BUCKINGFRONCO Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 I am a big fan of yamaha's as well. I played a yamaha bari for 5 years of college and two years of DCA I&E and am very pleased with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sayre Kulp Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Like I said. The Yamaha horns I have played are not THAT bad. They just have a tendency to fall apart pretty regularly. I don't care where they're made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penn State Posted September 17, 2007 Share Posted September 17, 2007 Your choice would have made more sense a few years ago. With Yamaha moving their production to the Far East, I'd wait and see what happens to both the quality and the service. Horns break and if you have to wait a month for a part, or pay DHL ten times the price of the part to get it quickly, it can have a serious impact on things. All of Yamaha's marching brass and battery percussion is made in Japan. There will be no change in service provided with the move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomnoise Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 (edited) The Yamaha 204 Mellophone is the best horn I have played on, and I tested them all at the last NAMM show. Kanstul and King were decent. Dynasty and Jupiter, not so good. I'd build up a mixed line of the best from individual manufacturers if I could afford it. If I had to go for the best deal, it would likely be Yamaha, for the reasons Mike pointed out. You can get horns and drums from them, and the overall quality is a bit higher that Dynasty (IMO). But I don't have to worry so much, because I have a nice set of Kanstuls to work with. Edited September 18, 2007 by randomnoise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martybucs Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 I've said most horns are pretty decent. Play testing a horn is done at the factory also. It pretty much tells you if YOU will like the horn as far as YOUR preferences are concerned. The jazz band I play in has 5 trumpets. One plays an old Bach Mercedes, one plays an old Benge, one plays a Holton Sandoval trumpet, one plays a Giardinelli (Amati) intermediate horn and I usually use my Yamaha Mike Vax Signature trumpet. Naturally, we've all tried each other's horns. None of us likes the other person's trumpet, but everyone prefers their horn. Out of those 5 horns I like my Yamaha best, although it is a very fragile instrument. Next I liked the Giardinelli intermediate made by Amati - it plays OK - nice balanced sound, valves were fast. I was surprised that it is a good horn and pretty inexpensive. Then the old Benge. My sound gets a little brittle in the upper register on it and the lower register sounds a little bit stuffy, but lightning fast valves with good compression. I hated the Holton Sandoval and I wanted to like it. To me, it was stuffy in all registers and the valves were inconsistently sluggish and fast but sticky. Owner has been working on the valves, but loves the horn and he sounds good on it. The old Bach Mercedes, I went to play it, but it stunk of cigarette smoke and it grossed me out. So I just went ewwwww, give me my horn back, I'm not playing this ash tray! I think any of us that have been around awhile have played dozens and dozens of horns through the years. We react differently to each one. You may play test a horn and find it to be awful and the next person will love it. As long as there aren't any manufacturing defects, the horns are probably OK. I've had my DEG Dynasty bugle since 1988, it's a 3 valve in glorious chrome plating, she's a beaut! And I love the thing for drum corps. I can play the heck out of that thing for hours and hours. When our alumni corps got their 3 valve horns, everyone got to play different horns to see if they liked one more than another. There was some trading and it all worked out. So with a few exceptions here and there, (hey, it happens, even Honda has recalls), most makers put out a decent product. When people ask me how I like my Yamaha trumpet, I tell them it plays great for me, just don't look at it - something might fall off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kansan Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 We have mostly 2 valve DEG/Dynasty Bugles as well as 3 King Baritone Bugles. My personal Horn is an Olds Ultratone II. The Olds plays the easiest, the Kings are a little harder to play and the DEGs are even more difficult to play consistently. If one didn't know any better the DEG would be ok. We have had a couple Soprano players blow through and sound real good on our DEG Sopranos. Overall is really is the skill of the player. I do like the Chrome plating better than Silver for durability reasons. The Chrome Bugles sound warm and a little darker than the Silver Finish Bugles which sound brighter. Aslo, most of our silver Bugles are 30% brass color now. The Chrome horns are showing little signs of wear. Keep in mind I'm sure some of those horns are close to 30 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 (edited) But I don't have to worry so much, because I have a nice set of Kanstuls to work with. I think in a perfect world where cost was no object, Kanstul might be the way I would go. With a nice Pearl battery for my percussion. For G, it is the only sensible choice at this point. I do like my Kanstul mello a great deal, though I hear the siren song of the 204. I wasn't so impressed with the .470 bore Kanstul marching trumpet I tried. Nothing like the Signature horns or even the Powerbore bugles. Though it would do for high brass needs. The low brass boys seem to the Kanstuls. But in the end I think Yamaha would put together the total package. Sure wouldn't mind a set of Kanstuls or Yamahas for our Minicorps. We have some percussion sponsorship, but we would need a rich uncle for brass. Oh wait, we sorta have one of those. Just kidding, we are making do with the variety of horns we can buy, beg, and borrow. Edited September 18, 2007 by mchromik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfmello Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Mike: You can give my 204 a spin next camp, if I can make it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Argul Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 As a Brass Arranger and Drum Corps instructor, I have to say it really is about the 'uniformity' of the sound. I know I was totally stoked when I was writing for Bush and they got new horns. But I was happy because I would be comfortable in the knowledge that they would all be playing on the same kind of horn! (well, except for the tubas) We used to play on 8 different types of soprano horns, 3-4 different mellos and 2 different baritone brands. Tough to get much in the way of uniformity of sound without working the poop out of the players. That's why I continue to be in AWE of the great bugle lines of yore!! I mean, let's face it...some of these lines sound amazing still to today's ears and they played on some really bad pieces of metal! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-horns Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 But I don't have to worry so much, because I have a nice set of Kanstuls to work with. Are the Renegades going to retire those 2V King frenchies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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