Posted by ken k on December 01, 2000 at 23:15:54:
In Reply to: questions concerning Bass Trombones posted by Tim on December 01, 2000 at 17:45:23:
Hello Tim, I am a bass bone/tuba doubler (along with tenor bone and euphonium hacker) anyway, here is what I think of modern equipment trends. The 9.5 inch bell seems to be the more popular trend now (15 - 20 years ago it was the opposite. So the pendulum is swinging back the other way). Yellow brass tends to sound more centered and is easier to get clean artix with. The red or gold brass is smoother and "darker" sounding at low volumes but tends to get edgy at louder volumes. The yellow brass will hold its darker core longer than the red brass at loud volumes. When I bought my Edwards two years ago I had 5 bells shipped to me to try. I ended up choosing a fairly lightweight yellow brass bell with a soldered rim. I felt this gave me more "trombone-like" sounds versus the "slide-Euphonium" or tuba-like sound that many bass trombonists seem to prefer nowadays. I play with guys in a big band who play King 3Bs so I wanted to match their sound and artix as much as possible. The light yellow brass bell gave me very quick and strong articulations which is good in big band playing. I also use the horn in the quintet sometimes and the trumpets I play with tend to have a bright sound and our bone player uses a Bach 36 with lightweght slide, so he has a brighter trombone sound. So I don't think I am out of character with my choice of equipment for my applications. As for the Hagemann valve I have not played one but have heard good things about them. The only complaint I have with my thayers is that thay are heavy. As for the price of an Edwards, my Edwards was only $100 more than a comparable Bach because I did not have to pay sales tax. And in the end I got to choose my bell. I have three lead pipes to play with and I got thayer valves to boot. Edwards also has modified rotor valves available with are cheaper too. Check out their website. I think it is www.edwards-instruments.com. They explain alot of the playing characteristics of the different bells and valves, etc. If you hve any questions feel free to email me directly.
ken k