Wessex pbf555h Supertenor
- hyperbolica
- Posts: 3990
- Joined: Mar 23, 2018
I recently bought a used Wessex Supertenor. It was one of the horns that Chip Hoehler (RIP) designed while there. <LINK_TEXT text="https://wessex-tubas.com/collections/tr ... ier-pbf555">https://wessex-tubas.com/collections/trombones-and-sackbut/products/supertenor-trombone-premier-pbf555</LINK_TEXT> There aren't any real reviews written on this site about the horn, so I figured I'd write about my experience. I recently got Hoehler's Urbie Green replica for almost nothing, and it turned out to be a great horn which I really enjoy playing, so I thought I'd give the supertenor a try. The first trombone I bought from Wessex was a prototype double valve tenor, and it was a really amazing horn, every bit as good as any brand I've ever played in terms of workmanship and playability. So I was really expecting a lot from this horn.
The specs for the supertenor are 547/562 dual bore slide, 579 through the single valve, and then a bell diameter of 8.75". Also, from the other thread I just put up (https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16153) this horn has a definite bell throat between a tenor and bass, closer to bass actually. Chip never said (to me) which horn he modeled this after, but I'm guessing it was between the Holton tr183 and tr159. (https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=775)
The supertenor I got was used, apparently owned by a high school kid. It has a number of careless bell dings from a trombone stand, the trigger has been badly resoldered, and one of the 3 screw in leadpipes looks like it was taken out part way and bent, then of course badly repaired. Luckily, the slide is pretty good, but the very soft spit valve lever was bent at a really odd angle.
Wessex stuff (brand new) is no longer the real deal it was when they first came out. I'm not sure whether that's due to tariffs, or the owner just deciding to cash in on their popularity, or some combination. This model goes for $1200 new, where it was under $1000 a year or two ago.
Based on my other experiences with Wessex trombones, I expected this to play like a Holton 156/159 with an open wrap and a bigger valve, with maybe some Bach-ish tendencies. It almost does that, depending on the mouthpiece/leadpipe combination. Honestly, with the #3 leadpipe (which is the damaged one), the upper range is not great, but the lower range is pretty solid with a 1.25g mouthpiece. With a DE 104 G8 (my usual large bore mouthpiece) upper range is fairly solid on the #1 or #2 leadpipe. This doesn't seem to respond well to smaller mouthpieces, I got a thin insecure sound with a 5g equivalent. Maybe the Schilke 52e2 would be the kind of mouthpiece it should have. Wessex supplied it with a Young 2 mouthpiece, which seems to be somewhere between a 2G and 3G cup depth, with maybe a 4G rim diameter.
The slide is as wide as any bass slide I've played. It has a curved handle, which I do find nice.
You get edge in the tone much sooner on this horn than on a real bass, but it also allows for more trombone-like subtlety that you don't hear very often from bass trombones. It does conserve air better than a bass, but uses more than a tenor, like you'd expect. And it's light, but I found I still like to use Get-A-Grip with it, maybe just out of habit. I didn't feel the need to use an Ergobone, though, as I usually do with full size bass bone.
It also has a workable pull to get a full low C, but not enough for a B. Even though it has an open wrap, you can still get a solid 4" of pull on the trigger tuning slide.
The tuning is surprisingly good. Generally C on the staff is a little sharp and F under the staff is a little flat, but on this horn, they line up pretty nicely. You've got to use about 1.5" of the 4" F tuning slide to get them in tune, which makes the low C (two ledger lines down) still secure, but with less wiggle room. You can almost get the low C in tune when the valve is tuned to regular F tuning, but it's at the end of 7th position. My arms aren't overly long, so 7th position isn't very practical for at-tempo playing, as I tend to rock sideways some and it affects my embouchure placement a little.
The lacquer wear on this instrument shows the typical low quality Chinese finishes. The lacquer and plating on the F trigger paddle are worn through to the raw brass, as well as the lacquer around the grip area. I'm not sure how old the instrument is, but they've only been available for maybe 4 years.
What was Chip's vision? Not sure. We know that he was fascinated with Holtons. I used to have a Holton tr156 (promoted by Chicago's Friedman), and it was great for way over-the-top CSO type volume. This doesn't feel like a 156 to me, it seems bigger (slide width and bell throat). Wessex doesn't have a single valve bass, this might have been meant for that slot, since it almost fits. One big advantage is that the instrument is fairly light at 1650g (3.63 lbs without the mouthpiece).
What would I have done differently in the design? I think it depends on what you think it is. You might put a smaller mouthpiece in it and use it like a big and very powerful tenor. It would work, but you'd need some pretty strong chops to drive this horn on something like the lead part of Rhenish, or even Bolero. I think smaller horns are better suited to that kind of playing anyway.
So I think that the "super" part of this supertenor is really best applied at the bottom. It's like a 3/4 bass that can't play a low B. This is an excellent horn for 3rd parts. Big round sound, not too fluffy, plenty of bite should you need it. To make it a bass or bass substitute, you really have to add a second valve or a valve extension to get that low B. It would work as a bass in a big band that plays mostly vintage tunes. You can get a very solid C, but not a B without false tones.
