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Monday 9 March 2015

John Packer Cornet Review

I have been using the John Packer JP271SW for the last year and although I have had some issues, I have been pleasantly surprised with this budget instrument.


It has a medium-large bore, typical of a student/intermediate cornet, which can produce a relatively big sound with minimum effort. I would recommend trying this cornet before buying in order to establish whether it feels right for you but it does have the potential to make a very nice sound.

It features 1st and 3rd slide triggers (a feature of many professional cornets) something that makes this student cornet stand out from the rest.


Unfortunately I have had some issues with the valves, the first valve often sticks and they are very noisy. This is something that should be relatively easy to fix if you feel they're not up to scratch. 


The cornet comes with a John Packer 4B mouthpiece - comparable to the Denis Wick 4B. It is a good size mouthpiece but unfortunately it is poor quality and I found that it didn't last long before the silver plating began to wear off. I would definitely recommend investing in a better quality mouthpiece.



The case that it comes with is very lightweight and includes: a pocket for music on the front, backpack straps, a shoulder strap, space inside for mutes etc and a space for one mouthpiece. The only problem I have found so far with the case is that while the backpack straps can be tucked into the pocket on the back for storage, the big plastic clips they attach to remain on the bottom of the case. This means that the case does not lie flat and as a result I have removed them.



Clips which mean the case doesn't lie flat





For more information on this cornet, visit the John Packer website.


4 comments:

  1. I have had a poor experience with John Packer.

    I hired a cornet from them, which I subsequently bought via their hire-purchase scheme.
    I had to replace the bag within one year - they didn't even bother replying to my email complaint.
    I then had to replace the mouthpiece shortly after.

    Poor service, poor quality.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John Packer Ltd would like to clarify that the situation is not as described, but Anibur has not updated the post to reflect the final outcome.

    We had in fact responded immediately with an offer of a replacement case, but the email had been lost in Anibur’s email system.

    Our final communication from the lady concerned concluded with. ‘Many thanks. much appreciated. Can I revoke my original review (or edit it)? Thanks’.

    We always do our best to provide great service, but on this occasion technology conspired against us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just found this blog and see that the last entry was over a year ago. Will you ever post again?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Very interesting blog. A lot of blogs I see these days don't really provide anything that attract others, but I'm most definitely interested in this one. Just thought that I would post and let you know.

    ReplyDelete