What Are The Best Brass Instruments?

[kickhaltsforlife]

WTF you're and ########. I hate u. How dare you call ME crazy. You should get kicked off of DCP. Boo on you.

Sorry, maybe I am crazy?

[HornsUp]

You're getting a lot of very questionable advice here. Most of it is unfounded opinions.

Designing horns is a hit-and-miss proposition. No horn can be built "perfect". If so, every major manufacturer would be doing so.

The manufacturer takes the components they have available and assembles something that they hope will work. The economics of the market does not allow for much pure research. So a brand name means very little by itself. Each model must be evaluated on its own merits.

This evaluation should be done by the type of musicians who are going to be playing the instruments. The horns should be evaluated for the factors that are critical for heavy usage in an outdoor environment. A quintet of professionals would be "looking for love in all the wrong places".

Some good feedback appears on this forum from people who have actually carried the horns around for a season or three. They can tell you about grip and balance, response, durability, and general user-friendliness. Service - availability and cost of repairs & parts is another consideration.

How the horns actually sound is dependent on talent, instruction, and design. Your ears don't hear the name stamped on the bell.

Intonation is relative, not absolute. Any pitch produced on an instrument may have to be compensated in order to achieve intervals that are pleasing. Less skilled players will tend toward the pitch centers, while the inconsistent players will be all over the place.

Here's a way to check out ANY instrument. This should be done by the type of player who will be performing on the horn: Start by slowly slurring through the harmonic series on every valve combination. DO NOT attempt to compensate the pitches. Do this at several volume levels. You will probably find a few clinkers, since designing an instrument always involves some compromises.

Now go back through the horn and check out every pitch. Go chromatically through the full compass, try the common alternate fingerings, and use several volume levels. Try to bend every pitch as flat and sharp as possible. You WILL find that some notes center better than others, that some bend easily and others may lock in and resist tempering.

Now play some mostly diatonic melodies or etudes in all the common keys, and note how well they pan out.

Then get technical - play the fancy stuff, both slurred and articulated, to really check out the response of the horn in a combat situation.

And while doing all this, you may find the tone quality varying on certain pitches.

You will find that the adjective "stuffy" is used by 99.44% of all evaluators, and yet is pretty meaningless. "Resistance" is a term bandied about, usually vaguely by the marketing department. Again, it means little - how many Ohms do you want? "Backpressure" - that's something you find at the dragstrip with poorly-designed exhaust headers.

Finally, the very best way to fully evaluate a model is to play it in an actual ensemble. That's when the worms come out.

[CitBos]

WTF you're and ########. I hate u. How dare you call ME crazy. You should get kicked off of DCP. Boo on you.

Sorry, maybe I am crazy?

I think you are for getting so upset over a joke, geez.

[glory]

Having read through this thread, here's my advice: Take the best deal over any recommendation made here. In the long run, the financial impact will be more meaningful than any musical advantage perceived.

HH

[Mike78Mello]

The Cascades staff and director are doing the hardcore evaluation of instruments. The director and I (w/Board) will delve into financial aspects. Getting the collection of your (reader) thoughts is super for breaking us (Board) out of the normal financial mind-set. This Forum is great for brainstorming and challenging preconceptions.

Mike

P.S. Does it seem as thought Dynasty has fallen out of favor? Glassmen appear to be the only top-12 corps using their horns.

[Donny Drum Corps]

For the money...King is the best buy considering price, construction, and durability. Pearl, Adams etc. is the package and is all very functional.

Yamahas may be a better horn in some cases, but the money you spend is double that of King and Dynasty. With the Yamaha deal you get Yamaha percussion so that also weighs in to the decision.

Jupiter gets a bad rap for some reason but is decently made equipment. Mapex drums??? Price wise it is the lowest option of all of the above.

Donny

[Shadow_7]

Most of these are generalizations. Every line of horns have thier duds. In the end it's the corps bottom line that carries the most weight. Sometimes it's more of a regional war. West Coast, then Kanstul. Midwest, then King. Central Texas, then Jupiter. With increased fuel costs, shipping and transport can add significantly to a horn purchase. Not always the case, some get better deals than others. Some not.

For me, I play Euphonium.

The KING Euphonium is the best sounding.

The Kanstul is the best constructed and best all round player.

The Yamaha is the lightest and comparable to those other top contenders. Probably the best ergonomics. But I don't really care for the valves.

The Degs are common, easy to get used and cheap, sometimes easy to offload (although not Euph, since HS's buy them but never use them).

The Jupiters are pretty much the new boys in town, but deals galore if you can swing it.

On the G side, Kanstul and Deg, Kanstul wins. The Deg Euph isn't that horrid (3 valver), but it's nothing special either. And the case is a bit much for the common car.

[Plankton]

Having read through this thread, here's my advice: Take the best deal over any recommendation made here. In the long run, the financial impact will be more meaningful than any musical advantage perceived.

HH

I'm with you on this. Go to ebay and get a whole set from India for less than SEVEN DOLLARS.

[cmathis]

I personally do not know of any world class corps marching with Kanstuls. Unless I'm just crazy, haha. I believe it is all King, Yamaha, Dynasty, and Jupiter.

I think I read something on DCP about Vanguard's 2003 trumpets marching with Kanstuls for the last half of the season. Am I wrong?

EDIT: Actually here is the post:

Looks like i'm a little late to the party...

I'd just like to say that Key is one of my favorite staff members from when I marched in 03. I thought he did a great job arranging Orawa and giving it the "drum corps treatment". Anima Mundi and Pollack were exceptional in their own right as well.

Oh, and a few people may not know about this...but in 03 the corps was marching Dynasty brass. Our trumpet sound was pretty pinched and shrill. I think it was after San Antonio (or maybe Indy...) that he picked up a loaner from Jack Kanstul and let our lead trumpet play a passage on it. It sounded INFINATELY better on the Kanstul than the Dynasty.

About a week later we had 22 brand-new trumpets with Santa Clara Vanguard - Key Poulan Music engraved on the bell. I don't want to even imagine how much that cost, but the fact that he took it upon himself to set the corps up for success in that way, to this day, still blows my mind.

And when my group gets good enough, I'm sure I'll be playing his stuff. Maybe he can make a grade 2 version of Sheherezade tongue.gif

And a link to the post: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...p;#entry2061993

Edited December 24, 2009 by cmathis

[Dave]

Having read through this thread, here's my advice: Take the best deal over any recommendation made here. In the long run, the financial impact will be more meaningful than any musical advantage perceived.

HH

Well, the question was "what are the best brass instruments," not "what's the best deal I can get on brass instruments."