I'm going to use the instrument for experiments in the lower range. Maybe I'll make an Eb slide. Maybe if the valve wrap allowed a pull along the bell, just to the left of your head, like the old Reynolds wrap, if you'll forgive the pun. That would make the E pull easier if it were right next to your head and you didn't have to move the horn to do it.
Otherwise, it's a nice horn for 3rd parts or maybe a light bass substitute when you don't have a lot of moving notes around low C and no low Bs. It's definitely a tweener horn, but it doesn't seem to fill either role of tenor or bass 100%.
The specs for the supertenor are 547/562 dual bore slide, 579 through the single valve, and then a bell diameter of 8.75". Also, from the other thread I just put up (https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=16153) this horn has a definite bell throat between a tenor and bass, closer to bass actually. Chip never said (to me) which horn he modeled this after, but I'm guessing it was between the Holton tr183 and tr159. (https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=775)
The supertenor I got was used, apparently owned by a high school kid. It has a number of careless bell dings from a trombone stand, the trigger has been badly resoldered, and one of the 3 screw in leadpipes looks like it was taken out part way and bent, then of course badly repaired. Luckily, the slide is pretty good, but the very soft spit valve lever was bent at a really odd angle.
Wessex stuff (brand new) is no longer the real deal it was when they first came out. I'm not sure whether that's due to tariffs, or the owner just deciding to cash in on their popularity, or some combination. This model goes for $1200 new, where it was under $1000 a year or two ago.
Based on my other experiences with Wessex trombones, I expected this to play like a Holton 156/159 with an open wrap and a bigger valve, with maybe some Bach-ish tendencies. It almost does that, depending on the mouthpiece/leadpipe combination. Honestly, with the #3 leadpipe (which is the damaged one), the upper range is not great, but the lower range is pretty solid with a 1.25g mouthpiece. With a DE 104 G8 (my usual large bore mouthpiece) upper range is fairly solid on the #1 or #2 leadpipe. This doesn't seem to respond well to smaller mouthpieces, I got a thin insecure sound with a 5g equivalent. Maybe the Schilke 52e2 would be the kind of mouthpiece it should have. Wessex supplied it with a Young 2 mouthpiece, which seems to be somewhere between a 2G and 3G cup depth, with maybe a 4G rim diameter.
The slide is as wide as any bass slide I've played. It has a curved handle, which I do find nice.
You get edge in the tone much sooner on this horn than on a real bass, but it also allows for more trombone-like subtlety that you don't hear very often from bass trombones. It does conserve air better than a bass, but uses more than a tenor, like you'd expect. And it's light, but I found I still like to use Get-A-Grip with it, maybe just out of habit. I didn't feel the need to use an Ergobone, though, as I usually do with full size bass bone.
It also has a workable pull to get a full low C, but not enough for a B. Even though it has an open wrap, you can still get a solid 4" of pull on the trigger tuning slide.
The tuning is surprisingly good. Generally C on the staff is a little sharp and F under the staff is a little flat, but on this horn, they line up pretty nicely. You've got to use about 1.5" of the 4" F tuning slide to get them in tune, which makes the low C (two ledger lines down) still secure, but with less wiggle room. You can almost get the low C in tune when the valve is tuned to regular F tuning, but it's at the end of 7th position. My arms aren't overly long, so 7th position isn't very practical for at-tempo playing, as I tend to rock sideways some and it affects my embouchure placement a little.
The lacquer wear on this instrument shows the typical low quality Chinese finishes. The lacquer and plating on the F trigger paddle are worn through to the raw brass, as well as the lacquer around the grip area. I'm not sure how old the instrument is, but they've only been available for maybe 4 years.
What was Chip's vision? Not sure. We know that he was fascinated with Holtons. I used to have a Holton tr156 (promoted by Chicago's Friedman), and it was great for way over-the-top CSO type volume. This doesn't feel like a 156 to me, it seems bigger (slide width and bell throat). Wessex doesn't have a single valve bass, this might have been meant for that slot, since it almost fits. One big advantage is that the instrument is fairly light at 1650g (3.63 lbs without the mouthpiece).
What would I have done differently in the design? I think it depends on what you think it is. You might put a smaller mouthpiece in it and use it like a big and very powerful tenor. It would work, but you'd need some pretty strong chops to drive this horn on something like the lead part of Rhenish, or even Bolero. I think smaller horns are better suited to that kind of playing anyway.
So I think that the "super" part of this supertenor is really best applied at the bottom. It's like a 3/4 bass that can't play a low B. This is an excellent horn for 3rd parts. Big round sound, not too fluffy, plenty of bite should you need it. To make it a bass or bass substitute, you really have to add a second valve or a valve extension to get that low B. It would work as a bass in a big band that plays mostly vintage tunes. You can get a very solid C, but not a B without false tones.
I'm going to use the instrument for experiments in the lower range. Maybe I'll make an Eb slide. Maybe if the valve wrap allowed a pull along the bell, just to the left of your head, like the old Reynolds wrap, if you'll forgive the pun. That would make the E pull easier if it were right next to your head and you didn't have to move the horn to do it.
Otherwise, it's a nice horn for 3rd parts or maybe a light bass substitute when you don't have a lot of moving notes around low C and no low Bs. It's definitely a tweener horn, but it doesn't seem to fill either role of tenor or bass 100%.