Wessex - another satisfied customer!!!

[euphdude]

I wanted to briefly convey my recent EXCELLENT experience with Jonathan et. al. at Wessex. I bought a Wessex compensating baritone.

A bit of background, I briefly tried the baritone about 10 years ago and got a Yamaha 301S on trial...although I thought it blew great and had a decent sound at that time, the ergonomics with the valves didn't work for me, so I sent it back. And I wasn't about to spend $5k plus on something else, so life went on with the euph/trombone, etc. Fast forward to two months ago when I've been invited to permanently switch to baritone, and I am expected to play a real instrument (i.e., not on euph).

I briefly played my section mate's old Schiller for a couple of weeks, and although it wasn't a bad horn and it blew very well, the intonation on the D and Db concert (above tuning Bb) was dreadfully flat and the horn, when pushed to a solid fortissimo, would begin to sound very blatty and trombone like. This Wessex horn solves both of those problems while remaining free blowing. Very well done. Beyond that, the horn has great valve action.

It also has a couple of features not shown on the website....First, as one who appreciates aesthetics, I was very impressed with the detailed REAL engraving (none of those simple stamps that were shown on the website). The Schiller certainly didn't have any real engravings. Even more significantly, the horn has a floating leadpipe with single stud like the Besson Prestige horns! I have tried the Bessons before and after they made that improvement on the euphs, and I loved the improved response. In any case, very nicely done...and it was completely unexpected. To say Wessex and Schiller aren't in the same league would be an understatement!

I wrote Jonathan and told him he absolutely has to update his website. The baritone pictures on his website could have easily been my section mate's Schiller, and the only reason I bought from them was their excellent reputation for picking good horns here and elsewhere. The bottom line is that these horns are absolutely worth the slightly higher cost as compared to cheaper competitors that might look the same!

Lastly, as most of you know, Wessex has a US location...they didn't have any of the baritones in stock there, so Jonathan sent me one overnight FedEx from the UK for no extra cost. Now that's customer service!

[Wyvern]

Thanks for that feedback. I am pleased you appreciate the work we have been doing to improve Wessex to make them much more than just another Chinese stencil.

I agree the website needs updating. I have just been too busy to do so. Thankfully ex-military tuba player and brass teacher Tim Norris last week joined the Wessex team at our new store in Andover (UK) which will hopefully now give me time to update the website and develop the business further.

[Three Valves]

Are talking about this one??

http://www.wessex-tubas.co.uk/product/b ... /#comments" target="_blank