camelbrass

Dan,

I'm not a Monette player but have tried 2. The first one was an older heavyweight Bb model...sorry don't know which one and more recently a newish 994 (I think, it was midweightish) C trumpet. I find myself fascinated with them despite my experiences with the small sample that I tried. The earlier Bb I just didn't 'get'...only played it for about 10 minutes and put it down. The newer C I had the same initial reaction to but I picked it up for the second time a day or two later and started to get the idea. After a while my sound and intonation became more stable and my opinion switched. I really loved the stability, particularly above the staff and the eveness of both the sound and effort required to produce a note. They struck me as an instrument that didn't wear fools easily. The expectation was that you had to bring a fairly competent skill level to the table and I'm not sure that I wasn't coming up short.

For somebody like me accessability is the real hurdle. I know that there are some Monettes outside of the US but I would want to actually go along to Portland and work on exactly what fits me rather than buying one secondhand off a board and hoping.

Maybe one day I'll bite the bullet, who knows?

Regards,


Trevor

rowuk

I have been a Monette player since 1997. I started with an Ajna2 and now have a Prana3. I use them for everything that I feel is best served by a piston trumpet. The Ajna2 was not the best choice for playing lead trumpet, but I was playing a lot more classical back then! The P3 is the most flexible horn that I have owned. All of the resonance of the heavier Ajna and a much broader palette of colors. From Symphony to lead trumpet with a Salsa band, this horn does what I need it to and the question just doesn't come up if something could be better!

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Bear

Hmm... how about a "Anyone have a used Monette XLT/LT/MF Prana Bb that they want to let Tim buy (for way under retail, I'm poor, lol) so he can upgrade" thread? HA.

One day folks, one day...

Speaking about lead pieces, I recently was able to purchase the new Hession piece... Absolutely wonderful for extreme register work. I love it.

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B15M

I have the Proto type Prana C trumpet. I'm not sure who played it before me. The only one I know for sure is Manny L.
There were clips of him on the Monette site playing it and one is still on You Tube.

It's kind of a long story how I got this trumpet. It plays so good you can't imagine. Imagine having the trumpet that Dave kept tweaking until he had the final design. The trumpet turned into what is now known as the Prana 1. It's a little different but basically the same trumpet. It wasn't made for me personally, I'm not sure who they had in mind when they designed it. I should ask.

Here's another one you won't believe. I have the first Prana D trumpet too.

How could one guy be so lucky?

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bagmangood

Just nice.

My teacher at school plays on a P3 Bb (a lot of fun to play, but he had issues with it until he worked with Monette on getting it turned into a regular shank receiver instead of their mid-size). But that horn is fun!
He also has a C that I played on when I got got my C (he started playing on mine and said, here, try this!).
They are soo easy to play, even tone and in tune. Just completely in tune.

I've also been playing their pieces since sophomore year of high school and they also just help a lot. Once you get used to them.

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Danbassin

Trevor - how's the weather in Dubai right now? I was there for a few days while assistant conducting a youth orchestra tour some years back. I remember it being beautiful, filled with very kind people, and just about the hottest and most humid place I've ever been (though we were there in July). Outside of the US, Monettes can be hard to find. Granted, Dave has made fewer than 2200 horns in 25 years, so they're hard to come by anywhere!
Your comment about how the horns 'don't wear fools easily' is apt. Pitch center issues are front and center. As most trumpets have rather inconsistent pitch across the harmonics, and even across the valve-combinations, we 'learn' to adjust our pitch to compensate for our instrument. Beginning with the 'constant pitch center' mouthpiece concept, Monettes require a different physical approach than other trumpets. Your comments about the 'stability' and 'eveness' are right-on, and these characteristics of Dave's instruments, and the ease with which a player can find the most resonant part of each note on the horn manifest themselves best when a player approaches the instrument with an open physical approach. This is where all of the talk about 'forgetting' the physical adjustments that were necessary on other trumpets, and that have become part of our muscle memory comes in.

