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Adams Artist Classic 4.3 Octave Marimba

Range: 4.3 octaves

Number of Reviews: 2

Average Scores:

Sound and Tone:	9
Design and Construction:	9
Appearance:	9
Customer Support:	10
Overall Rating:	9.5

Reviewer: Dan Scheitel e-mail: not given Date submitted: January 22, 2008 Purchase Price: $5,629 (US)

Sound & Tone Rating: 9 Comments: This insturment is fabulous, the sound is amazing along witht the resonance of the insturment. I've throughly played through the insturment and i only found 1 dead bar. This insturment projects well and sounds fantastic in my music room at home, although the room is D-E-A-D (acoustically) it still resonates very well. The Insturment is Tuned so A=442

Design & Construction Rating: 10 Comments: Yes, the frame is very dolid and does not rattle at all, you can immediately feel the strength and durablitiy of the frame when you start setting it up, all parts lock in and are stable. The frame is height adjustable and by far it is the easiest height adjusting i have EVER seen, it even has markings on the end so you can tell the height and have it even across the insturment. The bars are graduated and made of Aged Rosewood. This insturment has been fantastic for transporting, i recieved this insturment 5 days before a concert and took it with me to the venue and was very easy to transport.

Appearance Rating: 9 Comments: The frame is very sturdy, and the wood frame has a rich stain the complements the Rosewood bars. I wish the resonators were gold colored, or even brass. But they sound fantastic the way they are.

Customer Support Rating: 10 Comments: What i really love about the Adams company is the ability to purchase just a 4.3 octave Adams Artist Classic marimba, and in the future be able to buy an expansion set from Adams to increase the size from 4.3 octaves to 4.6 or 5 octaves, there's no need to buy a whole new insturment, and with the options of expanding to a bigger insturment, when you go for gig's you can decide wether you want to bring the extra range or not.

Overall Rating Rating: 10 Comments: I am very pleased with this insturment, and by far it is the best purchase i have ever made. I would definitely recommend this insturment to ANYONE else.

Reviewer: Michael Zell e-mail: zildzel3@aol.com Date submitted: April 8, 2003 Purchase Price: $5,000 (US) Sound & Tone Rating: 9 Comments: The marimba sounds great, very consistent throughout. All the keys have a great sound, except one key was shipped to me with a split harmonic. Personally, I like the way this marimba sounds with harder mallets, but it also has a great character when soft mallets are used. Design & Construction Rating: 8 Comments: The Adams frame is pretty good. It's very sturdy, the casters are great. Everything locks together very nicely. One problem I have is that the resonators barely fit into their slots. All Adams marimbas are like this, and I get a little nervous because, although it has only happened once when I was wheeling the instrument, the resonators seem to be able to fall off easily during wheeling the instrument. The height adjustment mechanisms works very well, however, over time, the metal parts become slightly stripped if proper care isn't taken. The last thing I'm not too pleases with is that when the instrument is lowered to the shortest setting, the resonators get in the way of the wheels, so the resonators can get a little scratched up on the low end, but you just have to raise the instrument a little bit to get it going again. I think all the problems here should be pretty obvious to the Adams company, and I don't know why that haven't done much about it yet, although I have noticed that my resonators are lighter and fasten together better than models made only a year before it. Appearance Rating: 9 Comments: The instrument looks great. I love the way the rosewood frame looks with the rosewood bars. The resonators look very professional, they're not all shined up or anything, they just look like nice resonators. Customer Support Rating: 10 Comments: I study with Bob van Sice, and if I needed anything for my marimba, he'd help me out in a second. This man is God. Overall Rating Rating: 9 Comments: I love the instrument. I only wish I had a five octave! But I definately would not recommend it for a high school. This is an instrument that needs to be looked after and cared for properly.