Vespro saxes... any good?

[Dan000892]

A local pro jazz saxophonist, Ed Xiques (Sax prof. @ Vassar College, recorded lots: http://www.newarts.org/cbb/EdXiques.html), recommended Vespro saxes to me saying:

"Vespro makes a very nice sax that you can pick up for around $1200. I recommend it to my students. I'd be happy to play on one in place of my Selmer. My friend who has a shop in Carmel (NY) got nine in... I told him I'd take them all."

I looked online for info on these saxes, specifically tenors, and came up with this:

They make 3 Deluxe Tenor models:
Gold laquer, retail $1540
Black "Nightshade" laquer, retail $1640
Silver plated, retail $1840

About the only information on them is here: http://www.orpheusmusic.com/Vespro_Sax/vespro_sax.html

They run about 300-600 on eBay in like new condition every now and then and WWBW/Music123 has new Nightshade tenors coming in for 875 in a couple weeks.

I have found no reviews online, so have any of you tried them?

[colibri]

I recommend it to my students. I'd be happy to play on one in place of my Selmer.... I told him I'd take them all.

Then he's going to have a closet full of junk.

When I was looking around for a back up horn I came across four of these. They're no different than a Monique. Perhaps it is a Monique but stamped with a different name. Felts and corks fall off, pads aren't the right size, slow response, uneven action etc. I didn't notice one thing that's positively about these horns except they're supposedly saxophones.

[Dan000892]

Hmm...

You know a few minutes after he told me this, I thought to myself, "What Selmer does he have? For all I know it could be a Selmer USA!"

[averageschmoe]

in highschool i played on a brand new vespro, within a week of its purchase the low Eb and C decided to do their own thing. save your money for something truly worthwhile, unless playing the vintage ebay crapshoot you're going to be hard pressed to find a strong, reliable, well made modern tenor for under $2,000. and $2,000 is stretching it.

[Dan000892]

I disagree with being hard pressed to find a good modern sax for under 2000$...


Yamaha YTS-62II's are $1796 on WWBW/Music123... and even less through a pal of mine at a not-so-local music shop (1750 after NY Sales Tax and then would have to deal what what I hear to be horrible handling and packing)

I'm also currently exploring several vintage options...

Saxquest had an exquisite silver plated 10M for $1900

10Ms on ebay are quite cheap (though not set up as well as Gayle's, of course), as are Mark VII's.

It's not difficult to get a pro horn for $2000... the difficult part is deciding what one to get :wink:

[Andres]

Don't forget the fact that *most* of the so-caled "clonemakers" have seriously stepped up their build quality. I think it's likely that a fresh-off-the-assembly-line Vespro would be significantly better than a 5+ year old model.

[CashSax]

Try the newer Big Bell Cannonballs..a hella horn for the buck..I have 6 tenors (VI, SBA, Super20, TH&C, 10M and a CB) and the new CBall stands up to the stiffest competition amazingly well for a cheaper new horn..The CB BB Alto is my back-up for my VII Alto..another very decent horn. Mine are the Mad Meg bare brass models..no I don't sell 'em, but I do play my CBalls in almost any pro setting outside the studio without fear..the tenor is among the Ballsiest tenors' I've ever played. :twisted:

[saxcop]

I ordered a vespro curved soprano from WWBW and sent it back. The keywork felt to different from my tenor and Alto. However I did find it to be a good horn.

I bought a WWBW soprano and like it for about half the money of the Vespro. They are easy to send back if you dont like them at WWBW.

I learned the most about how saxes are made by bying an old silver plated Conn for $150. It was very tarnished. I took it all apart and polished it, put it back together, adjusted it, and sold it for $300. It wasn't really a profit as the time was considerable, but it was a good horn when I was done and now know alot about sax construction.

Alot of people make statements about keywork quality and such on this forum. I wonder how many can take a sax all apart and put it back together. How much of these opinions are bases on articularable facts.

[bobsax]

I was just looking for a value for my insurance of the Vespro Soprano .
I paid around $800 . I wonder what a comparable model would be , LA Sax , Jupiter ?
It's played very well over the years but only with the straight neck .
you can hear it here .

http://www.25thstbeat.com/our_video.html

[RyanSaranich]

back in the day, jeff kashiwa endorsed Vespro (he still might?)- and i know that he loved them. i have played a few, and they were ok, nothing special, but hey, it might suit someone.

[altosaxguy1]

i second the cannonball extremely good horn for the money