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Was it a compensator? or just the 5-valver? ... If you saw my post below you know I was gonga about the sound of the Besson I played last weekend. It did not, however, required extensive slide pulling. Some, but not extensive. From the tubing I thought it was a compensator but do they even make a 5-valve compensator? I know they do make a 3+1 compensator because Dillon Music has one used.

MA

It would more than likely be the 5-Valve non-compensating Besson 995.

From my own experience, the amount of slide pulling varies according to the mouthpiece.

This horn had some serious intonation issues when I tried one, and while the sound was nice and the blow was very open, it did not impress me all that much. I have a feeling that these horns have a high amount of intonation variation, although mass production should keep the quirks a little more consistent.

The valve he was probably dumping was either 3rd or 4th. These tend to accumlate a lot of condensation on a piston horn depending on the branches. Because it is a Nirschl design, I would guess on the fourth being the one requiring the pull to dump.

FWIW, Besson only made the 3+1 CC's as custom or one-off horns. I would wager that if someone contacted Besson for a 3+1 CC today, it would take a lot of $$$$$ and time to get one, if they were inclined to build one at all.

It would be interesting if they were to make a CC version of their front action compensating BBb. Couldn't hurt to try, judging from the intonation on the one I did try.

When Soto Voce came to my school, we got to meet the members. Mike Forbes was playing a 995 then, and that wan't that long ago. I'd assume he'd stuck with it.

I think your right Matt. I've heard that the first few runs had some problems. I've been playing one of the lastest ones for about 7 months with no intonation problems. My old Alex is quirkier than the Nirschl/Besson. This horn is the real deal...however, I would not recommend it to a BBb to CC conversion person. I've noticed a number of BBb cats on this site mentioned how out of tune the horn was. Not too many horns these days are turn key, man. They grow on ya