| Hi Larry,
Well my choice of horns is very different from yours. I tried the Calicchio R39/R37 and thought they were great but second choice went to an X3 and finally bought a Taylor Chicago II Standard. As you can tell my sound 'concept' seems to be a little darker than the 1s/2 style!!
Although the other trumpets I tried were great I must admit the Taylor did it for me. I'm a tactile sort of person so the first thing that hit me (apart from the weight!!) was the valves. I own a couple of Kanstuls and get to play the odd Schilke all of which have good valves but these are exceptional..almost as if they're on bearings..there is almost no resistance.
Secondly, luckily I got the chance to play about 8 or 9 of Andy's horns at the factory over a period of 3 or 4 hours so I was able to settle into the style of trumpet. As you are aware the heavier horns need a bit of warming up and the centre of the note is not, at first, where you expect it but once that's done and you can show it who's boss the sound is absolutely marvellous...very rich, great bottom register and an almost woodwind like higher register (without the intonation problems!!). Some would say why do they call it a trumpet then, but that's another arguement.
Intonation on my trumpet is exceptional...no slides necessary. It is also much more flexible than some people would have you believe. Tounging is crisp, slurs fluid and yes you do get feedback as a player, not all the sound goes to the guy at the back of the hall!!
And lastly but by no means least its looks. The standard doesn't have all the fins and braces (I'm not a real big fan of those) but no need to worry we are not talking understated here. It has a scratched lacquer body, nickel plated slide tubing, bright lacquer tuning slide and valves slides and a red brass heat treated bell all of which illicit responses of "wow that's different".
Regards
Trevor |