Saxophones Rampone & Cazzani Performance

[Pete Thomas]

Has anyone tried one of these? If I was a bit closer to sax.co.uk I would pop in and see it. My Musikmesse/Namm days are over. However I may be going to Italy in the Autumn but will probably not have time to travel to the North.

 

[Wade Cornell]

There is an article about these new Performance horns over on SOTW. Supposedly good Ergos and cheaper due to new Mfg techniques, but still built in Italy. I'm still in love with my two voices, but one has to be so focused to play these and have a consistent controlled tone. When it's right, it's magic, but also a lot of work (as you'd know!).

 

[Guenne]

Has anyone tried one of these?

As far as I can tell from some of my friend's (not my personal) experience: They are a mix of italian genius and incompetence.
If you are lucky to find one that is perfect from workmanship side (and than can be hard) you will probably get something you will not find anywhere else.
But it could also be that if you order the horn at Thomann (like a friend did) you will get something that is not even playable.
That goes for their "Pro" models. Never heard anything about sound or quality of their cheaper horns.

 

[mizmar]

They are a mix of italian genius and incompetence.

I once worke on a project which was 90% Italian... Just like that.
They really should hire just one British engineer, just to inject a little practicality.

 

[Pete Thomas]

If you are lucky to find one that is perfect from workmanship side (and than can be hard)

That does sound like you know of a lot of them.

There is an article about these new Performance horns over on SOTW.

I only saw a thread that was speculating on whether or not they were made in Italy. Is there actually an article or more informative thread?

 

[Guenne]

That does sound like you know of a lot of them.

As I said: I've never owned one, but I know some RC players in my musical surroundings.
And I know 2 guys who wanted to buy one, but the cost of the purchase plus the money to spend on getting them fully playable would have been too high.
But I don't know of anybody saying they wouldn't sound (and look) great.
If I would plan to buy one, I'd buy one that has been played for a while and maybe even has been overhauled by a very qualified person, or if I'd buy it new I'd show it to my tech before.

 

[MarkSax]

Hard to believe they’re 100% made in Italy at that price.

 

[BalancedReaction]

Hard to believe they’re 100% made in Italy at that price.

From the other forum, R&C hosted a podcast where they explained the cost saving.
They save money on:

• engraving
• brass processing (chemical treatment, ...)
• brass cleaning & polishing
• simpler mechanisms (G# key)
• instrument case
• simpler process (the performance line comes only in alto and tenor in one finish)

R&C is a small manufacturer known for extensive manual work, so I can imagine that if they automated and simplified their processes, they could have saved a lot.
R1 Jazz alto costs 1500 EUR more than Performance alto on Thomann.

 

[cjR]

This is the model of Alto I play. I'm not exactly a sax connoisseur though, the only other sax I've owned was a Stagg 77.

Picking between a Buffet crampon, a couple of Yamaha's and a Mauriat, the Performance spoke to me more and felt more special at the time. My sound was a bit more rounded and colourful Vs seeming a bit harsher and cutting. I'm sure aesthetics played a subconscious part too, I loved the look. It was all a bit impulsive though, I was not long into a comeback after 10 years of not playing at all.
A year later, it's still going well I don't regret my choice - but also don't have any recent reference points.

I bought from sax.co.uk - I've no idea how much work they had to do to get this ready-to-play but my understanding is they are one of the shops that do do that.

 

[Eddy Van Damme]

Has anyone tried one of these? If I was a bit closer to sax.co.uk I would pop in and see it. My Musikmesse/Namm days are over. However I may be going to Italy in the Autumn but will probably not have time to travel to the North.

No, but a quick glance at sax.co.uk's website puts them in the price range of Yamaha 62s. I just test drove a 62 and a 82Z alto, and where I could get to the proper altissimo register first time, in tune, and with no effort on the cold 82z, I couldn't manage at all with the 62. So although I'm stating the obvious here, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I used to own a lovely RC saxello, but compared with Japanese sopranos it was really hard to play, and even the spelling on the engraving was wrong (twice, because the first one I got had a post drop off and was swapped out on warranty!) I'd definitely have another Rampone, they're works of art, but I wouldn't put my money down until I'd played it first, and checked everything myself (including the engraving!)

 

[tzadik]

I've seen two Performance tenors and two Performance altos (one in Sax.co.uk London and another a famous musical instrument shop in North West Italy)... they (both Performance tenors and altos) were much better assembled then R1 Jazz saxophones available.
I'd also say "better built" for certain mechanical aspects (like rods and hinges size)

That's a non sense for me, since the Perfomance series is designed to be cheaper than the R1 Jazz series... and improvements should appear on flagship models first and then on cheaper models.

 

[saxyjt]

Oddly enough I looked at @Stephen Howard 's website and didn't see any reviews of R&C saxes. Is there a reason?

 

[Stephen Howard]

Oddly enough I looked at @Stephen Howard 's website and didn't see any reviews of R&C saxes. Is there a reason?

Yeah, I haven't had any in - at least not when I've had the time to run up a review.
I did have a couple of vintage ones in recently - but they were both rather dull, and I'm not sure it's worth me spending a week on writing them up.