Re: Yamaha 642 vs. Willson 2900


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Posted by Scott Norberg on October 24, 2003 at 19:22:07:

In Reply to: Yamaha 642 vs. Willson 2900 posted by Travis Keller on October 23, 2003 at 00:01:41:

I'm curious as to why you've narrowed it down to these two instruments. Both are great horns, but neither have particularily flexible tone colors and they aren't that similar to each other. The Yamaha has a brighter sound, what I would argue as being more soloistic, and the Willson is darker; warmer but sometimes less clear. The Willson seems to respond better, but the Yamaha has a better low range. Why aren't you considering a Hirsbrunner, which has a great low register and is flexible with its tone color(s)? I've also heard good things about the Miraphone, and I know several people who use Bessons (if they get lucky and get a good one) with success. I agree with the earlier posts, you should try them if you can, and don't limit yourself to these two.

Something else you should consider is that instruments don't respond the same way in everyone's hands. For example, I had a Hirsbrunner that a friend of mine played, and she sounded only marginally better on it than on her Bach. But I also listened to a girl play on it who had been using a Besson, and she sounded 200% better on it than the Besson. My Hirsbrunner was great for the girl, but was definitely not the instrument for my friend. Go figure.

Finally, you haven't said what you want out of an instrument. Will you put up with a lot to get the tone color you want? If so, would you rather have bright (like the Besson) or dark (like the Willson)? Would you rather have a horn that plays evenly from top to bottom with great intonation even if it sacrifices warmth of tone (like the Yamaha)? Would you rather have an open instrument with whatever tone color you want but have something that doesn't play well when you have an off day (like the Hirsbrunner)?

I know this probably doesn't help, but I hope that it helps you avoid a rather expensive mistake of buying an instrument you later decide isn't for you.

Scott


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