Yamaha Xeno dull feedback

[jhousdan]

I remember not long after the Xeno line got introduced, I got a chance to try a YBL-830. My own Yamaha (an early 90s-vintage YBL-613G) was in the shop getting some re-lacquer work done and I needed to borrow a horn for some pit orchestra work I was doing. The studio instructor from my undergrad school (I had graduated the previous May and wouldn't be leaving for Grad school until that August) had just picked up a 830 for the college as a school loaner and asked me if I'd be interested in unpacking it and taking it for a test drive. I readily agreed and stopped by his studio the next day to pick the horn up. I always enjoy taking a brand-new horn for a test drive!

After getting it serviced and ready (getting a brand new slide properly lubed and "seasoned" takes a little effort) I spent about 20 minutes doing some long tones and scales on it. I remember thinking that the bell just didn't ring quite the same (difference between a 9.5 inch and a 10 inch bell? I'm not sure) and it definitely felt cheaper in my hands. I especially didn't like that the F trigger wrapped OVER my thumb instead of under (like my 613G). My tone quality wasn't terrible on it, but it felt "stuffier" in a way I can't really define.

I wound up playing the entire summer series with it and never really came to like the horn. I especially didn't like that I couldn't pitch my second valve in G, which is my standard configuration on my 613.

When our grad quartet went to the ITA at UT-Arlington, I had a chance to play on another one on the showroom floor... 2nd verse wound up being same as the first. The horn just wouldn't ring for me to the point that I was convinced I must've somehow forgotten how to play and it was a "me" problem... until I picked my horn back up again!

Fast forward about ten years and one my bass trombone students decided to purchase a used 830 and asked me to give it a once-over. He left it with me for a weekend and I spent some time playing some etudes and orchestra excerpts on it. This particular horn felt and played almost identical to my 613. I felt like I got good overtones out of it and was able to produce the sound I wanted. A perfectly good horn!

I have to agree with BurgerBob... It seems like a very inconsistent line of horns. If you get a good 830, never let it go!