Which Euph would you buy?

[bort]

For my tax dollar, you'd get Yamaha 321 and you'd like it.

[bort]

Good to know they aren't just spending mega bucks on HS football stadiums. Texas is another world. Not saying that's good or bad, but things really can be different and unrelatable to the rest of the country.

When I was in high school, I saw exactly one euphonium, at an all county/honor band thing, which wasn't the standard issue Yamaha 201 (3 valves, non comp...), and that was a Canadian Brass front action 4v euph. Neat horn, wish that style would have caught on.

[groovlow]

Make a Statement! Colorfully!
No more dark ,too dark, brit sound (so 70s)
http://www.willson.ch/en/instrument/willsax


Go for the color range!
Go for the glory days of the big American baritone sound.
Joe

[eupho]

TE told me that JIn Bao does not build the 2052 but who does is not made public.

[MackBrass]

TE told me that JIn Bao does not build the 2052 but who does is not made public.

The TE2052 is made by Wiseman and its a copy of the besson prestige. They are good but we decided not to carry them due to not being able to justify the price difference. The jinbao 1150 is a very hard horn to beat at any level.

[iiipopes]

For American concert bands, I'm still in favor of the hybrid American bari/euph, as exemplified by the classic King, Conn, Reynolds/Olds models (and others) for all the reasons set forth in other threads to which I have posted, and of which I have one on the way.

For brass bands, I'm still a Besson guy. But...I like the older New Standard-era euphs, even with the sharp 6th partial. Again, to my ears, they had both the capability of blending in section as well as projecting out front for countermelodies and solos.

Like other instruments, especially cornets, to my ears everything has been pushed too far to too large a bore and too deep a mouthpiece cup, rendering all the brass tone too dark, tubby, and without character or blend.

[MSchott]

The OP states they have the budget for most any horn so I don't see the need for a Chinese clone no matter how nice they have become. IMO a high school player needs a horn that is easy to blow and has good intonation. I play a Willson 2900S and it's a great and tough horn but it has some intonation quirks as do even the best horns. Besson is worse in this regard. I've read nearly unanimous praise of the Adams Custom horns and their intonation is widely praised. I don't think you can go wrong with Adams, Willson (skip the 2950 model please), Besson, Sterling, Yamaha Professional models and maybe Miraphone.

Going back to Willson, these horns have thick gauge metal and have a great concert band tone.

As far as the hybrids in the post above, I think that is a very old fashioned recommendation. Modern band parts are written for Euphonium, not Baritone. I was in high school in the 70's and we were playing Euphs back then.

[Scubatuba]

You should not over look the new Bessons. They are the best they have been in over 30 years. They have the classic sound, and the performance to match. I think they are the only company that has valve silencers plus plastic coated springs, oem, very smooth,like butter. Also the third valve slides are a lot closer to the main bow making the reach to the 4th valve much easier, particularly for smaller hands. And as far as raw materials go, you can't do better than German brass, just my opinion. You said money was not an option. They are not the most expensive option either.

[Rick F]

I will try them out for sure. The school already has two bessons, so staying with the line makes sense. It seems no matter where we go with this, good instruments will be purchased.

One line that hasn't come up in conversation is the Miraphone. Is the 5050 not highly thought of?

Hi Mark,

I've been following this thread but haven't posted till now. Your original post said they were moving the existing Bessons down to lower bands to make room for the new horns. I was thinking that If the upper class men (or women) were used to the Besson sound, almost any other horn you pick may disappoint. Bessons do have a certain sound. But tuning without a trigger (6th partials) would be problematic. Not sure you'd want triggers on a HS instrument. They can be fiddly and need to be maintained.

I have a Miraphone 5050 and love it! My M5050 does not have a trigger and it plays pretty well in tune without a trigger. I do have to lip down the 6th partial 'F' some, but the M5050 is fairly easy to lip (doesn't slot like a Yamaha). The concert 'G' on the staff is the sharpest note on my M5050. I use 3rd valve for that note and it's perfect. The only other note that's problematic is the low Bb. It's almost 10 cents flat and I can barely lip it up to pitch. The M5050 has the easiest high concert 'B' of any horn I've played... including the Adams. The M5050 is a big horn with a big bore. The bore is .610 so it takes a lot of air.

My other horn is a Yamaha 641S (Yamaha's first compensator with 11" one-piece bell - predecessor to the 642). I've not sold it and don't plan to. It's on a long-term lone to my grandson in H.S. Raleigh, NC. For ease of maint or repair, I agree with some suggestions above about the Yamaha 642 — but they don't sound like Bessons.

[dwerden]

For a slightly different approach, have you considered calling the repair shops nearby and seeing what brands they can easily get parts for?

Also, I would absolutely stay away from horns with triggers for high school folks. They require more maintenance and they are the easiest part of the horn to damage.

Referring to a previous post, I don't consider Willson to be out of vogue. It's just that there are so many fine choices now that the market has spread out considerably. Willsons are well made and take abuse pretty well.

I agree with the comments that Yamaha is generally a very safe bet.

You asked about Adams options. I would go for either the .70 or .80 brass thickness for high school use. I find it too heavy for me personally (I use the .60), but I take better care of than most high school players! In general, the horns we know by reputation to handle abuse pretty well are made of heavier metal. That's certainly true of the older Bessons, where the joke was, "They sound as good at the bottom of the stairs as they did at the top."

[Z-Tuba Dude]

Are Hirsbrunners no longer available?

[bort]

Are Hirsbrunners no longer available?

Kinda sorta I think uh maybe a little bit... that's what Adams is? (For schmucks like me, this whole Adams/Hirsbrunner "relationship" is very confusing, and hard to follow. Just like a few years ago when there were 3 different "Nirschl" brandings.)

[dwerden]

Are Hirsbrunners no longer available?

Kinda sorta. The new Adams E3 model is mostly built with the HB mandrels. The biggest difference, though, is that Adams is building the horns out of sheet metal (in order to maintain a uniform thickness end-to-end) whereas the original HB tubes were hydraulically drawn, I believe.

I have heard from two people who tried the E3 and they both liked it. One, the Adams tech who customized my own horn, said the E3 takes a more powerful player to manage it well (or to benefit from it - I'm not sure exactly which he was saying). I haven't played it myself yet. Matt van Emmerik has one - I'll see if he has any comparisons to offer against the original HB.

ADDITION: I just saw the post above. The E1/E2 are unique from the Hirsbrunner design and were built from Adams own design. The E3 is the only one using HB tooling. I expect to be at ITEC and will try to do a comparison.