Wessex Sinfonico - Dave Werden Review

[hyperbolica]

Thanks for the review.
Dave wrote in his review: "I found most notes on the horn were centered and responsive. I did have some trouble on the upper G concert, which did not seem to have a "happy place" that I could find..... "
2 years ago Matonizz experienced the same and described this note as" Stuffy".
I am also having problems with this note. However I am a hobby player.
Is that issue acceptable?
Thanks in advance.
Euph97

Sometimes a note will feel funny even though it doesn't sound bad. I have a horn that has a funny resonance on high F# that you can only feel from behind the bell. In front of the bell there is no indication that there's anything wrong. String instruments get the wolf tone, everything has a natural resonance. Sometimes these things can be fixed by adding a strap around the bell throat. Make sure all the braces are firmly soldered, there are no screws loose or debris in the horn, that sort of thing. But if it's just a feel thing rather than actual sound, I'd just make peace with it as a part of the horn.

[guidocorona]

Hello Def1, several things point to Sinfonico having a good chance of a longer lifetime than the entry level Wessex Dolce and Festivo…

For one thing, Sinfonico is hand-made from sheet-metal in a high grade artisanal workshop, where it is my understanding that higher skilled artisans attend to the construction of each individual horn from start to finish. An artisanal approach to construction is likely to produce a higher degree in pride of work/quality hence process care and quality control than the distributed assembly-line used for the standard grade horns.

It is further my understanding that the Silver plating on Sinfonico may be thrice as thick as what is used on Festivo and Dolce.... Once again, this suggest that the overall fit&finish in Sinfonico might be even more robust/durable than in the other two Wessex euphoniums.

Now concerning Sinfonico's tone, as I heard from Dave's fabulous 12 comparative exerpts…. I confess that I am not only favorably surprised, but also very impressed. While in eight of them I detected a slight tonal/resonance/flexibility advantage in the Adams E3, in 4 of the examples I was totally unable to assign a preference to a particular member of the pair.

And no, I could not detect any nasality (or bassoonish tone) in Sinfonico, on the contrary, I found its tember to be glorious, if barely falling short of Dave's E3's magnificence. Furthermore, I was delighted about Sinfonico's full resonance, including in the dreaded compensated transitional area between the main fully chromatic region and the pedal region.... Conversely, My lovely Festivo does tend to sound a little cardboardy in that area.

Sure, we could argue that E3 may best Sinfonico's expressive potential, and that E3's intonation in the high treble might be more sure-footed than Sinfonico's, but.... it is worth considering that E3 Selected is priced at two and half times Sinfonico…. and the Sterling bell E3 costs some three times as much as Sinfonico. Even the more moderately priced Shires Q41 sells for almost twice as much as Sinfonico.

Thus, Since reading and listening to Dave Werden's revelatory review, I am now of the opinion that Wessex Sinfonico is effortlessly holding its own, comfortably above step up euphos, and may be even grazing the performance level of modern pro-horns.

Regards, Guido

[PhilGo]

Thank you for the review. If you were going to choose between the Sinfonico or a 1970's Boosey Imperial... which would you choose?

[davewerden]

Thank you for the review. If you were going to choose between the Sinfonico or a 1970's Boosey Imperial... which would you choose?

[The following was partly in my PM response on Facebook]
Of course it is partly a personal choice, and it depends on what you want. If you follow this forum you know I'm a big fan of the older Bessons for their robust build quality and their charming sound. However, the Sinfonico would be easier to play because of its superior response and intonation. Wessex is great about improving their horns based on user experience, and the Sinfonico needs a couple tweaks, neither of which affect the playing. But a used Besson may need some tweaks as well. I would go nuts over the noisy brass valve guides, so I would replace them with plastic, for example.

Anyway, the choice between a used pro-quality horn and a new mid-range horn has been a toss up until now. I believe the Sinfonico changes that, perhaps to a 60/40 choice in its favor. But it is still a choice. For me, it would be a harder choice if I found a used Imperial that had retro-fitted plastic guides and which was in excellent condition. Over many years I got used to my alternate fingerings for Eb, E, and F (concert), even though they would cause me to chip notes now and then. Not sure I want to go back to doing that, so my odds on choosing the Sinfonico might be more like 75/25.

A factor I forgot to mention is the range below E beneath the bass clef staff. The new horns (Adams, Sinfonico, but also Willson, Besson, Yamaha, Miraphone) all response SO much better in those compensating notes above pedal Bb! Some of the music I want to play requires facility/flexibility to run through that range, and I'd be limited on the old Bessons. If you are playing in a concert band, that does not come into play very often.

[Jharris]

The Imperial is a fantastic instrument, well deserving of its reputation, but it can’t get over a modern brass band for solo lines competition from every other large bore instrument… then valves and intonation as Dave has pointed out…

In the uk they are around £1300, so as a budget buy they are a great option even now… but they would all need restoration work sooner or later, possibly seeing if a trigger addition? Anything like this adds costs, possibly getting more expensive than a Globe Stamp… and they still do sing across a modern band… a trigger could be a option to help and again restoration might be in its near future…

Once you take restoration costs into consideration, price wise they are similar to the Price of a Sinfonico, which has better intonation can sing across a band, responds better giving larger dynamic range and easier extreme pitches high and low, and modern styling, this IMO puts Sinfonico in a far superior positioning as the better choice.

Guido mentioned that the Sinfonico grazes professional standard, that is a professional modern standard, which is far different from what the professional standard was in the 70s with medium bore band mates, 50 years is a long time for a R&D process to have significant impact.

[guidocorona]

Good point JHarris, I just edited my post, and by your suggestion, I added "modern".... As in "grazes the performance of modern pro horns"

G.

[davewerden]

FYI, I just added this video to the blog review. It is a close look at the mouthpiece receiver bits, where I used 3 Wick mouthpieces: 4AL, 4AM, 4BS. If you are planning to switch them out now and then, I point out something to watch out for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyiOgy9II4E

[Rockringer]

Love the review, Dave! I’ve had my eye on this horn ever since it was put onto Wessex’s site. I’ve been playing a Wessex Dolce for about two years, so this seems like a good next step for me as I enter the second half of my undergrad. This review has me excited to go visit the showroom so I can try out the horn for myself!

[guidocorona]

I found on youtube the clip below performed on a Wessex Sinfonico. It was posted and likely performed by youtube user Sadad:

Cruel Angel’s Thesis Arranged for Euphonium (Information in Description) - YouTube

Love the tone of Sinfonico in the video, even though some high treble notes sound somewhat reedy... Yet, I suspect the minor flaw may not be an issue of the horn itself.

Regards, Guido