rowuk

B15M is back!!! Welcome good friend. You are very fortunate with your band. Other players have more "resistance" from their colleagues when a heavier Monette is on top. They have to match the resonance and that is not always easy.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

B15M

Maybe it depends on how good the band is.

Thanks for the welcome back. I still read a lot, just don't post as much

__________________
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=238487314

http://webpages.charter.net/joespitzer/

Robson

Later I'm gonna write a review, but I can say since now that I loved!

rowuk

It looks like you peeled some paint off of the wall! Also looks like you are in love!

The Ajna Bb is as good as the C!

Did you see what I meant about the throat and backbore not being too big?

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Robson

Review

Of course the Ajna is heavier than a regular trumpet, but surprisingly it's extremely comfortable to hold. The ring on the thumb, instead of the classical U, help to provide a comfortable grip.

Although the Ajna has a large bore, and the mouthpiece that my friend is using has a throat number 4, the trumpet is extremely easy to blow, and it's not necessary to have an air compressor to blow the horn. Saturday I learned that the bore of the mouthpiece alone means nothing! Thanks Rowuk!

The sound... that's pure chocolate! Now I know the meaning of huge dark sound. It's almost impossible to break up the sound, even if you play extremely loud, there is no distortion on the sound. It was also the most in tune horn I have ever played. It was extremely easy to play pedal tone, believe, almost like a flugel horn ( I said almost! ).

Some people can say that my opinion is biased, but listen my wife's opinion: "It's the most beautiful sound of a trumpet that I ever heard in my life. It's completely different from the horn you have now-a-days". When I tried the 37 and the Ajna side by side, things became clear in my mind. That's the sound I was looking for.

tatakata

size 4 throat Why

__________________

B15M

I can't answer that but, I want to comment on it.

I think everything is a compromise. To get the trumpet to play in tune something else has to go. I think that Dave has gone way past what we would consider in a design and tried all different things. I believe that he takes the best combination he can get.
We all have the idea that a big throat can't work but it's wrong. I have many Monette mouthpieces. Some big and some small. The one that plays the best on my 993 has a 12 throat. It's big but, it works. I think it has to work in combination with whatever he does to the trumpet though. That #12 mouthpiece doesn't work well in my Bach trumpet but, other Monette mouthpieces do.

__________________
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...ndid=238487314

http://webpages.charter.net/joespitzer/

rowuk

ttkt,
Dave does not bend the laws of physics, but he is using a different combination.
The throat size has to match the backbore has to match the leadpipe has to match the rest of the horn. Dave has a leadpipe that lets him use a big throat without having fuzzy slots. In addition the mass of the horn tunes things up even more. That is why a pimped out Bach, Yamaha....... can never (and shouldn't) do what the Monette does. The leadpipe and mass are designed to do something completely different with those horns. The resonance of the complete Monette trumpet system keeps you from running out of air, so you do not have to design the mouthpiece or leadpipe tight. It also optimizes the "pitch center" as he describes it on his website. The lightweight mouthpieces Monette builds for conventional horns do not have those monster throats, that would not match the horns they were designed for.

The heavier the horn, the bigger the throat and backbore at Monette, only possible because they can get the horn to resonate more, lowering the amount of work it takes to play it.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

Veldkamp

Any idea how many Anja C's are played in prof. orchestras?

__________________
www.erikveldkamp.com
http://trumpetkings.blogspot.com

rowuk

Somewhere between 5 and 30 worldwide. Probably 20% of all ever produced.

Not that it matters much though. I remember when Yamaha was not considered "standard" enough but now we have some pretty radical Xenos in the orchestral fabric.

Germany where I live is actually pretty lucky. There are many more brands considered widely "orchestrally acceptable". Standard Bb: Monke, Thein, Schagerl, Kühn, Lechner, Yamaha, Scherzer, Bach, Schilke, there is even a couple of Monettes out there. Heck, I can even show up with a 1938 Heckel rotary Bb and be taken seriously! I guess that shows some more open minds than elsewhere in the world!

I endorse the crusade against brand blindness. The answer for the world is not a better Bach (in my sometimes not so humble opinion)! Wake up America!

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.