Jump to content

Jupiter Brass/Quality Control


Recommended Posts

Not disagreeing, this is FYI, and only involves my one experience.

I bought a Yamaha Xeno from the Cadets, I think from their 2008 season, used just the one summer, the case was simply stenciled "22." It had the reverse leadpipe. It was in FANTASTIC shape. I would put the finish at 99%. It plays perfectly perfectly, no missing or repaired parts, it came with a brand new gold plated Yamaha MP (equivalent in size to the Bach 3-C, I believe). I paid $1250 for it.

I got a nice horn and supported a great corps. What could be better?

We bought a formerly-Cadet tuba that had first been purchased by the Valley Forge Military Academy and then by the band I work with. It is in fine shape, esp as a third-hand instrument.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting how the conversation has been intelligent, full of opinion, but in a constructive reasonable way, all since the OP went away.

I love this place!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The euphoniums are probably the best marching euphs out there in terms of getting what you pay for. Ergonomically they balance really well, and hold easily (minus the thumb ring and lyre holder on the 3rd valve slide) In 09 we got new 3rd valve slides mid season that had no lyre holders then in '10 the new horns had them again. They are a very easy blow, a little bit more resistance than the kings but it's allows for a little more control at the upper dynamics at the loss of that really huge meaty sound IMO. Pitch is superb, only had to trigger a few notes in the staff and that depended on what part of the chord I was on. They added lots of bracing to them after 09 to make them more durable. I couldn't tell you how many broken euphs we had in 09.

As for the others, the Tubas get a GREAT dark luscious sound that I love. One of the heavier marching tubas out there, but it makes for a really dense core in the sound I think.

I still don't understand WHY any company (not just Jupiter) would make a marching baritone that is small shank. If they made the baris large shank they would be fantastic.

The high brass has the most room to improve, especially in terms of openness/resistance and how free blowing they are. I vaguely remember pitch problems in the low range of the mellos, but that might be something that all mellos have a problem with.

Are they better horns out there. Yes. But I would take a drum corps on Jupiters than no drum corps at all. It would be a shame to lose any corps because they couldn't afford a set for horns. So Kudos to Jupiter for providing corps with quality equipment at an affordable price.

PR 09-11

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting how the conversation has been intelligent, full of opinion, but in a constructive reasonable way, all since the OP went away.

I love this place!!

I was just thinking the same thing. In fact, there have been some very well thought out posts supporting his views w/o attacking the company or a poster that doesn't share the same opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How did you handle cleaning the horns? We have silver finish Gs and baby those puppies since they are hard/expensive to replace. Cleaning with mild soap & water recommended instread of anything (polish, paste) that would scratch or wear down the finish.

Just anything to worry about if you don't have a replacement deal. :tongue:

When they were corps owned horns, we used silver polish. Let it dry. Take it in the shower. Clean it off. Then towel dry it. In rare circumstances we would use silver polish dry.

When we became sponsored, a lot of us moved to windex. Ammonia based cleansers were great for keeping the horn clean and shiny. The ammonia also killed a lot of the corps gunk. The best part of ammonia based cleansers was that they DID NOT get into the valve casings like the silver polish when it was dry.

I have no idea how Regiment does it now, but windex wipes were the bomb back in the early 2000's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bottom line... I don't play on Jupiter, probably never will... but... if Jupiter was a person I would hug them. If they were three people, I would hug them. As many people as Jupiter may me, I would hug them all.

We need more instrument manufacturers in this little universe, particularly kind and smart ones, those willing to take a risk and support something pretty cool.

Thanks guys. Owe you a beer.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...