3rd spit valve levers. Also, if I were to use the longer main tuning slide, the position of the spit valve lever places it almost touching the bottom bow of the horn, particularly when removing the slide. I would highly recommend to Wessex that the spit valve lever on the main tuning slide be reversed and more on the side of the slide as opposed to being along the bottom. With the horn's side profile being narrow to begin with, the main tuning slide and bottom bow are close, especially with the longer main tuning slide.
The valves appear to be very well machined. They were expectedly a bit sluggish when I first started playing, but after a couple cleanings and fresh valve oil, they were working very well. The valve guides are nylon. And surprise, the valve caps screw back on easily, which is a big deal! No worries about cross threading. There are no nipples on the bottom valve caps as there usually are. I was concerned about this at first because most 3+1 euphoniums have a tendency to drop water through the bottom valve cap holes (on your horn or on you!). That is why so many people use grime gutters on the bottom nipples of their horns. But, after playing this horn for many hours, I didn't see much of anything on the horn or me.
The Sinfonico comes with three exchangeable receivers (small, medium and large). This would allow various mouthpiece shank sizes to fit. I only used the one on the horn (large). I did at one point unsrew the receiver that was in the horn, and it was hard to do. I would recommend a "T" tool to be included with the horn so that you could easily remove the recievers. I can see a receiver becoming really stuck if allowed to be in the horn for a long period of time.
There is no lyre box on this horn. I don't see that as a fault, and a lot of high end horns don't have lyre boxes on them either.
The 4th valve has a latch to hold down the valve for storage. It works like many others, however when you open it (slide the latch away from the valve cap), the latch only goes away a little bit, and then stops before going all the way to the side of the horn like most do. So, the latch ends up sticking straight out. See the picture on the top row, 4th from the left, on the Wessex site (link is above). I would definitely recommend that this be changed so that the latch moves to the side of the horn. With it sticking straight out like it is, you can easily bump it while holding the horn next to your body. Especially those players who use a lot of body movement when playing. And if you bump it good enough, it will come loose and fall back on the valve stem, which you certainly don't want to happen while you are playing.
The case that comes with the horn is very nice, and less puffy than the case my Dolce came in. Has room for the mouthpiece only on the inside. Other supplies go in the outer pouch (which almost fits my band folder) attached to the outside of the horn case.
Well, now for the important part. How does this horn sound and play? In a couple words, "great" and "great". It has a bit more heavy sound than my Adams E3. Some real similarities to my previously owned Miraphone M5050. Great resonance, I can "feel" notes resonating with this horn. Great response. A nice high B natural!! Good upper and lower range sound. I played probably 10 hours or more on this horn. It is just plain nice. I think this horn could play in virtually any type of ensemble, to include concert/wind band, orchestra, brass band, quintet, tuba/euph quartet, solo work, church work, and more. For those wondering about brass band use, I played my Miraphone M5050 in the Las Vegas Brass Band, a very good group, a few years back. It seemed to work well, I had a couple solos, and got good comments on the horn.
I liked this horn so much, I made a bunch of videos. This tells you more than any explanations. I did these mostly in one sitting. I just played tunes I knew, no music. Sort of whatever came to mind. I also included a clip I did on the Dolce recently for some frame of reference. It is the first one below. All the rest are on the Sinfonico.
Morceau Symphonique on the Wessex Dolce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnlQS0AgtkE
All of the following are played on the Wessex Sinfonico Euphonium.
Warm-Up Clips (just a few snippets I sometimes play during warm-up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVuSoJsY9c
Greensleeves and Carnival of Venice Excerpts:
Danny Boy (last phrase missing) and Solo from Holst Second Suite in F:
La Mandolinata Excerpt and The Lord's Prayer (final part):
Over the Rainbow and Sleepsong from The Secret Garden:
Summary: The Wessex Sinfonico is a very, very nice horn. If someone were to give me one of these horns and tell me this is the only euphonium I could ever have, I could be very happy with it. It plays great, it responds well, and with the longer main tuning slide (or the standard one pulled all out), it plays remarkably well in tune. Wessex has built a real keeper in the Sinfonico. I am amazed that you can have such a high quality, professionally worthy horn for under $3K. If you are euphonium shopping and your budget is in this neighborhood, this horn should get some serious consideration.
The horn arrived packed well and with no visible damage. It is quite a stunning horn to look at straight out of the box (and case). I have decided against taking pictures of the horn as I usually do, since there are excellent pictures of the horn on the Wessex site. Go here for pictures:
https://wessex-tubas.com/collections...nfonico-ep600h
The horn feels more compact than other 3+1 compensating euphoniums. If you look at the horn from the side, it is narrower than most others. It is easy for me to hold and play. The finish on the horn is very well done. It is silver plated with copper highlights on the valve caps, tuning slides and on the inside of the bell. I can't recall ever seeing copper as a trim color before. You may or may not like the copper, but it is certainly unique. My gold plated mouthpiece that I used exclusively for the evaluation (a Demondrae Warburton mp) did not exactly match, but no worries.
There is a very nice Wessex Logo and engraving done on the bell. And the tops of the valve buttons are also engraved.
