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Here is the first Bass Trumpet that I have brought in for testing. Over all, this seems to be a great horn with very good intonation. The mouthpice is a small shank euphonium or t-bone mouthpiece and the bore is about .460 with a 6.7" bell. Although I don't play euphonium or t-bone this is a horn I am really digging and will start to carry. My good friend Tom Gregory told me that there is a lot of orchestral lit that calls for a bass trumpet so I thought this might be something to look at and I am glad I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSEZVUxg ... re=g-all-c" target="_blank

Tom

KiltieTuba wrote:So isn't this just a longer trumpet? The .460 bore is about what a normal trumpet bore is, not a bass trumpet, which seems to fall between .475-.485 but with about the same size bell as this one...

Yes the bore is a little smaller then some other bass trumpets on the market but this works very well with the smaller bore.

I spent some time listening to this, new sound to me and you sound like you're having fun even if you are more of a tuba player. I don't have `hear the grass grow' ears, so you should trust your own and not listen to me, but something seems a little off with the 1st valve. It seems a little flat, maybe the rest is just your efforts to push the pitch, but it seems to me it gets sort of nasal with that valve down.

Donn wrote: but it seems to me it gets sort of nasal with that valve down.

Your right on the nasal sound, that is me. In the hands of a real euph or bone player I am sure this would sound much better than I can do, especially since I really never played euph or bone before.

I had one of these breifly. I've played bass trumpet on occasion in a few orchestras, and have played Bach, Conn, Holton, Miraphone, and a couple of others over the years. I currently own a Conn bass trumpet, which compares well with the others. The chinese import bass trumpet I had had good valves, reasonable intonation for a bass trumpet, was quite playable although a bit resistant even considering that it was a bass trumpet. Downside the volume and breadth of sound was small, probably due to the quite small bell flare. If you're on a tight budget one of these will fit the bill. I thought it might have potential if the bell was replaced with a small trombone bell of about 7 inches in diameter. Before you cry foul, remember that the Bach bass trumpet was based on the model 34 trombone and the conn bass trumpet was based on the 2H, as was the Elkhart conn alto trombone.

mctuba1 wrote: Your right on the nasal sound, that is me.

You're too modest, you sound great on it overall.

I had a Chinese rotary bass trumpet for a while. Lots of fun, free blowing enough for me, pretty solid intonation,... I bought my "Schiller" (Schill? I don't remember what it actually said) second hand and it needed a little work- a spit key leaked and one of the valves' linkage needed a little adjusting. It was a fun horn but I could NOT get deal with the way you have to hold a big rotary trumpet. So friggin uncomfortable. I sold it (and my contra trumpet, and my Conn Giant Eb, and my contras,...) and ended up with a Fullerton Olds marching trombone. I really like that thing (also needs work... don't like dot dot dots? whatever ) but the bass trumpets, even the Chinese ones, do have a definite difference to them. It's a lighter, brighter sound even compared to a marching trombone with a tiny mouthpiece. With all the big trombones and tubas out there (oddly, trumpets seem to have gotten smaller and brighter?) the marching trombones aren't really a bad fit though.

Anyway, this looks a lot more promising than dealing with an old student horn needing work or a rotary bass trumpet needing a third arm to comfortably hold.

Neat toy Tom. When's the cimbasso going to happen?