If you are intrigued by these concepts and Monette's equipment, my suggestion is to read the 'Monette concepts' part of his website, and to invest in Monette mouthpieces. As his instruments are only compatible with his mouthpieces, this would be a necessary first-step, anyway. As far as your reactions to the two different instruments go, this is a bigger issue. The heavier horns tend to be more 'locked-in' and can sometimes seem to 'bite back' if your playing is too high on the pitch. Of course, with the new Prana line of instruments, Dave has again changed everything, so if you were to make the trip to Portland, you'd 'see' ('feel', 'hear') what the latest developments are. I strongly suggest trying out the mouthpieces, as they're the best introduction to Monette equipment, but, please remember, they are pitch-specific and you won't get an accurate representation playing a Bb mouthpiece on a C trumpet (I have found this to be the case all of the way through A and Bb piccolo mouthpieces - there's an absolute value to his concept, and 'optimized' is his goal).

All the best,

-db

camelbrass

Dan,

Yes it starting to warm up nicely and the humidity is just starting to kick in. July mmm, everyone is trying to get out of here by then...it must have been quite a shock.

I got interested in Monettte's concepts when Manny posted regularly here and after spending some time with Keith Johnson over the last few years became even more comfortable with them. You're right, ideally I should start with the mouthpiece and have actually borrowed and tried a friends B15M (I play a 1 1/2C) and found it to be fine, I didn't feel that my articulations were as crisp as they could have been however. I really need to find somebody with a good selection of B1-B4 size pieces and spend some real time with them.

It's tough to do that in Australia (I'm an Aussie) or the UK (second home) let alone Dubai (what's a mouthpiece?).

Thanks for the reply.

Regards,


Trevor

Danbassin

Trevor,

As I began saying in the last post, Dave is constantly revisiting his designs and creating new styles of equipment. The Prana technology, which began with mouthpieces, offers an even wider spectrum of color, with notably more highs in the sound, and a more lively sound (Prana is an accurate name, here) than earlier Monette equipment. While perfecting Prana mouthpieces, Monette came up with the 'slap' series mouthpieces. I had played C1-1 mouthpieces forever, and loved them, but when I played my first notes on the Prana C1-1S1 (in a good acoustic) I was amazed with the response, the fire in the sound, and the range of articulation I had available with the mouthpiece.
To that end, I'd suggest trying a 'slap' series mouthpiece, and I'm sure you'll find that crisp articulations are readily available. The 1-5MS5, that was designed for Cal Price, is one of the most 'aggressive' of the slap mouthpieces. The 1-1S5 has a very roung rim (with quite a broad sound), but a cup depth somewhere between a Bach 1 1/2 C and 1B that many people have found to be a great fit. Typically, players find that larger mpcs are more forgiving with Monette than with 'conventional' equipment. I know there are two Monette mpc dealers in Australia, but, a consultation with Dean, the mouthpiece manager at Monette, can help quite a bit in starting your search on the right footing.

Best of luck,

-db

Jimi Michiel

Trevor,

Dan beat me to the punch with about the new Slap designs. I swore I would never switch mouthpieces after I bought my 1-2s at the end of high school, and for the longest time I had absolutely no urge to switch. However, I went out to the shop in early 2006 (I was there at the same time Pat Hession was working on his new mouthpiece with Dave) and tried some of the Slap mouthpieces. All I can say is that they make an already efficient design even more efficient. You can do more with less effort on these mouthpieces, and one of the ways this is most readily apparent is with articulations. You can still get a nice round attack, but if you need to put a "button" on the front of the note, it's right there for you without any extra effort.

If you ever consider buying a horn, you'll have access to all the mouthpieces you could ever dream of. When I bought my C997 (a very heavy C trumpet), I already knew my mouthpiece size, so I didn't really need to try any mouthpieces. Recently, I ordered a new B-flat trumpet. There are a lot more options now, so they're going to send me several different mothpeices to try. I've been looking for a lead mouthpeice for a long time, but haven't had the money to order up all the different models I might be interested in. Now that I've got a horn on order, I'll have access to several different "sample mouthpiece" to try out. Hopefully between now and when I get my horn (September 09) I'll have figured out which works best for me.

-Jimi

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Jimi Michiel

PS. Dan should post a picture of his new horn. It's eye candy.

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