The tuning slides all move well, and the tolerances are very close. It takes a bit of effort to pull them out and push them in, but this probably eases up with use (and cleaning and greasing). Regarding tuning slides, the Sinfonico comes with the standard main tuning slide and another main tuning slide that is about an inch or so longer. I found when playing the horn and using a tuner, the standard main tuning slide needed to be extended to its maximum pull for the horn to play in tune (and using my mouthpiece on the large shank receiver). The longer main tuning slide I believe would be the appropriate slide for this horn, however the one that was shipped to me did not fit in the horn (the alignment was off a bit, and I did not want to force it).
There are three spit valves, one on the 1st valve slide, one on the 3rd valve slide and one on the main tuning slide. They all have a rubbery sleeve on the part you push, and this keeps the spit valve lever from scratching up the slide, a nice touch. The spit valve levers on the 1st and 3rd valve slides are aligned in the usual direction, however, the one on the main tuning slide seems reversed to me. Most horns have this valve lever pointing in the opposite direction of the 1st and 3rd spit valve levers. Also, if I were to use the longer main tuning slide, the position of the spit valve lever places it almost touching the bottom bow of the horn, particularly when removing the slide. I would highly recommend to Wessex that the spit valve lever on the main tuning slide be reversed and more on the side of the slide as opposed to being along the bottom. With the horn's side profile being narrow to begin with, the main tuning slide and bottom bow are close, especially with the longer main tuning slide.
The valves appear to be very well machined. They were expectedly a bit sluggish when I first started playing, but after a couple cleanings and fresh valve oil, they were working very well. The valve guides are nylon. And surprise, the valve caps screw back on easily, which is a big deal! No worries about cross threading. There are no nipples on the bottom valve caps as there usually are. I was concerned about this at first because most 3+1 euphoniums have a tendency to drop water through the bottom valve cap holes (on your horn or on you!). That is why so many people use grime gutters on the bottom nipples of their horns. But, after playing this horn for many hours, I didn't see much of anything on the horn or me.
The Sinfonico comes with three exchangeable receivers (small, medium and large). This would allow various mouthpiece shank sizes to fit. I only used the one on the horn (large). I did at one point unsrew the receiver that was in the horn, and it was hard to do. I would recommend a "T" tool to be included with the horn so that you could easily remove the recievers. I can see a receiver becoming really stuck if allowed to be in the horn for a long period of time.
There is no lyre box on this horn. I don't see that as a fault, and a lot of high end horns don't have lyre boxes on them either.
The 4th valve has a latch to hold down the valve for storage. It works like many others, however when you open it (slide the latch away from the valve cap), the latch only goes away a little bit, and then stops before going all the way to the side of the horn like most do. So, the latch ends up sticking straight out. See the picture on the top row, 4th from the left, on the Wessex site (link is above). I would definitely recommend that this be changed so that the latch moves to the side of the horn. With it sticking straight out like it is, you can easily bump it while holding the horn next to your body. Especially those players who use a lot of body movement when playing. And if you bump it good enough, it will come loose and fall back on the valve stem, which you certainly don't want to happen while you are playing.
The case that comes with the horn is very nice, and less puffy than the case my Dolce came in. Has room for the mouthpiece only on the inside. Other supplies go in the outer pouch (which almost fits my band folder) attached to the outside of the horn case.
Well, now for the important part. How does this horn sound and play? In a couple words, "great" and "great". It has a bit more heavy sound than my Adams E3. Some real similarities to my previously owned Miraphone M5050. Great resonance, I can "feel" notes resonating with this horn. Great response. A nice high B natural!! Good upper and lower range sound. I played probably 10 hours or more on this horn. It is just plain nice. I think this horn could play in virtually any type of ensemble, to include concert/wind band, orchestra, brass band, quintet, tuba/euph quartet, solo work, church work, and more. For those wondering about brass band use, I played my Miraphone M5050 in the Las Vegas Brass Band, a very good group, a few years back. It seemed to work well, I had a couple solos, and got good comments on the horn.
I liked this horn so much, I made a bunch of videos. This tells you more than any explanations. I did these mostly in one sitting. I just played tunes I knew, no music. Sort of whatever came to mind. I also included a clip I did on the Dolce recently for some frame of reference. It is the first one below. All the rest are on the Sinfonico.
Morceau Symphonique on the Wessex Dolce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnlQS0AgtkE
All of the following are played on the Wessex Sinfonico Euphonium.
Warm-Up Clips (just a few snippets I sometimes play during warm-up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVuSoJsY9c
Greensleeves and Carnival of Venice Excerpts:
Danny Boy (last phrase missing) and Solo from Holst Second Suite in F:
La Mandolinata Excerpt and The Lord's Prayer (final part):
Over the Rainbow and Sleepsong from The Secret Garden:
Summary: The Wessex Sinfonico is a very, very nice horn. If someone were to give me one of these horns and tell me this is the only euphonium I could ever have, I could be very happy with it. It plays great, it responds well, and with the longer main tuning slide (or the standard one pulled all out), it plays remarkably well in tune. Wessex has built a real keeper in the Sinfonico. I am amazed that you can have such a high quality, professionally worthy horn for under $3K. If you are euphonium shopping and your budget is in this neighborhood, this horn should get some serious consideration.
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